Marvel has revealed that Venom #1, written by Donny Cates with art by Ryan Stegman, is heading back to press after selling over 200,000 copies. The series, which focuses on the original Venom host Eddie Brock,  takes him “…on an adventure like he’s never seen before” says Donny Cates in an interview with comicbook.com. “The marketing campaign behind it, some of the blurbs that you’ve probably seen say, ‘The horror story a thousand years in the making,’” Cates said. “And that is certainly true. As far as comparisons to past Venom stories, this is the biggest one. This opening arc is called ‘Rex,’ and ‘Rex’ is going to see a new threat that is bigger, stronger, probably the scariest thing that Venom’s ever gone up against, and its tendrils kind of touch every single corner of the Marvel U.”

“This is a thing that’s incredibly old and incredibly powerful,” he continued. “It’s something that only Venom can face. In that sense, tone-wise, I’ve been reading a lot of Lovecraft and a lot of Stephen King, a lot of stuff like that. I’m not going to promise that the entire run is going to be like a horror story, but this first arc I’ve been describing as like a Lovecraftian action film. And to whatever the hell extent that makes any sense, that’s what it is.”

The story draws on themes established in the Flash Thompson Venom/Venom Space Knight stories, giving a broader background to the symbiote species, and the connection between them and their hosts. It also delves into the history of symbiotes on earth, revealing that Spider-Man’s original encounter was not the first time they had arrived on our planet, not by a long shot.

Venom #1 is in stores now.

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