Face front, true believers!
This week we’re covering S1E10: ‘The Alien Costume Part Three’.
Venom is finally here to mess with Peter Parker’s life. Jack and Henry talk about the gloopy gloop stalker, the legacy he left behind, and wonder how he pays his rent. Then Batman Forever comes up, for some reason.
After our talk about the ninth episode of the series, our look at the classic symbiote costume issues takes all the way to The Amazing Spider-Man #300, where Venom made his first appearance.
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Further podcast notes
Now, let’s move onto some classic issues that we referenced in the podcast.
Here’s the issue I mentioned where Doc Ock unmasks Spider-Man, only for no one to believe it. The Amazing Spider-Man #12 (1964). Who knows – maybe something like this could fit into the Far From Home sequel…
And here’s the convoluted way Peter convinced Frederick Foswell (formerly ‘The Big Man’, currently in disguise as ‘Patch’) that he wasn’t Spider-Man. This took place in The Amazing Spider-Man #46 (1967), which we talked about last episode.
After touching on how Spider-Man gained and later lost the symbiote costume in the last two episodes, we’re on track to see how Eddie Brock got the suit and brought Venom into play.
In Web of Spider-Man #18 (1986), an unknown person pushed Peter Parker in front of a subway train without his spider-sense warning him – later revealed to be Brock.
In Web of Spider-Man #24 (1987) Parker climbed out of a high story window to change into SM costume, but a black arm came through the window.
In Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #99, Black Cat gifted Spider-Man a cloth version of the black costume. She thought it was sexy, and he rejected it, but it ended up being an alternate part of his wardrobe for some time.
I forgot to mention it in the episode, but Venom is first (kind of) shown in The Amazing Spider-Man #298 (1988).
His first full appearance comes in the final pages of #299, when he turns up in Peter and Mary Jane’s apartment to give her a fright.
While this doesn’t play as well now that we all know who Venom is, seeing a sentient, larger evil version of Spider-Man turn up in his apartment… would’ve been a hell of a cliffhanger back in the day.
Then his first full-blown issue comes in The Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Mary Jane is left terrified before Peter comes in not knowing how scary his costume now looks to her.
Peter heads out with the sonic blaster to take down what he thinks is just the symbiote returning.
And is followed by Eddie Brock, changing his clothes with the symbiote – a creepy technique that was brought into the Animated Series too (though not any of the movies).
MJ and Peter move into their new apartment to get away from the incident, and it works out pretty well for them, all things considered.
Meanwhile, Venom takes down and kills a young police officer in a church, in one of the more brutal Spider-Man comic moments.
Peter spots him, following him to an abandoned building – which turns out to be a trap.
He comes face-to-face with Venom, finally.
It’s at this point Eddie explains how Spider-Man ruined his life by exposing the truth about the Sin-Eater.
And how he first met the symbiote, in the same chapel where Spider-Man lost it.
They begin to fight, and Spidey is outclassed.
He uses the sonic blaster, but realises he can’t remove the symbiote without killing Brock, so flees to come up with a new plan.
But Eddie has other ideas.
Including webbing him inside the same bell that ridded him of the symbiote in the first place, hoping to crush him with the clapper.
He eventually breaks out, and uses Venom’s lack of webbing to exhaust the symbiote’s resources.
Then he takes the symbiote back to the Baxter Building, where only Ben Grimm is there to receive him and lock the symbiote (and Eddie) away again.
Back home, MJ is sick and tired of the black costume, which is fair enough.
So she gives him another.
And so we have our happy ending.
That’s all for this week’s edition of the podcast. If you missed out on it, you can check out our last podcast right here.
That '90s Spider-Man Show 