Spider-Man: Birth of Venom

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) #252-259, 300, 315-317

by Tom DeFalco, David Michelinie (Illustrator), John Byrne

Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #252-259, #300 and #315-317, Web Of Spider-Man (1985) #1 and material from Secret Wars #8, Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #298-299, Fantastic Four #274, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #25.

The Beyonder's Battleworld might seem a strange place to get new threads, but it's Spider-Man who becomes unraveled when his shape-changing costume attempts to darken his life as well as his fashion sense! But ridding himself of his riotous raiment proves an even greater mistake when its alien enmity bonds with mortal madness to form our hero's most dedicated decimator! Plus: the first appearances of Puma and the Rose! Mary Jane Watson's startling secret! And the debut of the battling...Bag-Man!? Guest-starring the Black Cat, the Fantastic Four and more!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Spider Man, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Tom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well-known for his association with Marvel Comics and Spider-Man.

Reviews

[Sr3yas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did you know that the whole Venom fiasco happened just because Peter went shopping in a wrong intergalactic boutique showroom during Secret War II story arc?


Dang it, Hulk, give him better directions!

The first couple of chapters revolve around Spider-Man running around and fighting crime while showing off his new threads. Little did he know that he is wearing a living symbiote organism craving to take him over!

Peter as Spider-man in black suit fights organized mafia, Jack O'Lantern (The Pumpkin head man), a resurrected Hobgoblin and Mind-controlled shape-shifting apes (No, I DID NOT just make that up). He even gave couples therapy to two random citizens of his city.

The standout fight was the two-issue story arc which introduced Puma to marvel universe. Characterization of Puma and the fight between him and Spidy was the high point of this collection.


At halfway point of this 300+ pages collection, Peter finds the truth about his black suit with the help of fantastic four. Spidy isolates the symbiote and places it in Baxter building for safekeeping, but it gets out and binds itself again with Peter.

This leads to the Chapel scene


And Eddie Brock.


Well, Comic book Eddie is a million times better than the terrible movie Eddie. He is powerful, cunning, and motivated to kill Peter.

The problem with 80's Spider-Man is the pure daytime opera storytelling style which made my eye roll roll roll. Stuff like Aunt May's fight with Peter, Black Cat's love/hate relationship with Spidy/Peter and the sudden appearance of Mary Jane and aftermath were pure family drama.


As for Venom and associated stories, they were fine, but not great. At one point, it even started to get weird.


Overall, Fun and uneven collection of comics featuring the early days of Venom!

[Katherine (Kat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars
Individual Issues Rated Below -

Amazing Spider-Man #252: 3.5/5
Amazing Spider-Man #253: 3.5/5
Amazing Spider-Man #254: 3/5
Amazing Spider-Man #255: 2/5
Amazing Spider-Man #256: 3/5
Amazing Spider-Man #257: 4/5
Amazing Spider-Man #258: 4/5
Amazing Spider-Man #259: 3/5

Amazing Spider-Man #300: 4.5/5 Stars

Amazing Spider-Man #315: 4/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #316: 4.5/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #317: 4.5/5 Stars

Web Of Spider-Man (1985) #1: 3.5/5 Stars
Secret Wars #8: 4/5 Stars

Amazing Spider-Man #298: 3.5/5 Stars
Amazing Spider-Man #299: 3.5/5 Stars

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #25: 3/5
Fantastic Four #274: 2.5/5

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduction of the infamous Spider-Man villain, Venom.
The book contains many adventures of Spider-Man in the black costume, and finally his return to the classic colours. There are a lot of dramatic sub plots as well which were too cheesy at times, but also humanised the characters.

[Saurabh Kadam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure what is real origin story.. meteor or wrong clothing machine...🤣

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book definitely had some silly stuff you usually find in older comics, it was still very entertaining. Spider-man has a lot going on. From dating Black Cat, issues with his aunt, his relationship ship with MJ, all the different villains that want to kill him, Plus an alien suit that wants to bond with him. Man does Spidey have a lot on his plate. A great fun read.

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

300319: when my brother and me were old enough to read word books our mother, school librarian, would let us read no more graphic of any sort. so i missed out on who knows how much boy culture through late 70s on, until as an adult i heard of ‘love and rockets’, so looked at some. until i became friends with riley rossmo, illustrator, i knew about ten books... now i have read/looked at i do not know something like 370... but still, almost all are ‘artsy’ and not ‘superheroes’. i recall reruns of spiderman on tv then movies then this, years later. movie on venom just out, i decided to read ‘origin story’...

something i can talk to riley about. rather than the usual ‘what’ of any story, things like plot, character, world etc. as in word books i am interested in the ‘how’ again. that is, how the story is told. do not know to what extent this collection exemplifies superhero 🦸‍♂️ comics, multiple storylines, many nearly indestructible villains, ‘comic book’ science as serves fantasy not logic, lots of explanatory monologues, identifiable, essential, consistent psychology... but then i have to think of the likely readers at least of superheroes comics, kids at least at first, then getting more ‘adult’ over the years. cannot see much ambivalence as it seems mostly that at least for spidey, motivations of villains are darker and resolutions are somewhat bittersweet. ironic in a comic book way...

it is the art that intrigues. unfortunately the issues are not calendar-dated only ordered, so i go by cues in images, clothes, hair, technology etc. but also in assumptions of middle class middle americans about life, love, loyalty etc. then in more recent work, perhaps only reflecting that artist, the illustration style leans heavily on hypertrophy of everything and everyone in size of muscles/breasts and then intense definition/representation of everything from hair to eyes to trucks to cars. this style bores me. i like the stories as they certainly sound like classical mythology, i read the ‘synopses’ of things that happen but not shown then think of how fun it would be to just drop them out... but then i do like some abstraction and it works as film this way. this is fun. on the other, maybe i will just watch the films, listen to riley, rather than look at more superhero comics...

[Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoo boy, these comics have not aged well. Which is sad, because it's not entirely their fault. So much about comics and the way they're published has changed since these originally were printed, that their nuances and writing techniques can be bothersome to modern readers. Which is also sad because the story here is pretty dang entertaining.

The main problem with Birth of Venom is that when it was originally written, collected editions of every issue of every comic series weren't made. Readers had to go a month in between issues. A reader couldn't just wait for a trade to come out and read a concise story from beginning to end. As a result, nearly without fail, every new issue contained an in-story summary of the last issue's events. In this case, summaries that are sometimes pages long with almost nothing new added to the table. This probably wasn't a problem back in the 80's, but when you're reading each issue back to back in a collection like this, the technique becomes incredibly annoying.

Compounding this problem is that this collection is too long. The first half of the book moseys about slowly trickling out tiny details about the symbiote while Spider-Man faces off against villains who are decidedly not Venom. In fact, the first half seems to be leading up to a climactic confrontation with the Hobgoblin, only to completely skip it once we finally know enough about the symbiote so that Venom actually makes sense. It all feels disjointed and overlong.

Modern readers looking for a history lesson might also be annoyed by the differences in certain key characters who are (obviously) suddenly missing a few decades worth of character development. Characters like Mary Jane, who, at the first sign of trouble, literally runs to cry in her teddy bear instead of showing the bravery she's more commonly known for today.

This isn't to say that Birth of Venom is all bad, as when it finally gets going, it's rather exciting. Venom is so popular among fans for a reason and his battles with Spidey here are a pretty good showing of why. He's scary, strong and frighteningly determined. It's just a shame you have to wade through stories highly irrelevant to him to find that out.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is pretty much what you'd expect. No. Actually it's not, because if you read the issues before Venom comes along on the ongoing Amazing Spider-Man series that's included in this volume, and the issues that's after Venom goes away, you'll pretty much feel the good ol'feeling of "you only appreciate what you have once it's gone" and this one proves that shit right here.

Great fun story, that gives more than just nostalgia if you read it back then, and with some amazing (YEAH THAT'S RIGHT) artwork to go along with it.

Recommended!

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad collection. To be honest I think I would have preferred just getting the Todd Mcfarlane Spider-Man Omnibus, as all of the issues that feature Venom are also in that collection. Overall, though this was much cheaper although the trade title is somewhat misleading. Venom is only in a few issues in this entire thing as they show the build up of pretty much the entirety of Spidey in the black suit. Good stories nonetheless. Lots of good characterization for both Pete and MJ. Pretty exciting story and Todd Mcfarlane’s art still looks beautiful as ever.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really solid collection that showcases the history of Venom and gives a good snapshot of comics evolving over a period of time (specifically the 80s). A great read for Comic Book Club discussion.

[Starlight Kid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never been big on Venom and stories like this are why.

If your looking for a great graphic novel about one of the best marvel villains read Kravens Hunt

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up as a huge Spider-Man fan, I knew all the villains and had all the action figures to prove it. My favorite villain by far was always Venom – he just looked so cool and intimidating! Although the extent to which I knew this character only included his stint in the Spider-Man Playstation One game, I always held that he was the best villain in the Spider-Man universe.

Now being much older, I wanted to look into all of the Venom stories of the old comics that I was too young to appreciate before. I, of course, started with Birth of Venom, which chronicles Venom's beginnings and his earliest encounters with Spidey...or does it?

I'd say 80% of this collection deals with the alien costume (or symbiote) while its host was Spider-Man. It briefly recounts the origin of the alien costume from the Secret Wars event, then jumps straight into the moment Spider-Man returns to Earth with his new look. From here, we get typical Spidey stories but with the added bonus of having the symbiote tag along. Only later into the graphic novel do we finally see the separation of the symbiote and Spider-Man, which leads into the origin of Venom. I really liked these alien costume Spider-Man stories, but wasn't this a Venom collection? Shouldn't he have been the focal point of the graphic novel and not just the afterthought?

We do eventually get Venom, but his reveal comes as more of a twist to readers than it does an expected development. The problem with that is, the "twist" was given away by the title! We expected Venom all along, and to treat his first appearance as some sort of unexpected arrival in Spider-Man's story doesn't work well in the context of this graphic novel. I can see how, back in the day, reading individual comic issues gave readers a greater appreciation for these kinds of surprises, but when it gets bunched into one big collection, the effect is lost. Though hardly a collection about Venom, it does give us what we came here for...eventually.

I love Venom, don't get me wrong. I thought he was great in this collection, but I never would have pegged his origin as coming from so out of nowhere as it was presented here. That's not a knock on the graphic novel, but more so on the quality of comic writing that created Venom in the first place. The writers needed a place for the symbiote to go after it was rejected by Spider-Man, so instead of spending a couple of issues finding the best fit character for this abandoned parasitic being, we get thrust onto this unknown character named Eddie Brock. He literally comes from nowhere and has no substantive preexisting character development to speak of. All we get is some exposition about how Spider-Man apparently ruined Brock's life when he solved the Sin Eater case (from The Death of Jean DeWolff). You see, Brock thought he got the scoop when he interviewed the supposed Sin Eater for his newspaper, but it turned out that guy was just a fake. Therefore, Brock was viewed as a fraud and was subsequently fired...and he blames Spider-Man for this? I'd be more angry with my boss for taking such drastic measures against me for making an honest mistake. Has he never heard of a retraction? If Eddie Brock worked in journalism nowadays, he'd be lauded by the likes of CNN for pushing fake news! But I digress...I thought Eddie Brock was supposed to be a well-established character in the Spider-Man universe prior to bonding with the symbiote, but I guess I was wrong about that.

The last 20% of Birth of Venom contain Venom's first encounter with Spider-Man, and these issues are pretty good – better than most first encounters between Spidey and a new villain. I thought it felt out of place at this point for Venom to pop up as suddenly as he had, but at least his fights and interactions were fun and tense. I think this graphic novel would have been better off being titled something along the lines of The Alien Costume Saga (like the animated series of the '90s had named this story arc) rather than marketing it as solely Venom's origin. Keeping Venom's name out of the title would have given readers an unexpected twist when they finally do see Venom emerge for the first time. I think that would have slightly helped this collection, since readers would not have been anticipating Venom the whole time and thus could not be disappointed when he only shows up at the very end.

Although Venom's origin did not live up to my grandiose childhood expectations for his character, I did enjoy finally getting to see my favorite villain in action in his intended medium of comic books. He looked just as cool and creepy as I imagined he would look, and he did not disappoint in his battles with Spider-Man. I highly recommend Spider-Man: Birth of Venom to those looking for a greatest-hits of the symbiote, spanning from its attachment to Spider-Man all the way up to its bonding with Brock to give us Venom. I do have to stress that this is not the graphic novel to read if you only want to see Venom and nothing else since a lot of it focuses on Spidey and the occasional one-off villain. For an all Venom all the time kind of graphic novel, see Spider-Man: The Vengeance of Venom, which is cover-to-cover about Venom, or any number of his limited series like Venom: Lethal Protector.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weeeell, that was pretty awesome to see the origin story of Venom!!
The used language felt pretty dated.. of course, we're talking about a graphic novel from the 60's.. But still better than a lot of the newer things..

Loved the graphics... Raw and tasty :)

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a great example of best of spider-man, some stories are kind of a snooze like the ones with puma amd the rose, but the main beats of this collection are great. Overall essential for venom fans and others who are doing a re-read throught the webslingers classic tales

[Jiddy⁷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I’m in love with black alien goo. 🤷‍♀️🖤

[Casey Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun! Dated but fun.

[NewWorldGod · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[J.L. Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool way to get a collection following just one character, which is nice for cutting out the many overlapping plot lines always happening in comics. It does make for slightly weird reading just bc of the chunks of time taken out and summarized, which sometimes dumps the reader into a totally different situation and style. Still a fun and unique read overall, though, if you're prepared for those kinds of abrupt shifts. I will say, and I know this is personal preference, but I just HATE the 80s comic art, which was the last chunk of this collection. I genuinely find it so ugly and bizarre it's distracting to my whole reading experience, but again, I do know that's not a universal opinion. I was also surprised by the vaguely romantic (sexual??) vibes that happened with Venom and Peter at the end, which I suppose makes sense but also felt sort of out of left field after the rest of the collection. That said, still a fun way to get a snapshot of Spiderman comics that follow one major arch!

[Jesusgonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was the awesome birth of the most coolest character in the marvel comics

[Saxon · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, the pros of this book:

1: Despite a lot of people stating they do not like the graphics, I actually enjoyed them. There is a type of nostalgia that you experience was old school type graphics which made the book more enjoyable. The graphics are nice and colorful and could potentially be an eye-popper depending on the reader.

2: The length of this book is nice, especially for those who like to get their money's worth when they buy a book. This book tops out over 300 pages so there's a lot of story to go around.

3: The fact that this is Spider-Man makes it easier for individuals reading who are not big superhero fans to follow, because most people have heard of Spider-Man, so it's easier to understand the general backstory when you are reading it, even if you don't like Marvel or superheroes.

The Con's

1: Oh where do I start? The one major con for me is how corny and cheesy the language was in this book. Like others have said, it did not age well. The way Spider-Man talks to people generally don't talk like that which makes him hard to relate to and see as human. This makes it hard to connect to the character when you are reading.

2: The one annoying thing about this book is how repetitive it was. I think in almost every issue within this book, it had to be mentioned and explained what Spider-Man "spider senses" do. I think in a later issue in this book it Peter Parkers spider senses were explained three times in one chapter. I understand this book has multiple books in it so they are separate issues telling a story that comes together but hearing things being explained to you multiple times to the point where it gets repetitive such as the spider senses and the costume feeling weird and then the costume doing something weird that is pretty much the whole story summed up.

3: The stories in itself we're not that good. The first half of the book or before the 200-page mark has no Venom in it whatsoever. This is about 3/4 of the overall book. The first 200 pages can be summed up as Spider-Man costume feeling weird when he wears it or Spider-Man's costume doing something weird when he does not wear it. That is literally the whole point of the book and its first 200 pages.

4: This one is a big one, but there is very little Venom in the actual story. I think Venom was only included in the last three issues of this whole book. So if I had to guess maybe after the 250 pagemark out of 300 or so pages. So a very slim part of the book contains Venom. Those parts of the book we're quite enjoyable but 80% of the book was quite slow and basically a very boring read.

5: Last of all, the main characters we're not that interesting. The Black Cat wasn't likeable, Mary Jane wasn't likable. Aunt May wasn't likeable. Especially Peter Parker was not likeable. Peter Parker was presented as being very cocky and overly sarcastic to the point where it was painful to read. These characters are just not relatable and they aren't likeable. It's hard to read this book when you have none of those things included in the book.

Who is this book for?

This book will most definitely please Marvel fans and superhero fans. Those two things alone could be enough for this type of individual to enjoy this book.

Who is this book not for?

Anyone who likes an in-depth story with great character development a wonderful cast and a protagonist and antagonist with individuals you can relate with no matter who you are. Also this book is not for people who do not like old-school comic graphics and repetitive dialogue.

[Sans · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cosmicizer, wtf.

And the paperbag. That needs to make a comeback.

Honestly, I'm not surprised Venom hates Peter. Up and abandoning the symbiote like that and tell it he never wants to see it again? Rude.

[void · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excuse me while I skip a lot of issues to get to the point. Ill start at the issue where Spider-Man figures its best he ditch the suit.

We have the Puma, entered into a contract by the Rose. Starts with Spider-Man breaking a fight with some criminals and then he and Black Cat knock out the rest of them. Spider-Man makes an early night. MJ makes her first appearance in the book while Parker's made a visit to Robby about his photos. The rest of the issue makes it a job to stress Puma's identity and Puma is still trying to finish off Spider-Manin the next issue, but Black Cat intervenes and he is forced to attack later that night. Or maybe it's early morning. I can't tell, but the sky's blue now and it was pretty dark in contrast when Puma attacked the second time. Puma loses his temper and kicks something at Spider-Man, misses, and it goes out the building. Spider-Man saves a street from being crushed by it and Puma decides to let Spider-Man return to full strength. End of the comic, Puma's contract with the Rose is terminated and MJ has let Peter know that she knows he's Spider-Man. Oh yeah, and the Hobgoblin in shows up. Guess he's making a contract now.

Next issue, Peter tries to resolve the conflict with MJ, but she storms out, and Black Cat comes in. Later Spider-Man decides to have his suit checked out by Reed Richards, and right as they're studying the symbiote, we cut to the Hobgoblin, who takes out a bunch of the Rose's men to prove he's the Hobgoblin. Not sure why that couldn't have been crammed in the last issue, but whatever. The Fantastic Four find that the costume is actually a symbiote, which needs to bond to another host to survive. The Human Torch gives Spider-Man a F4 suit and a paper bag to put over his head. MJ returns to Peter's house to make up with him, and last part of the issue the symbiote is raging inside its "cell". Figure it's ready to go, but the F4 don't think so, and so it stays where it is.

We move on to the next issue, where MJ tells Peter all about her tragic past and the Hobgoblin strikes, attacking this guy and demanding 10% of his income. The issue ends with Peter putting on his Spider-Man outfit. The next chapter starts with the symbiote breaking free. Now, even though Spider-Man cast it out, it really wants to bond with this guy. This part has Spider-Man first wring to swing,walk, and ride to the Baxter Building. All attempts = epic fails. I wish this had continued for one or two more panels. Oh well.

Anyway, after those panels of him trying to get rid of it, Pigeon-boy attacks him. Spider-Man somehow manages to head for the bell tower. Noise is unbearable. Not wanting to have Pigeon-boy's death on his conscience, he pushes him out. Peter succumbs to the bells before the symbiote does, but it saves him cause it can't just let him die.
So, even now, after it's left, we're over halfway through with the book. We haven't met Venom yet, and the symbiote is still out there.

Also... I wonder how the city-dwellers reacted to Parker running home in just his underwear? I can see why his homecoming wasn't shown. Instead we skip to Eddie Brock saying something about how Spider-Man ruined his life. Next panel, this happens:

Readers have whined about how Venom coming to MJ's apartment and trying to exploit Parker's position is so demeaning to MJ's character. Venom is after Parker, not MJ. he didn't hurt her physically.She's scared because of his appearance and he was in her apartment. Completely natural reaction.
So, Peter gets the sonic blaster later on. He sees Venom outside the part and goes after him as Spider-Man.

Venom and Spider-Man get in a fight because the readers are dying for some Venom action.

Spider-Man forces Venom to use up what's left of his webbing. He brought Venom to the Fantastic 4; they put him in a sonic containment cell and shipped him to the Vault. Brock directs the symbiote to imitate a gaurd's uniform and plays dead Some dumb-ass gaurd thinks he's a fallen colleage and turns off the noise blasts and Venom kills him and escapes to NY. He heads to Peter's apartment.The Black Cat goes there, not knowing that a) Parker's left and b) married. Venom beats the living snot out of her and leaves her in tears. Great going, guys.

I don't know, but this image below puts me in a really good mood:

Anyway, Spider-Man freaks out and crushes Venom under a few machines and swings out, accidentally leaving his change of address forms behind. Later Brock comes over to where Peter is in his normal form. They get into a fight at the beach. Spider-Man realists he can't beat them both and triea to beat them by taunting the symbiote to return to him.
who do you love more, me or him?

The stress of trying to break its bond with Eddie knocks out both of'em and they're carted back to the Vault. Yay for Spider-Man.

To be fair, this book does exactly what it states: It offers background for the symbiote and its second host Eddie Brock to become Venom. But as thankful as I am for that, this book gives a disjointed and thrown-together approach. Some 'issues' are only one or two pages that are meant to move the plot along. The symbiote is the main focus here, but the book also gives the spotlight to the villains Kingpin, the Hobgoblin, the Rose, and Jack O'Lantern.

I'm not complaining about their appearances in the book, but rather how they're thrown in as plot devices. Eddie Brock himself does not appear until his full development as Venom despite him being mentioned in previous issues. It's also very frustrating with the villains that the issues have. We have all these villains and yet we never truly a reach a conclusion with any of them. We wonder why Hydro-Man suddenly popped up, or what happened to the Rose, and the Hobgoblin, but none of their reasons ever connect with us. It's disappointing really, because a major part of the Spider-Man universe is its character development, and the symbiote is the only one we really have background and development with. Even Eddie doesn't really have much character development. It undermines a big part of who he is and why he does what he does. Okay, he explains it in flashbacks, but it's not as good as getting it in 'real time'.

In the end, this collection does what it says it does, but I still feel they could have done a lot better. Now, I understand putting together almost 10 years of development is no easy feat, and that some cuts had to be made, but the story still feels disconnected and its thrown-together approach doesn't mix too well. I almost forgot. The biggest disappointment? Venom didn’t say sh1t about eating brains!Why didn't they dedicate the entire book to Venom and introduce Spider-Man as a side device? Oh wait, they already done that? I'll just have to read Dark Origin then...

If you're a Venom fan, I can recommend this, but you'd do better reading Maximum Carnage or something like that.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It was fun to read some classic issues of Spider-Man from my youth, though this is one Frankensteined story pulled together from various series, and with various butchered bits from individual issues. Still entertaining, but a smidgeon schizophrenic when told in this fashion. One also has to put up with how comics would recap themselves all the time back in the day, but that's a minor issue. Really interesting to watch Todd McFarlane's art evolve, too.

But can I just say... Venom himself is kind of lame? His sudden emergence and shallow, stupid vendetta are pretty disappointing. I like to imagine if Spider-Man 3 had portrayed Eddie Brock as he appeared in the comics, though... He and the Sandman would have looked nigh identical! Also interesting to see how the story seemed to go hither, thither, and yon, sometimes with little explanation. It was never clear in the comics what the symbiote was doing when it took Spidey out on clandestine trips at night, for example.

The incredible coincidence that the Fantastic Four use the two weaknesses (fire and sound) on the symbiote on the first try was pretty convenient.

There was also a really weird bit... So Venom is vulnerable to sound, and so being near the clanging church bells hurts him. But... it also apparently... kills Spider-Man???????? Because when Spidey manages to get the symbiote off of himself in the church, he then starts dying from the bells (I guess???), and somehow the symbiote... which is vulnerable to the loud sounds especially... saves Peter by pulling him away from the bells. But then the symbiote goes up in smoke. Even though they are now far away from the bells.

This is all very confusing. Made even more confusing when Spidey has a fight with Venom later near the bells, but Spidey refuses to use the bells this time because the bells might kill him. "Him" being Spidey. What the honest flip?!?! Maybe they would ruin your hearing, but kill?????

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of Spider-Man issues taken from across the 1980s sums up not only the original history of Venom, but also of the symbiote suit itself. This means that Venom as a character is only introduced in the back half of the book, as more than the majority of the trade is concerned with Peter Parker's experiences wearing an all-black costume that turns out to be a living, alien organism.

The space between the collected issues means that you're going to see material written by numerous authors who were busy penning a variety of different stories, leaving the reader to hop between the associated plot points and make sense of them as best they can.

If you're interested in Spider-Man's adventures from this time period, you're probably better off just reading through the full set of issues. If you're just looking to read the first Venom stories, much of what's included here may not be of great interest to you, as Spider-Man is busy dealing with miscellaneous rogues such as Puma and a group of evil primates.

The scattered nature of the stories would be easier to overlook if these were all great stories that are included. They're certainly not bad, but they're not standouts either. You're just getting a representative slice of 80s Spider-Man comics, for better or worse.

The volume does pick up towards its end, as we get a couple of more straightforward tales of Spider-Man's early battles with Venom. Todd McFarlane's art is as interesting as ever; he changed the way Spider-Man was drawn, and set the tone for Venom's appearance moving forward.

[Marko Perisic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed it?

The rather old-school of Marvel writing where each character at their introduction must explain their current status got on my nerves quite a lot. In the same league is tediously descriptive writing, especially apparent with Tom DeFalco's issues.

I expected some of that going in. I also expected that the story of Venom's origin wasn't as straightforward, fluid or even that emotionally investing compared to some other interpretations. Though the editors did their best, don't expect many storylines from the first half of this collection to be resolved on page. First half, when Peter is the symbiote's host, is for sure the more boring one.
However, I have to give a shoutout to the issue about Mary Jane's past. Melodramatic for sure, but investing nonetheless.

When Eddie Brock enters the picture, than it starts becoming mind-numbingly fun with some great help from McFarlane sketchy art. I was surprised how both amusing and threatening was as I expected that before his introduction he was just some rando, unlike a character with some built-up development like Eddie from Spider-Man TAS. Don't get me wrong, he is still some rando, but you get used to him easily and quickly.


I know this review seems overly negative at first, but at the end of the day, I had my fun with a good chunk of the book, so high two stars. Don't expect anything amazing from this, but still something worth a read if you're a fan.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cool conceit of Peter Parker getting a new costume that also happens to be an alien symbiote originated in Secret Wars. This volume shows you the two important Secret Wars pages that introduce the suit, and then the issues where Parker and his new suit return to Earth to fight crime.

They're ok. They've very mediocre 1980s superhero comics. Just because there's a new costume doesn't mean there isn't a ton of backstory you need, as this is a point where Parker was dating Black Cat, and was just friends with Mary Jane, and there's a new editor at The Bugle, and Parker's high school friend is fighting with his wife, who's a receptionist at The Daily Bugle, and Aunt May is dating someone and renting out her home as a senior living center. It's A Lot. And this collection has a giant hole in its center, leaving out Gang Wars, Peter's wedding to Mary Jae, Kraven's Last Hunt, and more. It's an odd editorial decision.

I'm reading a bunch of Venom and Carnage-focused Spider books to get a better understanding of them before I read the King In Black storyline when it comes out in trade. Honestly, apart from the two pages of Secret Wars, I feel like I could have skipped this volume entirely. It's not bad, but it barely hints at what's to come for Venom, and it's kind of a slog to get through. But if you love 80s comics, then ... well ... this one is ok.

[Taddow · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the story of Venom's origin was not as great as I remembered it, it was still a decent read. The symbiote's origin (basically a coincidence of Peter Parker selecting a costume replacement from a different alien machine than the rest of his teammates during the Secret Wars) was a simple chance happenstance with little fanfare involved. This perhaps, as well as the slow build-up of the symbiote's contributions to Spider-Man's abilities and its ultimate reveal as something more sinister was actually something that I liked about the origin storyline.

The slow build-up of the issues before the creation and confrontation with Eddie Brock as Venom were a little hit and miss (mostly miss) and even some of the initial Venom engagements were merely basic superhero vs. supervillain fare. I do think (after Todd McFarlane takes over as artist for the series) that the Venom story (and the art) later brings Venom to the greatness that most of us think about when thinking about Venom and I really enjoyed the later portion of this collection.

[Siike Donnelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reuniting with the symbiote

This collection brought back a ton of memories. I grew up in this era of Spiderman, with him wearing the black costume. Its not particularly well written at times, but the way this collection is put together keeps this story coherent at least.

It starts with how Spiderman gets the black costume, then has some issues from Amazing Spiderman of him learning about the costume and fighting crime with it, then his separation from it, followed by the first two battles Spidey has with Eddie Brock/Venom.

Its overall a solid read, despite what I felt were lazy story beats at times. The art is great and this will definitely give you a sense of the characters and Venom's motivations for hating then old webhead. Definitely pick this up with Vengeance of Venom TPB to get a more fulfilling arc in the Spidey vs Venom saga.

[Path Kittinat · Rating 3 out of 5]

ชอบ Venom บวกกันหนังจะฉายแล้ว แต่ไม่เคยรู้เลยมันมายังเลยเลยหามาอ่านซักหน่อย

ปรากฎว่าสาเหตุแห่งการมี Venom แม่มโคตรงี่เง่าสุดๆ เพราะสไปเดอร์แมนชุดขาด เดินไปเจอฮัค ฮัคเลยบอกให้เดินเข้าไปห้องนั้นซิแล้วก็นึกเอาเลยจะเอาชุดไหน แต่อีสไปเดอร์แมนแม่มเสือกไปใช้ผิดเครื่อง เลยได้กำเนิด Symbiote เป็น Venom ขึ้นมา ค่ะ แม่มง่ายเกิ๊นนน

2 ใน3 ของเล่มนี้มันเป็นภาคสไตล์เก่าๆ เพราะมันอยู่ในปี 83-84 ทำให้อ่านไม่ค่อยสนุกเอาเลย จนกระทั้งช่วงท้ายที่มันไปร่วมกับ Eddie Brock จนกลายเป็น Venom เต็มๆตัวแล้วนั้นแหละที่สไตล์ภาพเปลี่ยนไป(ประมาณปี 88) แล้วค่อยอ่านได้สนุกขึ้นมาหน่อย เพราะภาพมันดูมีแอคชั่นเยอะ การเว้นช่อง จังหวะไวขึ้น และตัวสไปเดอร์แมนก็เป้นภาพที่คุ้นตาเหมือนสมัยที่อ่านตอนเด็กๆ (เล่มละ 25 บาท)

สรุปว่าถ้าคุณชินกับสไตล์การ์ตูนฝรั่งอ่านเถอะ มันก็พอสนุกอยู่ แต่ถ้าไม่ชินก็อย่าเลย จะง่วงเอาเปล่า เพราะเนื้อเรื่องมันก็ไม่ได้สนุกจนกว่าจะท้ายเล่มไปแล้ว

[Stacey Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if this is the exact book I read. I read a compilation of previously produced titles from the beginning of the venom character to the end (or is it?). Venom is an interesting character starting out as a newly designed spiderman costume and becoming a sentient being. The costume has many helpful features that Peter enjoys and uses. The trouble happens when Venom becomes more than a costume and Peter has to fight for his life. There are many side stories during this time with Peter in love with Black cat then MJ comes back into his life. Aunt May isn't talking to Peter since he dropped out of college. There's a lot going on. All of it exciting and interesting. Well written stories with great artwork throughout. This compilation s sure to please any Spiderman fan, like me.