Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1 [Comic Dub]

Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety #1 (August 14, 2019)

HELLISH HORROR IN THE MIGHTY MARVEL MANNER! Since the conclusion of DEADPOOL VS. CARNAGE, four of the five LIFE FOUNDATION SYMBIOTES – Riot, Phage, Agony and Lasher – have been bonded to a stray dog, wandering the Midwest. But as Carnage descends on New York, its siblings will find it impossible to resist the siren song of KNULL…

Welcome all to this casting of Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety! This is a one-shot comic book tied in to the Absolute Carnage story arc. 

Here is the story:

A ragged-looking German Shepherd walks down a sunset-lit suburb in Carrington Cottage, Colorado; spotting a young girl sitting on a front step and sobbing. Noticing the dog, the girl - Sadie - tearfully wonders where it came from. As the dog licks her face, Sadie manages a smile and scratches behind its ears, noticing it's not wearing a collar. Her mother's voice shouts for her to get into the house and finish packing, Sadie hugging the dog before turning to go, lamenting that all her parents do these days is argue and fight, seemingly not caring how heartbreaking it is for her and her little brother Billy to watch their family be torn apart. Crying again, Sadie tells the German Shepherd that she wishes that her family could stay whole and not have to leave, asking if the dog still wants to come inside even after everything she's said. Deciding to let the dog in until she can figure out who it belongs to, Sadie whispers for it to be quiet as she tiptoes past the living room - where her parents are having a shouting match. Sitting down and glancing between them just as Sadie's mother - Tess - accuses her estranged husband of not being aware of what's happening in his own home, the German Shepherd abruptly transforms into a Lovecraftian nightmare of fangs and tentacles - Hybrid - and lets out a roar.

In the attic, Billy sits reading a comic book when he hears a knock. Demanding the password, he lets Sadie in and is intrigued when she excitedly tells him she has a big surprise to show him. Grabbing his hand, Sadie pulls him to the living room just in time to see the dog has transformed into a Carpenter-esque abomination, her father in the process of being engulfed by an amorphous black mass and transformed into a hulking beast with a fanged maw, crimson tubes extruding from its abdomen like disemboweled intestines, and a red spiral for eyes - Riot. Pursued by an amorphous pink mass, Sadie's mother tells her children to run, but is engulfed and transformed into a monster with hair-like tendrils - Agony. Grabbing Billy, Sadie runs for the front door but is blocked by Agony, who tells her and her brother to stay. Gouging the wall with his talons, Riot points out that this is what she told them she wanted - for her family to stay together. The doorbell suddenly rings and Agony transforms into her human form to answer it. Their neighbor states he heard screaming and is wondering if everything is alright, Agony inviting him in for some lemonade. Sadie screams for him to run and get help, but before the neighbor can react Agony spits a jet of acid into his face, dragging him inside as he agonizingly dies. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sadie grabs her brother and runs.

In the attic, Billy asks what happened to their parents, noting that the monsters that have taken them resemble Venom. Sadie tells him to be quiet, but Billy tells her that Spider-Man always uses fire and loud noises to beat symbiotes. Peeking through the attic door as the Phage symbiote oozes past, Sadie tells her brother she's going to make a break for the phone in her parents' room as soon as the coast is clear. Riot abruptly rips through the floor, telling them that dinner is on the table. Grabbing a portable radio, Billy turns the volume up all the way, the symbiote screeching in discomfort. Just as Sadie thinks it's working, Riot snarls that he's told them a hundred times to turn the racket down and crushes the radio in his claws. Crawling through the rafters, Riot snarls that he and his brethren heard her cries and commiserated with her desire to be whole, repeating that they're just giving her what she asked for. The Lasher symbiote rips through the floor and reaches its pincer-tipped tentacles towards her, but Sadie grabs Billy and drops through the hole in the floor that Riot made. Riot follows and snares Billy with tendrils, snarling at them to look at him when he's talking to them, but Sadie manages to pull her brother free.

Hiding in the washroom, Sadie listens as Riot snarls that he's giving them until the count of three to come out of hiding. Cowering in the bathtub as Riot counts down, Sadie tells her brother to not make a sound, not noticing the Phage symbiote oozing from the faucet until it latches onto Billy. Recoiling out of the bathtub, Sadie watches in horror as her little brother is transformed into a yellow monster with blade-tipped arachnoid limbs. Accompanied by the Lasher symbiote, Riot opens the door and peers inside, Sadie cowering behind the toilet and begging them to leave her alone. As Phage tells her that being bonded to a symbiote isn't so bad and that they can be a happy family again, Sadie notices a lighter and a can of hairspray, turning them into a makeshift flamethrower as she snaps that the four monsters will never be her family. Unaffected by the blaze, Riot repeats that she asked for a way for her fractured family to stay together, quipping that it's time for some quality bondi

ng time. As the hairspray runs out, Sadie makes a break for the front door and almost makes it - freezing in horror as she sees Agony setting the table for dinner - her neighbor's corpse laid out in a grotesque parody of a Thanksgiving turkey. The Lasher symbiote snares Sadie and secures her to one of the chairs, who watches in horror as the symbiotes enact a nightmarish parody of a stereotypical suburban dinner - Agony asking Sadie if she washed her hands as Riot arrives and apologizes for being late with work. As Agony asks where Sadie's brother went, Phage pops up behind Sadie and makes her scream. Admonishing him, Agony tells him not to sneak in any bites until after they say Grace. Linking hands, Riot, Agony, and Phage utter a prayer to Knull thanking him for the bountiful feast on the table. As they rip into the neighbor's body, Riot asks Phage how Billy's day at school was and admonishes him for name-calling when he reports an instance of bullying. Agony asks Riot how his day at work was, and he quips that it's the same old - another day, another dollar. Sobbing, Sadie apologizes for doing this to her family, Agony gently stating that she has nothing to be sad about - she should be proud she brought her family back together. Riot tells her that he wants to see her plate clean or she won't get dessert, Agony admonishing Phage when he offers to eat Sadie's share. Raising a wine-glass, Agony proposes a toast to Sadie, saying that thanks to her she and her siblings can make their pilgrimage to witness Knull's triumphant return - Riot and Phage agreeing as the three symbiotes drip part of their constituent matter into the glass. The symbiote-matter swirls into the shape of a crimson spiral as the Lasher symbiote forces her to grab the wine glass, but just as it brings the glass to her lips she smashes it and slashes the tendril it has wrapped around her arm. Shouting that they're not her family, she makes a break for the door, but just as she clears the front step the Lasher symbiote engulfs her and drags her back inside.

The next morning, Sadie's parents finish packing their car - the picture of a happy suburban family. As they pile into the car, her father cheerfully asks if they're ready for the move to New York, Tess remarking that she packed snacks in case they get hungry. As Sadie pouts, Billy starts a game of "I Spy." Grinning, Sadie transforms into Lasher and answers that she spies something red.