Venom: Separation Anxiety #1 pits the classic Lethal Protector Venom against one of Marvel's most despicable villains

Venom: Separation Anxiety #1 interior art
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The Purple Man, one of Marvel's most despicable villains, uses his mind-control powers to manipulate and mastermind every manner of evil act. And now, he's stolen Eddie Brock's Venom symbiote in a new flashback story written by Venom co-creator Dave Michelinie himself.

Alongside artist Gerardo Sandoval, Michelinie is digging into a previously untold chapter of Eddie Brock's history in Venom: Separation Anxiety, which borrows its name from the classic '90s event for a story set at the height of Venom's Lethal Protector era.

We've got an early look at pages from May's Venom: Separation Anxiety #1 that show Venom in his classic symbiote form, looking particularly menacing in Sandoval's style, which evokes many of the anti-hero's more monstrous qualities. 

Check it out:

"Amazing Spider-Man legend and Venom co-creator David Michelinie triumphantly returns to tell another all-new, heart-pounding, brain-eating tale set in Eddie Brock’s earliest days!" reads Marvel's official description of Venom: Separation Anxiety. 

"This time, he’s teaming up with Venom and Death Of The Venomverse artist extraordinaire Gerardo Sandoval! Venom has made a new enemy. And their bond will be tested like never before when a foe with the power to alter reality itself threatens to tear Eddie’s world apart, starting with his symbiote!"

Purple Man is well-known to MCU fans as the villain of Jessica Jones season 1, played with terrifying menace by fan-favorite actor David Tennant. In comics, he was recently seen in the crossover Daredevil: Devil's Reign, in which Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, stole his mind-control powers and stored them in a cane.

Venom: Separation Anxiety #1 goes on sale May 15.

Eddie Brock tops the list of the best Venom hosts of all time.

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George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)

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