Kintaro faces a swarm of symbiotes and a wall-crawling mystery in Kid Venom #2

Taigami's art from Kid Venom #2.
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Marvel's Kid Venom series puts a manga spin on all things symbiote. Written and drawn by creator Taigami, the series follows 14-year-old hero Kintaro and his symbiote Clinter in the year 977 as they battle the Oni (the name for evil symbiotes in Kintaro's community). But, as the first issue revealed, there's also a mystery to be solved: the strange appearance of a Spider-Man mask in 10th century Japan...

The first issue of Kid Venom ended with a massive wave of Oni about to overwhelm the village. Now Marvel has given us an exclusive look at some unlettered pages from the next issue, which show off some of the devastation that ensues. Can Kintaro and Clinter step up to save the day?

Kid Venom was created by breakout artist Taigami for a series of backup stories in 2023's Death of the Venomverse. The new solo book is a four-issue limited series that explores the young hero's coming of age in the 10th century, but the presence of that Spider-Man mask sure hints at bigger connections to the wider multiverse still to come.

Here's what Marvel has to say about Kid Venom #2:

"STORM THE GATES! New allies join forces to protect the city against the unknown! Could the mysterious item KINTARO found hold the key to the Multiverse? If so… only KID VENOM can unlock it!"

Kid Venom #2 is written and drawn by Taigami, with colors by Mattia Iacono, lettering by VC’s Joe Sabino, and translation by Aki Yanagi. It's published by Marvel Comics on September 4.


Perhaps we've all gotten too used to the Lethal Protector... Is it time for Venom to be a terrifying monster again?

Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.