Meet Cult of Carnage: Misery villain Madness

Cult of Carnage: Misery #1 art
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Marvel's Summer of Symbiotes initiative is heating up with another new Carnage-centric story, Cult of Carnage: Misery, which revives the previous Cult of Carnage title from several years ago.

Written by Sabir Pirzada with art from Francesco Mortarino, Cult of Carnage: Misery arrives in May alongside the start of the Carnage Reigns crossover which pits Carnage against Miles Morales on the 30th anniversary of the classic '90s story Maximum Carnage. The limited series runs for four issues.

In the case of Cult of Carnage: Misery, the focus is on Red Goblin and his connection to Carnage, specifically on longtime Spider-Man supporting cast member Liz Allen, who is the mother of current Red Goblin Normie Osborn, who takes on her own symbiote known as Misery in the story. The story will also debut a new villain known as Madness.

Check out an early look at some unlettered interior pages from Cult of Carnage: Misery #1, along with some character designs for Madness by artist Francesco Mortarino and colorist Java Tartaglia:

"Liz Allen is the mother of Normie Osborn, who she is blissfully unaware is the all-new and all-deadly RED GOBLIN! But what Liz DOES know is that the Red Goblin has been active and has been seen VERY close to her home," reads Marvel's official solicitation text for Cult of Carnage: Misery #1.

"And after her late husband’s father, NORMAN OSBORN (maybe you’ve heard of him?), gets pulled into the chaos and violence swirling around Normie, Liz has no choice but to use the resources at her disposal as the head of ALCHEMAX to take matters into her own hands and become something the Marvel Universe has NEVER SEEN BEFORE!"

Cult of Carnage: Misery #1 goes on sale May 3. It will be an oversized 40 page issue, with a main cover from Skan, and variant covers from Leinil Francis Yu, Ryan Stegman, and Inhyuk Lee.

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George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)