Greetings comic lovers welcome back to casually comics where we examine all kinds of comics
from any company, any era chat about news big moments basically whatever whim strikes
us cause we keep it casual.
I’m Sasha and today we’re going to be looking at a piece of Spider-Man’s Black
Costume, aka Alien Costume and eventually and finally symbiote venom costume that a
lot of people tend to forget that is if they heard about it in the first place, and that
is that when it first debuted fans hated it.
It’s hard to believe because these days that’s one of Spidey’s iconic looks and
many peoples favourite alternate or at least one of.
In this era spidey’s had a lot of suits but that wasn’t always the case a fact that
played into why the suit was initially so poorly received.
Also we;re going to take a look at where the idea for the black costume came from and how
the fan backlash led to the creation of venom.
Lots to talk about and i’m excited.
If you’re here for Spidey no matter the costume hit that like button.
So the now famous panel of Spider-man in his black suit is a mainstay at this point.
The panel of Spidey posing uncomfortably so we can see the suit in all angles from the
front at least talking about how much he likes his new look.
This panel comes from near the End of the huge and much beloved Secret Wars crossover
event from 1985.
Issue 8 to be exact.
Issue 12 to be exact However this is not where the costume first debuted, it was it;s first
canonical chronological appearance so narratively he got it here first but
it first appeared in comics in The Amazing Spiderman #252 which was released in 1984
while the issue in secret wars where it’s explained how Spider-man gets the costume
was released in 1985.
Wibbley wobbley timey wimey.
So for fans who were reading in order Spidey just went from red and blue to black though
there had been rumblings that this change was coming as the cover does proclaim that
The rumours are true introducing the new spider-man.
Here’s the thing fans tend to be skeptical of change for many reasons.
Now in retrospect this is no demon divorce, or Doc ock taking over Peter’s body, or
Spider-man getting his powers from a spider god but at the time it was a sudden shift.
And the costume did alter some of peter’s abilities producing webbing for him and changing
his clothes just to name a few small things.
For some it was too much, and gimmicky and they didn't like the look and just no thank
you.
Also the fact that they recreated the first spider-man iconic cover with this costume
for some was read as aggressive like this or else.
Sadly these complaints have largely been lost to time you know the dear marvel thanks I
hate it letters tend not to get printed in the comic, so I have no dramatic renditions
for you alas.
It must be noted this was also Spider-man’s first ever costume change since his inception
in 1962 he has been wearing the same thing.
Roughly sure there had been tweaks but nothing so drastic had ever been changed so you can
see why people had been attached especially as the change was pitched as permanent and
in this era retcons hadn't started being handed out like pamphlets on street corners and then
tossed aside so permanent could have meant permanent.
Now we know almost all changes are transient which creates a different set of problems.
However unlike the time of this recording where the creed at marvel in general tends
to be if you don’t like it tough luck buttercup.
Marvel and the writers were concerned that fans didn’t like it.
Not only cause well you want people to like what you write and draw but also they needed
Spider-man to sell.
Marvel in the late 80s going into the 90s was not in the best place and Spider-man was
a guaranteed hit and that needed to continue so anything that jeopardized that needed to
be examined.
So the writers began to brainstorm a reason why peter would want this new costume that
he loved so much off they had made such a big deal about it he couldn’t just be like
whelp that was fun back to my og look.
Hence the concept of the alien costume was conceived which they were able to do thanks
to the time in between all these issues.
The costume would prove to be an alien force ultimately sentient and malevolent.
Something that was altering peter’s personality and trying to control him and hence something
he needed to get off.
This would all lead to the costume being revealed as Venom an alien parasite or symbiote who
would form his most famous bond in The amazing Spiderman #299 with a full appearance in Amazing
Spider-man #300.
This whole event would come to be known as the alien costume saga.
Now a famed arc and the venom symbiote is a staple character.
There was just one problem in all the time this took fans had come to love the black
costume on Peter.
For reference because of how long comics take Spidey was actually in his black costume for
about 4 years before all of this ended so it’s not surprising people not only got
used to it but started to really like it.
So now writers scrambled to find a way to keep spidey in a black costume without him
taking the symbiote back as it was established that wasn’t a viable option.
This fix was a bit less epic and graceful.
It involved black cat one of spidey’s love interests and occasional fling encouraging
him to wear a black cloth version of the costume cause she thought it looked hot on him A tale
as old as time.
Ultimately the black costume would come off when artist Todd Macfarlane whom most will
know of Spawn fame put his foot down and said he hated drawing the black costume and he
wasn’t going to.
I wish I could throw tantrums like that at work, I mean I could but then I’d have no
job.
So once again an explanation was derived this time Mary Jane Peter’s great love who had
gone through a lot of drama during the alien costume saga said she hated the black costume
cause it reminded her of all the awful things venom had put them through so he took it off.
Yet the legacy of not only venom but Spidey getting costume redesigns lives on people
are open to it now indeed swapping suits is n achievement in games and the like.
This tale also shows us that listening to fan backlash not always terrible and can lead
to some amazing stories if done right but also sometimes writers can panic and be too
reactive.
There’s a happy medium in between all fans who don’t like everything we do are trolls
and omg 5 people disliked this cancel everything.
Just have to find that balance.
Fan service perfectly balanced as all things should be.
So where did this black costume idea even come from in the first place well it was actually
from a fan named Randy Schueller 22 at the time who submitted his idea for a contest
that marvel ran looking for new ideas.
Yeaah mileage varies on how people feel about such contests now,
His idea was that Spidey needed a cool stealth suit like some of the other heroes had like
the fantastic four and the wasp so he came up with the idea of a black costume that would
also improve and tweak his abilities.
His idea was noticed and MArvel editor Jim Shooter sent him a letter saying he wanted
to use the idea and paid him 220 dollars for it along with the opportunity to write the
story that would bring it about.
However after 2 script exchanges the whole thing fell apart and Marvel ended up doing
the story entirely.
Randy’s not bitter about it but just wishes he’d been acknowledged, which he came out
to talk about in 2007 spurred on by Spider -Man and here I finally have quotes to read.
My favourite thing.
I thought it would be cool if Spidey needed to upgrade his powers and his look, so I came
up with this idea that Reed Richards had made a new costume for Spidey using the same unstable
molecules that the FF costumes are made of.
The unstable molecules would flow into Peter's pores and allow him to cling to walls better.
I think my original idea was to increase his sticking power by 25% or something like that.
Since Marvel paid me for the story, I have no real gripe, but I do feel bad that they
didn't give me any kind of acknowledgment in the comics.
You know, something like, "costume concept by Randy Schueller" or "Thanks to Randy Schueller
for inspiration," or "Randy Schueller, you Spidey fan-boy stud, you rock!"
But no, I got nothin'!
That's my one disappointment in this whole story.
Can I just say that I too would love to be credited as a fanboy stud in any capacity.
Oh man she read the heck out of that comic what a fanboy stud.
Now in 2019 again at the time of this recording Schueller’s original idea is going to be
adapted in honour of 80 years of Marvel.
You’ll find that most will clickbait this as the first venom story which is funny cause
Randy never thought of the costume as sentient and actually doesn't like venom I have more
receipts.
And then when VENOM was created I was...disturbed.
I was never a fan of the costume-turned-villain idea.
Give me the classic Ditko villains any day!
Venom just never really seemed to work for me.
But I digress…
It’ll be cool to see this story a piece of history and hopefully somewhere they put
the line fanboy stud in there.
So that is the tale of Spider-man’s black costume one that was briefly hated and is
now almost universally loved.
Has there even been an aesthetic character change that you hated but then came to love?
Did you know about the initial backlash> what do you think of how they handled it?
Share all your thoughts down below.
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I’m Sasha and I’ll see you all again soon buh bye.