YMMV / Venom (Mike Costa)

• Base-Breaking Character: Lee Price was introduced as the successor to the Venom symbiote after Flash Thompson, and this alone alienated fans of Agent Venom who'd been hoping for a continuation of Venom (Remender & Bunn). That he mentally dominated and began re-corrupting the recently-redeemed Venom symbiote also angered fans who'd come to appreciate the symbiote's Heel–Face Turn in Venom: Space Knight. That said, some fans thought Price's Venom form looked cool, liked his ruthless pragmatism, and appreciated the irony of him dominating and corrupting the Venom symbiote after what it had done to Mac Gargan and tried to do to Flash Thompson; hoping he would be Rescued from the Scrappy Heap and become a recurring antagonist. Most of the fandom's lingering goodwill towards him was burnt out when he brutally de-powered fan-favorite Andi Benton and kept her symbiote after Venom Inc. ended, with many celebrating his unceremonious demise in the lead-up to Absolute Carnage and others lamenting his wasted potential.
• Creator's Pet: Mike Costa intended Lee Price to have had a lengthier tenure as Venom than he got, and to become a recurring antagonist to Eddie Brock and Flash Thompson. The majority of the fandom, however, repudiated Price based on his "edgelord" appearance and abuse of the symbiote. The fact that he not only stole the Mania symbiote from fan-favorite Andi Benton but kept it after the Venom Inc. crossover further re-enforced the general fandom's hatred of Price, and many rejoiced when Donny Cates unceremoniously killed him off in the lead-up to Absolute Carnage.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Unlike the two villains introduced in Mike Costa's run, the Sleeper symbiote has been a hit with the Venom fandom thanks to it being raised by the Venom symbiote and Eddie to be good, and its unique design and power set. Its popularity was also helped by its appearance in Absolute Carnage, where it came to the rescue of Eddie's son Dylan and took on a badass wolf form and adorable cat form.
• Hype Backlash: Prior to the launch of Venom Vol. 3, Marvel — seemingly in response to the fandom's dislike of Brian Michael Bendis' cleansing of the symbiote in Guardians of the Galaxy — hyped up the Venom symbiote getting a new evil host who would put the recently-redeemed symbiote at-risk of backsliding into its bloodthirsty monstrous self. The new host, Lee Price, was almost universally repudiated among the Venom fandom and sales tanked, causing Marvel to cut Price's tenure as Venom short and return the symbiote to Eddie Brock by the sixth issue.
• The Scrappy: Lee Price was almost-immediately labelled a Sucksessor for Flash Thompson; and was lambasted for his Anime Hair and stoically cruel attitude. When he revealed his ability to mentally dominate the Venom symbiote and began abusing it, fans hated him even more and were happy to see the symbiote break free of his control. Price making his comeback by stealing fan-favorite Andi Benton's symbiote and keeping it after the end of Venom Inc. made him even more reviled.
• Sequelitis: Is considered this to Venom (Remender & Bunn), even though one could say it was already in hot water because of Venom: Space Knight by Robbie Thompson, which was already heavily reviled due to continuing the poorly-received new status quo established by Brian Michael Bendis in Guardians of the Galaxy. Costa's run not only opens with Flash and the symbiote separated, but replaces him with Lee Price, a brutal, sadistic asshole who one-ups Mac Gargan as a unrepentant, bloodthirsty Venom who does everything he can to undermine the restoration the symbiote went through in Space Knight. Once the host changes to Eddie the book starts Growing the Beard with Venom going straight again, fleshing out the Venom symbiote's character and Eddie succeeding in repairing the Venom symbiote's corruption from its tenure with Lee Price. However despite it hitting its stride, the book was constantly interrupted for the Poison trilogy written by Cullen Bunn, leaving the book with a mixed reception.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Fans quickly repudiated the implications that Eddie Brock had eaten people as Venom, with some critics complaining that it was like Costa got his information from the Marvel Database wiki and was trying to capitalize on the Venom movie's success by characterizing Eddie and the symbiote as being romantic partners — despite them having spent years trying to kill each other.
• Ugly Cute: Tana, the pterosaur dinosaur-person introduced in the "Lethal Protector" story-arc, was seen as being simultaniously grotesque and adorable due to her Beast Man appearance.