YMMV / Carnage (2022)

• Broken Base: Some fans — particularly newer readers who discovering the character through Absolute Carnage and Extreme Carnage — are enjoying the series and heaping praise on Ram V taking Carnage in a new direction. Others — particularly older readers — loathe the direction Carnage has been taken in since Donny Cates' Venom run, especially Cletus and the Carnage symbiote having a falling out and parting ways, and consider anything less than a complete return to status quo — Cletus being resurrected, regaining the original Carnage symbiote, and going back to being a recurring Spider-Man and Venom villain — as garbage. A small number of fans are in the middle, not minding the overall direction of the story but lamenting the Series Continuity Error related to Extreme Carnage's ending or that it didn't pick up where Extreme Carnage left off.
• Complete Monster: See here for further information.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Elsie, a young girl corrupted by Carnage in the "Homecoming" story from Carnage Forever, became unexpectedly popular among the fandom, with many dubbing her the latest addition to the twisted "family" Cletus formed in Maximum Carnage and eagerly hoping to see her reappear in the main series.
• Fan Nickname: Carnage's armored look on the cover of the sixth and tenth issues has been nicknamed "Devil Carnage 2.0" in reference to Carnage's apotheosized form in Absolute Carnage, and has been deemed a badass look superior to "Devil Carnage 1.0".
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Where's Cletus?"^Explanation Right from the first issue it is established that the Carnage symbiote has parted ways with Cletus on poor terms, but this is never shown due to Ram V having been under the incorrect impression that Extreme Carnage had ended with Cletus abandoning it for the Extrembiote. With Cletus being conspicuously absent from the first seven issues of the series (save for flashbacks and a replica of his consciousness in Jon Shayde's head), fans of Carnage — particularly detractors alienated by the series' premise — had been wondering where the real Cletus was and why he decided not to follow through with his plan for godhood.
  • "Grendelnage" / "CINO" ^Explanation Detractors of the comic have taken to calling its iteration of the Carnage symbiote "Grendelnage" or "CINO" — short for "Carnage In Name Only" — to express their displeasure at the series involving the Carnage symbiote (which is technically the offshoot of the Grendel symbiote-dragon introduced in Donny Cates' Venom run, though as in Extreme Carnage it's treated as the original) and Cletus Kasady parting ways off-panel, the symbiote repeatedly disparaging its once-treasured bond with Cletus, and it once again sporting Knull's spiral emblem from Absolute Carnage.
  • "Mt. Continuity" ^Explanation In an interview, Al Ewing and Ram V downplayed the importance of strictly adhering to established continuity. While Ewing compared continuity to a spice used to season a dish rather than the main ingredient of a story, Ram V compared continuity to the mountains in the background with the story being the foreground — meaning the minute details don’t matter — and further compared Retcons and Series Continuity Errors to the different variations of mythological narratives across time. Fans who are sticklers for continuity — particularly wiki editors — took this comment very negatively, and began using it to mock Ram's writing and complain about continuity errors they noticed.
  • "Deadpool does Carnage better than Carnage!" ^Explanation With the Harrower creating a clone of the Carnage symbiote in Alyssa Wong's Deadpool (Vol. 9), many Carnage fans considered it a better portrayal of the symbiote than in the actual Carnage series... especially when Deadpool lost control of the symbiote in the fourth issue. And when the fourth issue ended with the a clone of Cletus Kasady bursting from Deadpool's chest and taking the Carnage symbiote back, Carnage fans were elated.
• Only the Creator Does It Right: The side-story in the first issue written by David Michelinie, Carnage's co-creator, was widely praised by fans of the character as an amazing return to form, in contrast to the main story's premise having alienated most Carnage fans.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The very premise of the series was such a radical shakeup to Carnage's usual status quo, which fans had been hoping for a return to ever since Absolute Carnage, that it was met with immediate backlash and outrage from hardcore Carnage fans, many of whom had been hoping for a followup to Extreme Carnage. While Cletus' gradual return has somewhat pacified the critics, the Carnage symbiote's Godhood Seeker quest has been treated with disdain by most fans of the character.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Extreme Carnage ended with the Carnage symbiote — piloted by Cletus Kasady's codex — assimilating the Extrembiote, turning into a symbiote-dragon, and flying away; with Agent Anti-Venom, Silence, Toxin, and Sleeper worrying about what he will do next. Carnage Vol. 3 opens with Cletus and the Carnage symbiote having gone their separate ways after a falling out, with the latter opting to execute Cletus' plan for godhood and the former nowhere to be seen for the first seven issues; many fans of the character to expressing disappointment the series didn't pick up where Extreme Carnage left off and have Cletus piloting Extrembiote Carnage with Anti-Venom, Silence, and Toxin trying to thwart his plans for godhood.
• Uncertain Audience: Fans of Carnage were alarmed and alienated by the very premise of the Carnage symbiote and Cletus Kasady going their separate ways — something not shown on-panel due to the assumption that it had already happened in Extreme Carnage — and Cletus' lack of presence beyond being mentioned by the symbiote is another big turn-off, making it unclear who the intended audience is for.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Kenneth "The Artist" Neely is a Knull-worshipping serial killer and Carnage fanboy responsible for numerous gruesome murders... but his nebbish personality, that he undergoes a protracted Humiliation Conga with numerous Heel Realizations, and the fact that Carnage is dragging him around seemingly for the sole purpose of disparaging him for not measuring up to Cletus Kasady and mocking his desire to become its next host have made a few readers feel sorry for him.