For as popular a figure as he was in the 1990’s, Venom didn’t really amass that large (or impressive) of a rogues’ gallery in his own title. Sure, he shares custody of Carnage with Spider-Man, but after that? The Jury, Pyre, Xenophage…none of these are enemies that lit the world on fire. I guess what I’m saying is, why not lead off Eddie Brock’s return by throwing down with Stegron the Dinosaur Man?

Once you accept the precept that yes, Venom is gonna fight dinosaurs, the rest of the pieces of this story fall into place rather quickly. The same self-doubt and paranoia that permeated last issue are still controlling Venom’s actions in this one, although even Eddie is self-aware enough to note that fighting dinosaur men mostly provides him a means to take out his stress. It also serves as a device to bring Liz Allan and Alchemax into the story, as Venom promises to recapture Stegron in exchange for help determining what ails his other.

It was around here that I began to feel an odd sense of deja vu, as Venom enters into a partnership with an authoritative woman from established Spider-Man canon where each intends to use the other to get what they want. Wasn’t it just six months ago that Lee Price came to the Black Cat seeking a similar partnership to advance himself? This is an oddly specific story beat to repeat, even if the circumstances of their relationship are different.

That’s not the only thing that feels a bit “off” about this issue: while there’s technically no problem with the story structure, there’s still a lot of unaddressed questions involving Venom’s new status quo. Is the audience supposed to assume he’s an anti-hero again, or has he reverted completely to being a villain? Sure, he’s focusing his rage on supervillains like Stegron and the Scorpion, but he’s doing so for personal, not altruistic, motivations. He hasn’t tried to hunt down and murder Spider-Man, but the alien kinda sorta vowed revenge against Spidey in issue 6. He didn’t immediately murder Liz for being involved, even tangentially, in the Stegron incident, but their partnership is still young, and he needs something from her.

At the moment, Venom is motivated by short-term goals and desires, and that makes perfect sense in the context of the story. For the long term, the character and series is going to need something stronger to motivate them, other than building anticipation for a hand-me-down crossover concept.

Gerard Sandoval returns on artistic duties, and while his pencils wouldn’t have suited the moody introspection of last month’s story, they’re perfectly suited to fight dinosaur men in catacombs under New York. I particularly enjoy the two-page spread of Stegron’s kingdom that closes out the issue. His Venom, while less draconic than Tadd Moore’s, still invokes the odd combination of brutal physicality and surprising agility that MacFarlane and Larsen brought to the character. I also loved how Venom’s default expression is a classic oversized grin, bringing to mind a trait of John Romita Jr.’s take on the character: whatever else may be going on, Venom is always smiling.

This is a solid issue, but even with the expected tonal shift from last month, there’s still a sense that we’ve skipped a portion of this story since Eddie retook the Venom identity. Ultimately, what’s missing is a mission statement for the character with this new series. Last issue did an excellent job establishing Venom’s internal conflict and struggles, but we still don’t know how he fits back into the larger universe upon his return. Fighting dinosaurs is a fun action piece, but that will only keep for so long.