The following contains major spoilers for Venom #8, available now from Marvel Comics.

Marvel's King in Black unlocks a new "war-symbiote command protocol" in Venom #8.

Venom #8 comes from writer Al Ewing, penciler Bryan Hitch, inkers Andrew Currie and Andy Owens, color artists Alex Sinclair and Pete Pantazis and letterer VC's Clayton Cowles. In the preview, Eddie Brock's consciousness is still trapped in the Garden of Time while his son, Dylan, is bonding with the Venom symbiote on Earth. Having encountered other Kings in Black during his time in the Garden and looking for a way to escape, Eddie is reflecting on his past -- specifically, the moment that he first bonded with the Venom symbiote at Our Lady of Saints Church -- when he suddenly goes through a rapid and unexpected change.

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Following the detection of a "mind-link," Eddie activates a "war-symbiote command protocol" that transforms him into a new, mega-powerful symbiote creature. "Switching from deck duty -- ceding body control to pilot-mind in three! Two! One!" the symbiote's voice reads. "For the conqueror's glory -- we are the war!" A somewhat confused Eddie reflects, "Okay. This...is new."

Eddie and the new symbiotic suit then find themselves dislodged back into the timestream and stranded on Earth in the year 60,134. Working with the new suit, Eddie battles a number of Kang the Conqueror's soldiers before he comes face-to-face with Kang, himself. During the fight with the soldiers, the new suit identifies itself as a "warstar-class, type-two battle-Klyntar." In Marvel lore, Klyntar is an artificial planet established as a home to alien symbiotes.

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Venom #8 ends with Kang offering to teach Eddie how to move his way through the timestream so that he won't be stuck in the Garden of Time. Eddie is reluctant to trust Kang; however, he's also desperate to return to his son back on Earth. As Kang departs, he goes to visit the "little conqueror's room," who is revealed to be Meridius, a new villain introduced earlier in the current Venom run.

Eddie's consciousness became entrapped in the mysterious Garden of Time in Venom #1 after Dylan was forced to watch his father die right in front of him. Since then, Dylan and the Venom symbiote have reluctantly worked together to fight Bedlam, a red-and-black symbiote with some serious rage issues. Eddie has also encountered Bedlam in the Garden of Time, as he intervened in a fight between Finnegan, another King in Black, that led to Bedlam's escape.

Venom #8 features cover art by Bryan Hitch and Alex Sinclair and variant cover art by Stephen Segovia and Richard Isanove. The issue is now on sale from Marvel.

Source: Marvel