Spoilers for Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage #1 below
In the aftermath of Absolute Carnage from Marvel Comics, the Ravencroft Institute must be rebuilt in order to continue housing and rehabilitating the Marvel Universe's most violent and insane super-criminals. In the Ruins of Ravencroft mini-series, John Jameson, Misty Knight, Reed Richards, and Mayor Wilson Fisk make a shocking discovery that reveals the dark and sinister origins of the Ravencroft Institute and the land it sits upon. What follows is a history of the site and the dark tidings it carries, specifically in connection to the ancestry of one super villain in particular: Cletus Kasady, Carnage himself.
Ruins of Ravencroft #1 is written by Frank Tieri, with art by Angel Unzueta and Guiu Vilanova. The issue's story is split between the past and the present, with Unzueta doing the artwork for the modern-day and Vilanova taking on the past. In the modern-day, Jameson, Knight, Richards, and Fisk all find themselves together amidst the remains of the Ravencroft building. They all have their reasons for being there, and they all had some hand/role in the events of Absolute Carnage. Richards, in particular, wants to oversee the construction in order to make sure that it's done right. Fisk's motives and interest in Ravencroft are as of yet unclear, but given his criminal dealings, it can't be good. Together, they suddenly discover a fully intact journal in the rubble, containing the writings of Jonas Ravencroft, the institutes' founder, containing the knowledge of the cursed land that the building would one day sit upon.
According to the journal and provided flashbacks into the colonial past, Native American tribes would stay away from the land where not even flowers would grow. Eventually, cannibals would lurk in the shadows of the land, hiding in caves and killing any who came to close, creating demonic shrines and offerings to their dark god. The Native Americans would warn any colonists not to settle there. However, a couple named Mary and Cortland ignored the warnings and decided to settle on the land. One day, Mary was captured by the cannibals. After Cortland saves her, he goes after the monsters in a cave, seeing a massive cave painting of their evil god: Knull, God of Symbiotes.
Cortland walks out of the cave having gone insane, killing several colonists before being captured, held in a cage on the cursed land, the cage serving as the first facility for the criminally insane in the country, with Cortland being the country's first mass murderer. Cortland's last name is then shown to be Kasady, revealing that he was an ancestor to Cletus Kasady (Carnage). This connects Kasady to Knull even more via his family bloodline beyond just the recent events of Absolute Carnage. Mary's last name is also revealed to be Ravencroft.
Thanks to this first issue, Ravencroft now has a dark and demented origin to go with the dark individuals who reside within its walls. While it certainly is an interesting take on the building's history, it's hard not to make comparisons to the origins of DC Comics' Arkham Asylum from Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
In Arkham Asylum, the origins of the facility's creation are revealed via the diary of the building's founder and flashbacks to the past, where Amadeus Arkham family was tormented by a supernatural entity, causing Arkham to build the facility in the form of occult symbols to ward the spirit away, with Arkham himself eventually going mad. With that context, it's pretty easy to find the similarities between both of the facilities for the criminally insane. Even so, Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage #1 does a solid job in revealing the Ravencroft's past and connection to Absolute Carnage. Future issues look like they may look into the future of Ravencroft, so be on the lookout for the next issue, Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth!
Ruins of Ravencroft: Carnage #1 is in comic book stores now.