The first Venom title, Venom: Lethal Protector, was published in January 1993 and written by Venom co-creator David Michelinie. The story began the character's transition from unambiguous villain to anti-hero and introduced the aspect of reproduction to the Venom symbiote with the character's symbiote offspring (Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher and Agony),^[1] who would recur in Marvel comics until the 2011 Carnage, U.S.A. limited series. Seventeen other series were printed between August 1993 and January 1998, including 1994's Venom: Separation Anxiety (which continued the story of Venom's offspring and spawned the 1995 "Planet of the Symbiotes" cross-series story arc), 1996's Along Came a Spider (which introduced symbiote anti-hero Hybrid) and 1997's Venom: On Trial (which saw Eddie Brock tried for his crimes as Venom). Larry Hama wrote most of the individual series (eight in total), including the 1997 final installment (Venom: The Finale, which saw the symbiote apparently killed). The limited-series run consisted of 60 issues.
A new Venom series began in June 2003, written by Daniel Way. This series followed a new character, Patricia Robertson, and a clone of the Venom symbiote. Eighteen issues were produced by Way through November 2004, comprising the story arcs "Shiver" (#1-5), "Run" (#6-10), "Patterns" (#11-13), and "Twist" (#14-18).
In 2011, an ongoing Venom series began under writer Rick Remender with Spider-Man supporting character Flash Thompson in a leading role. The character regained the use of his legs while using the symbiote following their loss during his service in the Iraq War (as shown in The Amazing Spider-Man #574). As of August 2012, the series consisted of 22 issues. The first issue introduced new versions of the villains Crime Master and Jack O'Lantern, who would be recurring antagonists for Thompson. Issue #18 featured the return of Brock, who killed Hybrid and Scream in his crusade against the symbiotes and eventually bonded to the Toxin symbiote. The series was born after Thompson was first unveiled as the new Venom by writer Dan Slott in The Amazing Spider-Man #654. Remender was unsure how to develop the Thompson narrative until he realized that he was a tragic hero: a violent man, haunted by a drinking problem and physical abuse suffered at the hands of his father.^[2]
The series also introduced a new Crime Master: Betty Brant's brother Bennett, who had been thought dead. Remender and his co-writer Cullen Bunn developed the new character, with Bunn developing the idea of multiple Crime Masters existing throughout history. Thompson found an arch-rival in a new Jack O'Lantern, developed by Remender and artist Tony Moore. Remender decided that making him a parallel of Thompson would create a stronger nemesis; therefore, Jack was also given a traumatic childhood in which he was exploited by Crime Master. Venom #13 saw the first mini-event of the series: a crossover with the Red Hulk, X-23 and the new Ghost Rider. The event was initially conceived as a reunion of New Fantastic Four members Hulk, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and Spider-Man as part of a Venom-Wolverine crossover. As the idea developed with writer Jason Aaron, it was decided to incorporate those characters' legacy characters into the Red Hulk, X-23, the new female Ghost Rider and Thompson's Venom. Following the event, Thompson joined another Remender-written book (Secret Avengers).^[2]
Remender stopped writing Venom in August 2012 (after issue #22) to work on Captain America and the launch of Uncanny Avengers. He was replaced by Cullen Bunn, who had periodically worked as co-writer during Remender's term. The Venom character remained a member of the Secret Avengers, a series still written by Remender.^[2] In September 2012, Bunn said that Thompson would be moved from New York to Philadelphia from Venom #28. This relocation would allow the introduction of a new love interest, the superhero Valkyrie. Editor Tom Brennan explained "His superhero career almost cost him everything...this is a good man with a troubled past who needed a fresh start...to take his next steps in becoming the hero he was born to be."^[3] Marvel editor Stephen Wacker said the location change reflected Marvel's desire to expand the Marvel universe beyond New York City