Kid Venom, the character introduced in backup stories to Cullen Bunn and Gerardo Sandoval’s limited series Death of the Venomverse (see “Preview: ‘Death of the Venomverse’ #1-5 Covers by Björn Barends”) is going to be sticking around for a while.  The four backup stories written and drawn by manga artist Taigami are being collected into a one-shot, Kid Venom: Origins #1, and the issue will lay the groundwork for future Kid Venom stories.  It will also include the very first Kid Venom comic, created by Taigami for a Marvel/Shonen Magazine competition in 2018. The one-shot will be released on January 3, 2024, with a cover by Taigami.

Kid Venom is Japanese and hails from the 10th century. As Taigami explained in a statement accompanying the announcement, he wanted to do a story about a symbiote and decided to create totally new symbiote and host.  “There were already many Venoms and there were enough variations, so I thought it had to be something totally new to be recognized” he said. “In Japan there are several famous folklores such as ‘Momotaro’ and ‘Urashimataro.’ Among them, there is a story of ‘Kintaro.’  The legend is about a boy who was strong, lived with his mother in Mount Ashigara.  He later was hired by Minamoto Yorimitsu, a very high ranked samurai, and defeats many yokai.  Later he becomes one of the four samurais of Minamoto Yorimitsu.  This story is a mix of folklore and a historical story from the Heian Era of Japan.  So when I mixed Symbiote to the legend of Kintaro, ‘Kid Venom’ was born.”