10 Scariest Halloween Themed Superhero Stories
6. Venom: Father's Day
In a story titled “Father’s Day” written by Rick Remender and drawn by Declan Shalvey, Flash Thompson, the current host of the Venom symbiote, is tracking Jack O’ Lantern, who is killing his way across New York City. Flash believes the deaths are increasing because it is Father’s Day and Jack is angry about the death of his adopted father, Crime-Master.
As Flash searches for Jack O’ Lantern, he remembers several bad incidents with his own father, Harrison. His often drunken father beat him, belittled him, and diminished his successes. The symbiote suggested that Thompson deserved his father’s anger because he was a failure but Flash dismissed this idea. When Venom found Jack O’ lantern, he entered a room to see his father’s head has a candle inside it, which was the villain’s trademark. The door slammed closed and Harrison’s body fell over and showed a bomb beneath him that exploded and injured Thompson.
Jack O’ Lantern attacked Venom from behind and slashed open his stomach. Flash crawled over to the corpse and grabbed the gun out of his father’s holster and shot Jack several times. He stopped short of killing Jack, deliberately choosing to not emulate his father’s violent nature. Jack was returned to the Raft prison and Flash recounted his adventure to the Secret Avengers.