So, over on (a pirate site) I see they have Venom Wars #2.
Hey, great! I like Venom. But I'm not a regular comic book reader. I'm very much a newbie. So I figure "Well, thats part 2, I should get part 1 first."
And that's where all the trouble began. There's like 10 different comic branches all called "Venom Wars 1" and they all have different covers. And they all have assumingly different stories!
I just want to read a Venom comic book, where he does the Venom things! And now I see the description "The symbiot has bonded with Eddie, and his son Derek"
WHO THE FUCK IS DEREK??? I thought Eddie was supposed to be a high schooler in Peter Parkers class! How does a 16 year old have a son???
So now I'm REALLY confused! I feel like I need a comic before the comic to get me caught up to the comic, but only if THATS the comic I'm supposed to read, because there's also 10 comics all named the same thing.....and I'm not experienced enough to know what the fuck I'm doing.
I assume I'M the probem, with my lack of knowledge on the subject, but also.........what the hell even is this? I thought "Venom Wars #1" would be enough in the search bar to get me the comic to read about Venom.
I'm not even sure what "Venom Wars" is, but I assume it's Venom, having some kind of war from Venom's perspective with Spiderman, or maybe Carnage. Or whomever. But I assume it's a story told through Venom/Eddies perspective. But where do I start? I assumed #1 would be the start of the story.
And now I'm overwhelmed, and don't know what is going on.
(Whew) now that the mod post is out of the way, lets talk about the actual question:
Generally, when there's a big event like this, someone will put out a reading order or checklist. Sometimes it's Marvel themselves on the last page or couple of pages of every book, other times it's a fan source like this:
https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comics/event/14402/venom-war
There were actually FOUR books before Venom War #1.
Also, when it comes to a character you aren't familiar with, there are fan sites that run down every single appearance of theirs.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Dylan_Brock_(Earth-616)
https://cmro.travis-starnes.com/character_details.php?page=3&list_type=1&limit=30&order_listing=1&character=29625