Carnage Modern Era Epic Collection 1: Carnage U.S.A.

The shocking stories that set the psychotic symbiote Carnage on the road to solo superstardom!

Carnage has returned to resume his symbiotic murder spree — and the Amazing Spider-Man and the Invincible Iron Man are first on his hit list! Together with his host, serial killer Cletus Kasady, Carnage looks to wreak some good, old-fashioned chaos in the small town of Doverton, Colorado — but standing in his way are heroes Spider-Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, the Thing and Wolverine; the special-ops Mercury Team; Dr. Tanis Nieves, A.K.A. Scorn; and the one and only Venom, now a government operative! But when Cletus finds a whole new microscopic world to terrorize, the Scarlet Spider and Venom must somehow work together to defeat him! And after performing unspeakable acts in the name of science, the Wizard unleashes a Superior Carnage on an unsuspecting world!

COLLECTING: Carnage (2010) 1-5, Carnage, U.S.A. (2011) 1-5, Minimum Carnage: Alpha (2012) 1, Scarlet Spider (2012) 10-11, Venom (2011) 26-27, Minimum Carnage: Omega (2012) 1, Superior Carnage (2013) 1-5

A writer for the Emmy Award-winning animated series Robot Chicken and co-creator of the stop-motion SuperMansion, Zeb Wells began making a name for himself at Marvel with his irreverent New Warriors limited series, which provided an inspiration for key story threads that would later appear in Civil War; he also wrote the Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways tie-in. His collaboration with the late Seth Fisher on Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan produced one of the 21st century’s most charming comics. Wells’ other credits include Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock, Venom: Dark Origin, Dark Reign: Elektra and Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One. He also contributed to the thrice-monthly “Brand New Day” era of Amazing Spider-Man, most notably with the “Shed” storyline; wrote two Carnage limited series; and helped relaunch New Mutants. Wells has returned to the world of the wall-crawler, teaming with the legendary John Romita Jr. for a new volume of Amazing Spider-Man.

Writer Cullen Bunn first worked in comics with artist Brian Hurtt on Oni Press’s The Damned and its follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, as well as The Sixth Gun. Now one of Marvel’s leading talents, he has co-written Captain America with Ed Brubaker and Venom with Rick Remender, whom he later succeeded as writer, and assembled the fan-favorite, all-female Fearless Defenders. Bunn launched Magneto into his own series for All-New Marvel NOW!, then made him the star of a darker-than-ever Uncanny X-Men roster. Bunn has joined the ranks of iconic Deadpool writers with a diverse range of limited series featuring the Merc with a Mouth and the ongoing Deadpool & the Mercs for Money.

Christopher Yost got his start in animation writing for the series X-Men: Evolution; he quickly worked his way up to head writer of shows like Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and the animated DVDs Hulk Vs. and Next Avengers. Yost broke into comics with his work on X-23 and is known for hard-hitting series like New X-Men, X-Force and the runaway hit Scarlet Spider.

Working in a unique style, Clayton Crain notably came into the public eye with the release of the Garth Ennis-written limited series Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation, followed by Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears. Following a well-received stint on Sensational Spider-Man, Crain helped relaunch X-Force with writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, redesigning the team for a new millennium. He has inimitably rendered the sinister, symbiotic foes of Spider-Man to great acclaim in Venom vs. Carnage and Carnage.

Lan Medina has illustrated District X and its House of M spin-off Mutopia X, Silver Surfer, Venom, Cable & Deadpool, Deathlok and Storm for Marvel. He drew the Alpha and Omega issues of the Minimum Carnage crossover between Scarlet Spider and Venom; the limited series Iron Man: Rapture; and both an adaptation of the movie Thor and a prelude to its sequel, Thor: The Dark World. He also has extensive experience with the MAX imprint, including on Foolkiller and Garth Ennis’ The Punisher. Medina was also the first Filipino artist to win the prestigious Eisner Award for his work on DC/Vertigo’s Fables. Other notable works include Aria, Stone and American Flagg.

After interning at Marvel in 2002 and showing his samples at a convention, Reilly Brown was hired to work on 2005’s Marvel Holiday Special, pitting the Avengers against an evil robotic Santa Claus. He later became the artist of Cable & Deadpool, co-writing the final issues of that title with Fabian Nicieza.