Diamond Select Toys' Spider-Man 3
Transformation Venom
With Mr. Stinkhead

I want to eat your brains! Goes the old addage from that delightful old codger, Venom. Then Topher Grace came along and ruined the character in this past summer's high-action (and singing!) flick Spider-Man 3. Well not totally, if he had totally ruined the character, I would not dig this bust, but I totally dig this bust! Totally? Totally.

My first favorite feature of this bust is that you can display it facing one way, and it's a great likeness of Venom. One half of his face is the twisted Venomous eye and gnarled smile (gnarley!) However, if you were to twist the bust around and face the otherway, it's Eddie Brock's head getting enveloped by sticky black goo, his last remaining human feature, his eye, about to be consumed by the power and vengenance of a dude who lost a girl to Tad Hamilton.

My second favorite feature is the paint job/sculpt. Althought his costume and the goo is all jet black, there are different textures and levels of glossiness, so it's very stunning up close... not just a glob of melted plastic—er resin. You'd think short cuts would be taken with something that's all black and lacking in a definate form, but no corners were cut with this bust (the film, yes, but not this bust).

I think this bust is gorgeous from all angles, and being able to display it as straight-up Venom (I prefer to call it full-potency Venom) OR as the Eddie Brock turning into Venom, thus illustrating the inner turmoil as one man is consumed by his own inner darkness (that's a bit too deep for my office), it's a double threat.

Speaking of eating brains check out these

Marvel Zombies Minimates - Dare Devil and Giant Man
These are the San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Minimates from DST and Art Asylum. The Marvel Zombie thing is huge right now, and the Minimates are following suit. These two from SDCC show the ravages of brainlust on Dare Devil and Giant Man. One nice thing on the Dare Devil is that his torso is actually painted-over transparent plastic, so you get a great 3D effect when looking at his ripped rib cage. The paint applications overall are very clean, and the design of the 'mates was crisp to begin with.

Another fun feature is with the Minimate body, you can easily pop off body parts to simulate a bad case of the dropsies. I had that once, it's a pain in the ass.

This bust is available now from your favorite comic retailers. More information is available on where to get these, and which other busts are available, on Diamond Select Toys' web site.

Article and photos ©2007 MillionairePlayboy.com.