#venom origin

Comic Book Break: The Venom Symbiote

Featured art by Ron Lim: Covers for Marvel Tales #266-268 Mark Bagley: Carnage/Spidey/Venom Poster Ron Frenz: Cover for Amazing Spider-Man #252

I grew up as a Spider-man fan in the 90’s, which means I (predictably) thought Venom was the coolest villain of all time.  My Dad introduced me to Spidey’s ‘modern era’ shortly after Carnage first hit the scene, which means the Symbiote villains were a hot topic.  As such, my first introduction to both Venom and Carnage would be in the pages of ‘The Amazing Spider-man’ #365, and boy did that issue leave an impression. 

You see up to that point my fascination with the web head was moderately new, and I remained largely ignorant to the finer points of his lore.  My Dad had just begun to re-discover comic books for the first time since his childhood, and this particular issue was a extra sized anniversary edition, replete with a holographic cover, character histories, and even a handful of bonus stories that were framed around various side characters who could reminisce about Spider-man’s classic tales.  It was a handy way to bring new readers up to speed, and it worked well enough on my Dad (much to my approval) for him to continue collecting until the Clone Saga ruined everything.  ASM #365 also featured this absolute BANGER of a poster by Mark Bagley.  Check it out!

That image was seared into my brain, and two things became abundantly clear to me 1) Those villains were unequivocally, the greatest characters in modern literature, and 2) I needed to know why. Obviously I asked my Dad who those guys were, and he proceeded to explain the basic premise of the Symbiote suit and it’s history with Spider-man.  Needless to say, I became obsessed with finding an issue, ANY ISSUE, that featured Venom and/or Carnage; I wanted to know everything about these guys.  The only obstacle that stood between me and my goal was my age, as I was still quite young, and I think my folks were just the tiniest bit leery of exposing me to a characters who looked and behaved like, if we’re being honest, bloodthirsty hell demons (or brain thirsty, as the case may be).

As luck would have it, my dad found a pretty fair compromise in the pages of ‘Marvel Tales’.  MT was a series that featured reprints of classic-or-topical spider-man comics from days of yore, often with new cover art by a current artist.  Since the introduction of Carnage was turning heads towards the Spider-man books (also around the same time the comic book speculators boom was taking off)  it was a prime opportunity for Marvel to reprint the issues of ASM that introduced the original symbiote creature (written by Roger Stern).  So, my dad bought me several issues (pictured up top, and immediately below) to satiate my curiosity for another year before I finally got finally see Venom himself, and in the mean time I was simply delighted to be reading the origin story as I went.

Since those days, my interest in Venom has wavered dramatically depending on the project/medium/who’s writing him, and I’ve found much of what’s been produced fairly underwhelming; but my admiration of the design for Spider-man’s black costume has remained steadfast.  If I’m being (perhaps heretically) honest, I almost prefer the black costume to the original.  Something about it just feels so correct for the character, and clearly I’m not the only person who felt as much.  Despite some initial push-back,  the black costume had garnered enough support by the end of the 8-issue symbiote saga, for it to be brought back as just a ‘regular costume, but with the symbiote aesthetic.’ From that point on, it would feature regularly for several years before Venom officially inherited the look.

And just to be clear, no I wouldn’t ever truly want to replace Spider-man’s classic look, but you gotta admit, the black suit looks mighty slick.

Spider-man: The Animated Series, 109 (May 6, 1995) - “The Alien Costume, Part Two”

Written by: Brynne Stephens (as Brynne Chandler Reaves) Directed by: Bob Richardson

LAST TIME… On Spider-man:

You can read my review for part one HERE (if you haven’t already), but there was one subplot involving Eddie Brock that I didn’t really get into because my post was already running long.  Basically Eddie was still sore at Spider-man over that time he got fired for being bad at his job.  Consequently, he decides to sell Jonah pictures that make it look like Spider-man stole the Promethium X [*dangerous radioactive space McGuffin] from John Jameson’s space shuttle, instead of correctly laying the blame on Rhino, whom Eddie both witnessed and photographed (that bastard).  As a result, Jonah has bounty placed on Spider-man’s head, and Eddie’s sittin’ pretty with his old job back.

AND NOW… The continuation

The Breakdown

Despite the constant barrage of bounty hunters trying to take him down, Spidey is doing pretty well at staying the-fuck-outta dodge thanks to his enhanced strength (courtesy of the new suit), indeed he seems virtually untouchable.  Still the inconvenience of constantly being attacked is getting on the web-head’s last nerve, leading to an all out confrontation with Jonah that… doesn’t exactly go well (the wall crawler uncharacteristically loses his shit and trashes Jonah’s office), but it does lead Jonah to discovering the truth about Eddie’s deception regarding the Rhino.  And so, Jonah must face humiliation by releasing yet another retraction to Brock’s latest and-most-brazen fuck-up (which of course prompts his immediate re-firing).

MEANWHILE… Wilson Fisk is still on about that whole Promethium X thing (trying to sell it to terrorists or some-such).  The Problem is, Eddie Brock’s public humiliation makes him liability to Fisk since he holds the only photographic evidence of Rhino’s involvement (who I guess can be linked to Fisk through payroll statements or something?). So Fisk sends his latest super-minion, THE SHOCKER, to deal with it using murder.  But of course, just as the Shocker shows up to vibrate Brock to death (Kinky), our less-friendly neighbourhood Wall Crawler arrives on the scene to save the day [also because he wanted to bully Eddie a bit himself, almost as if… SOMEthing is making him more behave more aggressively?  But WHAT, I wonder?].  The ensuing fight ends up with Spidey buried in rubble just long enough for Shocker to think he’s won, and for Eddie to make his escape.

Chuffed at his supposed victory, Shocker rushes to Allistair Smythe’s hideout so he can boast about it, but of course Spider-man just follows him there.  Another fight leads to Spidey stealing back the Promethium X so he can run some tests on it back at his place. Of course this naturally escalates things even further, and Allistair sets another trap with the Shocker using John Jameson as bait (kidnapped straight out of the hospital, no less.  Poor guy is having a rough time).  The deal is simple, Spider-man and Jonah are to meet Allistair at an old church building, where John will be returned to his father in exchange for the Promethium X.

Spider-man may be a little more violent than usual, but he’s still Spider-man, so he willingly hands over the Promethium in exchange for John, which is when Shocker shows up to spring the trap.  While Allistair makes good his escape (as well as the Jamesons), Spidey and his foe have at it, and it does NOT go well for Shocker. 

Like, Spider-man is UNHINGED you guys; it’s truly some meme worthy stuff. 

Eventually Shocker [SHOOOOOCKKKEEEEEERRR!!!!!] gets chased to the top of the building where the belltower is located (oh yeah there’s a bell tower. Now you know), and proceeds to get the living tar beat out of him [YOOUU CAN’T ESCAPE MEEEEEE!!!].  But Just as Spider-man is about to drop the ol’ Shockster to his untimely demise [I’LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EEEAARTH!!!], he remembers that Uncle Ben used to have a whole speech about Responsibility (I won’t get into it here, but it involves great power) and resolves not to klll his hapless foe.  Except… the suit has other ideas and autonomously produces a tentacle to force the issue by shoving Shocker off the tower against our hero’s wishes.  Thankfully, the suit still respects Spider-man’s impulse to shoot a life-saving web line, thus sparing Shocker from death-by-impact.

Having finally accepted that the suit is responsible for his new bloodthirsty attitude, Spider-man attempts to remove it, only then realizing that IT has other plans (even though Doc Conners totally warned him about this in an earlier scene). While thrashing around in a fruitless attempt to take his ‘costume’ off, the massive tower-bell starts ringing at such a volume as to drive the suit utterly BANANAS. It’s at this point that Spider-man figures out that sound is the suit’s weakness, after correlating this incident with a bounty hunter’s sonic weapon from earlier.  Considering he has no other viable options, Spidey pretty much just hangs out nearby the ringing bell until the suit gives up and separates from him.  From there it eventually succumbs into a puddle and slithers off into a crack, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

[Oh and I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but Eddie Brock followed Jonah to the church, where he tried his level best to kill Spider-man while was distracted with the Shocker.  Of course he failed even more miserably than he did at his job, and Spider-man easily wrapped him up into a web cocoon, and strung him up inside the tower chamber beneath the bell.]

Anyways, with the alien symbiote out of the way Spider-man completely forgets to check in on Eddie who is still literally hanging out in the church tower.  At the same time, it turns out the alien symbiote is still very much alive after all (which Spider-man probably should have double checked) and in need of a new host. Since Brock is available for a rebound (not to mention unable resist), the Symbiote helps itself.  Eddie quickly goes from being terrified, to WAY TOO into it, and while we don’t yet see the end result of this new unholy alliance, it seems unlikely that it’ll be good. 

I bet they're gonna be Venom now though.  I just have an instinct about these things.

TO BE CONTINUED!

The Verdict

Man these episodes are fun.  On the one hand, this show takes a fairly complicated piece of Spider-man’s lore, and streamlines it nicely for children’s television.  On the other hand, it’s still AN OBSCENELY convoluted 20 minutes of unrestrained structured chaos.  I’ve talked about this before in my other posts, but watching this show as an adult is leaves me both constantly impressed and confounded at the same time.  Every choice the characters make are so hilariously unhinged, and yet somehow it all works perfectly within the context of what the show is trying to be.

One element that continues to work especially well, is Spider-man’s transition towards insanity as a consequence of wearing the suit.  The original comics really didn’t lean into this idea as comprehensively back when the symbiote was introduced, mainly because the writers were still figuring it out as they went, and Venom himself was still some years away from even being conceptualized. But It’s telling that virtually every version of the character since this specific adaptation has incorporated the symbiote’s tendency to alter, dominate, and/or consume the host.  It’s a story telling choice that makes sense, and one that this series deserves credit for bringing to the mainstream.

I also feel compelled to give Christopher Daniel Barnes a shout-out for this episode.  Spider-man losing his shit over Shocker is (unintentionally) so funny to me.  Shocker has always been a C-list villain at most, and up against the Symbiote-Spider-man he amounts to little more than a mild inconvenience, so the idea that Spider-man JUST HATES this guy to the point of flying into a murderous rage, cracks me up (even though I realize the suit is responsible).  At the same time, Barnes really commits to the role here and, hilarious or otherwise, Spider-man is believably psychotic.  Gotta love it.

3.5 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

There’s a scene where Spider-Man pays Dr. Curt Conners (aka the Lizard) a visit to help him figure out the mystery surrounding his fancy new extra-terrestrial duds.  In order to run his tests Conners tries to take a sample of the organism, only for it to retreat from his grasp when he reaches out with a pair of scissors.  Spider-man helps out by stretching out (pictured above) some of the suit with one hand so the Doc can cut it, which does work, but that still leaves the freshly cut piece of alien ‘material’ loose INSIDE Spider-man’s palm, which is also notably enclosed within the symbiote.  As a kid it always bothered me that the symbiote wouldn’t have just reabsorbed the freshly cut piece back into itself before Peter could hand it over to Conners. Thankfully I’m a well adjusted adult now, so I’ve moved on from such petty concerns.  Haha.  Ha. …ha.

The Promethium x subplot is officially resolved in this chapter, and it’s obvious the writers barely cared about that thread more than I did.  It turns out the substance has a short half life, before becoming inert, thus foiling the Kingpin’s plans and leaving Part 3 with more time to focus on Venom.

Spider-man’s personal microscope and PC must be incredibly advanced!  Within seconds he’s able to determine the Promethium X’s density, structure, and molecular weight, all with sharp colour-coded images rendered directly to his computer in real time!  Remarkable!

Responsibility Count – 2: Uncle Ben’s famous line returns!  I’m actually surprised that it’s been used as infrequently as it has been up to this point.  In my memory, future seasons would start to abuse the “power and responsibility” spiel with increasing regularity.  I suppose we’ll find out as we go.

Spider-man really needs to keep better tabs on his enemies after defeating them. Last episode he just leaves Rhino unrestrained in a military facility that carries sensitive technologies, and in this episode both Shocker AND Brock are just webbed up left behind. A few episodes back (in the Mysterio episode) it’s established that Spider-man’s webbing eventually dissolves, which means Eddie probably would have fallen to his death if the Symbiote hadn’t found him.  Oh well, I guess it all worked out.  Besides, what are the odds of something crazy happening like all three characters returning in the very next episode? Amright!?

Comic Book Break: The End of Venom (but not really even a little bit)

Featured artwork Pencils: Mark Bagley Inks: Randy Emberlin

A few posts ago I talked about how it took roughly a year after my initial introduction to Venom (through the fold-out poster from the interior of “Amazing Spider-man #365”) before I would finally get to read a full issue featuring the character.  By that point I had become as well versed on the Symbiote lore as I was able to be without the aid of the internet, which basically meant I was limited to the comics my dad bought me, along with any cursory trivia he’d absorbed from glancing through back issues in the local comic shop.  But issues #374 & #375 would finally reward my patience with Spider-man and Venom’s “FINAL CONFRONTATION!”  And oh lordy, they did not disappoint. 

The story itself is entertaining enough, but it was Mark Bagley’s artwork that really left an impression on me. I mean no disrespect to Todd McFarlane here, but while he may have co-created the character, Bagley’s take was always the definitive version for me.  Bagley’s artwork just makes him look so nightmarishly intimidating, and even with ‘the comics code’ censorship guidelines, there was no mistaking with my very-active-imagination what the character was capable of.  I do remember feeling incredibly fortunate that I was even allowed to read those issues (my folks were fairly cautious about exposing me to graphic violence), especially considering this would be Venom’s last appearance ever, if the cover was anything to go by.  After all, who would just lie about something like that?

Of course, it wouldn’t actually be the last time the those two would cross paths, or even butt heads.  In fact, Venom would end up returning only three issues later for the ‘maximum carnage’ saga.  But these issues did (sort of) signal a change in the character that would shift his/their motivations moving into Venom’s turn as an anti-hero under the ‘Lethal Protector’ moniker, which I never found as interesting.  In theory, it’s a character choice that I could get behind, but sadly Venom became a victim to weak writing and oversaturation.  Of course, the irony isn’t lost on me that just as I discovered the character, his relevance in the larger cultural paradigm was about to implode.  Thankfully I remained largely oblivious to all for some time, as my continued exposure to Venom would be drip fed to me through back issues or alternative media (e.g. the animated series).

Honestly though, even though these issues were obviously being used as a cheap marketing ploy, I do think it’s a pretty solid point to ‘end’ the character’s story, and least for that particular era.  After all, that is the thing with comics books, you kind of have to decide for yourself when to come-and-go.

That’s also part of the fun.

Spider-man: The Animated Series, 110 (May 13, 1995) - “The Alien Costume, Part Three”

Teleplay by: Mark Hoffmeier Story by: John Semper & Mark Hoffmeier Directed by: Bob Richardson

The Breakdown

Peter Parker/Spider-man is back in his classic duds, and he’s feeling pretty great about not being possessed by an evil alien goop-suit anymore.  Unfortunately, Rhino and Shocker are both still feeling decidedly uncongenial about the ass-whooping they took from the ol’ web-head over the past couple episodes, and take it upon themselves to team up for some payback.  However, just as it’s looking like their alliance might bear fruit, a third party enters the fray and… webs them both up?  Wait, isn’t that Spidey’s schtick?  Normally it would be, but there’s a new player in town who’s out for blood, and unfortunately Rhino and Shocker are just the appetizers.

That’s right, Eddie Brock has joined with the Symbiote as it’s new host, and they’re both equally PISSED at one Peter Parker. While Eddie blames Spider-man for ruining his life (even though his woes stem almost entirely from being a liar and fraud), the symbiote hates Peter for not consenting to bond with it permanently.  Combined, they not only share a mutual hatred for Pete/Spidey, but Eddie also consequently inherits all of Spider-man’s powers and knowledge (including his secret identiy), courtesy of the symbiote.  Having fully embraced their union, they now call themselves “Venom” since they’re like poison to Spider-man, you see, [it’s a bit melodramatic, but they’re in a mood so you just have to go with it] and now they want to destroy him.

Their first confrontation amounts to little more than a brief skirmish, with threats of more to come, but Venom does effectively dominate overall.  Over the course of the episode Peter is forced to play defense as Venom comes at Peter through the various facets of his life.  At one point he unmasks Peter on the rooftop of the daily Bugle in front of gawking pedestrians (Pete escapes before the cameras can zoom in on his face), another time he cock blocks Peter’s date with MJ, and most gallingly, he even knocks over the tree in Aunt May’s front yard.  For those concerned readers, I feel obligated to reassure you that Peter does put the tree back into place, but Venom’s flagrant disregard for mother nature is the final push that our hero needs to take on the offensive.

In an earlier scene it’s established that a new space shuttle is about to launch from the New York area, which is unbelievably good timing, and since our hero is not one to pass up a perfect narrative opportunity he hops straight into action.  The wall crawler starts by vandalizing Eddie/Venom’s apartment, posting news clippings of his recent public humiliation (from the time he was caught doing that fraud I mentioned earlier), and Venom LOSES it.  But this is all going a part of Spidey’s arguably tenuous plan, who pops out of hiding to taunt him further.  A chase ensues as Spider-man barely manages to keep one step ahead of Venom until they finally arrive at the rocket launch.

So what is the plan, exactly? Well, as we learned from the last episode, the symbiote is especially susceptible to loud noises, to the point where it can’t even hold it’s form if it comes across something that generates enough noise.  Since a church bell did the trick last time, Spider-man figures that a shuttle rocket blast should more than do the job, and he’s not wrong.  The rockets start to fire up, and the symbiote melts away from Eddie, giving Spider-man the chance he needs to collect it into a web sack, and stick it to the side of the shuttle promptly before it launches into space.  With the Symbiote officially out of his hair, the web-head leaves Brock to be arrested by the authorities who don’t take kindly to trespassers, especially not ones wearing nothing but their underwear.  And that takes care of that.

Oh! and Pete even gets to go on a date with MJ while he silently represses this most recent trauma, so I’d say that makes it all worth it!

The Verdict

This was easily one of my favourite episodes as a kid, because (as I’ve discussed recently) it would have been statistically unlikely for it not to be. Watching this episode now I can see why it would have totally rocked my world at the time, but in retrospect I’d say this is my least favourite chapter in the alien costume saga.  Obviously the showdown between Venom and Spidey was always going to be the big climactic finish to this story arch, and by-and-large it successfully delivers on that front, but that’s also probably why I find the first two chapters more compelling. 

In Parts 1-2 the threat to Spider-man is in losing himself TO the symbiote in a battle for what is essentially his soul, whereas here the threat is largely physical.  There is still the psychological component of Venom knowing Peter’s secret, but I think we needed another episode to let that threat ruminate properly.  Before there was even time for the existential dread of the situation to sink in, the two opponents are neck deep in the final fight, which ends the conflict on a fairly definitive note.  Obviously, Venom does eventually return, but only once (and not for a while), and to me the appeal of the character was the dread of knowing that he/they could return at any time without warning.

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this episode for what it is.  Once again we have another entry that’s consistent with what the show has been so far, in acting as a faithful introduction for children into Spider-man’s world.  All-in-all, this episode is still more good than bad, which is a great deal more that I could say for the any of Venom’s depictions on the big screen.

3 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

Upon meeting Brock-as-Venom for the first time, Spider-man wonders how Eddie got the symbiote.  Gee I dunno, Pete. maybe it happened around the same time you left an incredibly dangerous alien life form to slither away without checking first to make sure it was dead, in VERY SAME BUILDING that you left Eddie hanging by a web, where (I feel the need to reiterate) he would have surely perished when your webbing inevitably dissolved if the symbiote hadn’t intervened.  But I guess we’ll never really know for sure, PETE.

There’s an unintentionally-amusing sequence where Venom gets knocked off a train while chasing Spider-man.  In order to catch up with his intended prey, Venom hijacks a semi-truck  (which are famous for their speed an maneuverability) to continue his pursuit.  The way it’s set up I was fully expecting Venom to use it towards derailing the train, which would have been pretty rad, but instead he just politely pulls up to an over pass and hops back on the train as it passes by. It’s just so quaintly anti-climactic, and while I can’t find anything to support this, I feel like original plan probably involved something more epic or catastrophic that was cut during production.  It would be perfectly in line for this show to change something like that due to censorship or budget constraints, but we’ll probably never know for sure.

Overall, Venom’s design on this show is pretty iconic, but (as many others before me have pointed out) I do his Venom’s lips a little… off-putting? Or maybe just, “not quite right”.  I always preferred the more toothy/skeletal look from the comics, which looks more ghoulish and terrifying, and just suits the character a bit better, in my opinion.  That being said, I’m sure this version is a better kisser, if demonic steroid junkies what gets you hot and bothered.

Venom Lore: This episode establishes that the symbiote has existed since the dawn of time, just traversing the universe and seeing the sights (including countless other alien civilizations).  In the comics, the symbiote’s origins were kept a mystery for quite some time before eventually revealing that it belonged to an invasive species that travel from one planet to the next, bonding-with-and-consuming the indigenous lifeforms until they run out of compatible hosts/victims.  Personally I’ve always found the second option to be conceptually more horrifying, but I’ve never seen it played out in a way that I found even remotely interesting.  As much as I’m intrigued by the lore itself, I kind of prefer the idea that the symbiote is possibly the last of its kind (at least until it spawns Carnage), as it maintains some mystery.  With that said, this version is less complicated, and probably serves this show’s purposes better.

On a Non-Venom related note: This episode technically marks the first team up of the show (albeit one that’s short-lived) between two fully fledged super-villains, featuring Rhino and Shocker. These occurrences would become increasingly more frequent starting with season 2, which quickly became rife with team-ups, guest appearances, and crossover episodes.

Spider-man: The Animated Series, 108 (Apr. 29, 1995) - “The Alien Costume, Part One”

Teleplay by: Len Wein, Meg Mclaughlin, Stan Berkowitz, & John Semper Jr. Story By: Avi Arad Directed by: Bob Richardson

The Breakdown

It’s the story of the century!  Beloved Astronaut John Jameson (nice-guy-son of major-dickweed J. Jonah Jameson) is undergoing an exploratory mission of some asteroid that happened to be passing by.  John discovers a fancy black rock embedded in the asteroid’s surface, that seeps a black ooze after being pried loose (whaddaya wanna bet that’s going to be important later on?). Unfortunately for our boy, his actions somehow trigger a volcanic response, which is nonsense, but it gives john a reason to escape back to his shuttle with the rock and hurry the plot along, so I’m all for it.

The rock is, in fact, a newly discovered super-powerful radioactive mineral called “promethium X”, but it’s predominantly a McGuffin for Wilson Fisk (aka the Kingpin) to cause trouble over.  But none of that really matters, because the main attraction was always the introduction of…. RHINO!  Oh, and possibly Venom’s backstory for those of you who are into obscure niche characters. Speaking of which…

Back on the shuttle, the goo starts attacking John and his partner, JUST as they’re re-entering earth’s atmosphere (which is admittedly not ideal).  Capable dude that he is, John succeeds  resist the goo’s attempt to envelop him, just long enough to make an emergency crash landing on the George Washington bridge which has been completely-evacuated-and-no-one-died.

Enter Peter/Spidey, who shows up to help rescue the astronauts from the wreckage, although not without incident, because Rhino shows up to steal the promethium X for Fisk.  The ensuing fight does not go well for Spider-man, but thankfully Rhino doesn’t have time get lethal, since Fisk is eager to  retrieve his prize (to be fair, Rhino does seem like the sort of guy who could get easily sidetracked).  Without an active opponent, Spidey has just enough time to rescue John and his partner (the goo being nowhere in sight), before getting dragged off the bridge and into the river with the teetering space shuttle.  Spider-man swims to safety handily enough, but his suit is covered in a black substance that he mistakes for pollution.  Gosh, I wonder if it’s the alien goo from the space shuttle?

Predictably, yes it is.

That night, the goo jumps off Pete’s spider-suit and attaches itself to him.  After waking up from a freaky (but VERY metaphorically relevant) dream, Peter finds himself hanging upside down from a web (not unlike how like a spider can), and what’s more, sporting a sharp new black ‘n white spider-themed suit.  An impromptu test run reveals that the suit not only looks totally fucking SICK, but also amplifies his superpowers (plus the ability to generate it’s own webbing); additionally it can also morph into any other clothing Peter wants simply by reading his thoughts. Neat! No need to consider the horrifying ramifications of THAT any further! In spite of how alarmed he almost certainly should be, Pete ultimately takes everything in stride once the initial shock wears off, quickly brandishing a newfound (and curiously aggressive) confidence.

But there isn’t any time to bask in this new development since the Rhino is still at large, and he’s doing some more crime for Fisk in regard to that whole Promethium X thing.  Armed with his new black suit, Spidey sets out to confront Rhino, and this time he completely dominates a little TOO well.  In fact, as the fight progresses, Spider-man begins employing tactics that could be seen as excessive.  Just as our hero is about to administer a killing blow, he snaps out of his bloodlust, and leaves before doing something he can’t take back.  Shortly thereafter, Spider-man reflects on how close he came to taking a life, and is left to wonder if something is… happening to him?  Oh yeah, a there’s also a flash of lighting that symbolically alters Spider-man’s reflection into that of Venom, which does seem fairly ominous, but it's anyone’s guess as to how that could be relevant.

Guess we’ll have to wait for answers though, because…

TO BE CONTINUED!

The Verdict 

This story arch was one of my favourites back in the day, which is in no small part due to the symbiote.  In the comics the suit stuck around as a character/element for quite a while before it became Venom, and the resulting lore that stemmed from that caught my imagination as a kid. Naturally the story had to be pared down for TV, but this show does an admirable job of reworking the complex origin of the comics, into something a little less convoluted [which includes battles on alien worlds, and a whacky mix-up with the costume-fixing-device, and I’m not even making any of that up], without outright cutting the extra-terrestrial angle. Many subsequent re-telling’s have often lean towards establishing the symbiote as a man-made-bio-suit-gone-wrong, which I personally find less interesting.

Although even as the first-of-three-chapters, there are a lot of pieces being juggled here, and while it can feel a bit rushed, you’ve gotta admire how much information is being effectively conveyed in 20 minutes of children’s programming.  I believe this was the show that introduced (or at least developed) the idea that the Symbiote causes the host to become aggressive, and it’s a story telling choice that adds some real urgency to Spider-man’s circumstances.  This is likewise an ideal story to introduce less complex characters like Rhino, who don’t particularly need a whole episode dedicated to explaining them [more on this in the ‘additional observations’ section], leaving more room to focus on Peter.

The animation quality in this episode seems improved as well, and I’m guessing it may have been afforded a slightly higher budget.  Whatever the reason, there’s some pretty strong imagery all throughout the episode, some of which even would go on to be borrowed in Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-man 3’ (for better or for worse).  At the same time, the story suffers as much as it benefits from the aforementioned-breakneck pace, and while it’s consistently entertaining, the script (as per usual on this show) tends to sprint through the emotional beats.  That’s not a condemnation of the episode though, so much as an acknowledgment of what it is, well made, chaotically imaginative escapism for children.

3.5 (out of 5) stars

Additional Observations

the Black suit is a such a great look, and may be the only variant spider-costume (at least for Peter Parker) that comes close to matching the iconography of the original red ‘n blue.  I only wish they could have extended the symbiote-saga for an entire season, but I’m sure that would have cost too much to animate, since it would have ruled out recycling character animation from previous episodes.

There’s a nice bit of foreshadowing where John is being enveloped by the Symbiote, and he screams, causing the goo to recoil. [For those who don’t know, the symbiote is famously sensitive to loud sounds] causing it to lose cohesion.  I realize it’s kind of silly that any human scream would qualify as loud enough to weaken Venom, but works nicely for a kids cartoon, as a little easter egg for young audiences to notice on repeat viewings.  And maybe John took some opera training back in the day.  You don’t know!

Promethium X: I guess the scientific-naming-committee was feeling a bit dramatic that day. The poetic imagery must have been too much for them to pass up.

Fun fact: Issue #1 of the Amazing Spider-man features a story where Spider-man tries to help John Jameson safely land his space vessel (been a while since I’ve read it, but that’s the gist).  I’m assuming that issue inspired the inclusion of John in this episode as a tactically chosen homage.

I kind of love that this show never really delves into Rhino’s deal.  He’s just kinda there, like we’re simply meant to accept him at face value, and it works like a hot damn.  I seem to recall ‘Spectacular Spider-man’ did a bit more with the character, and that entire series is gold, so I’d never discourage anyone’s attempt to tell a really great Rhino story, should it strike their fancy.  But nine-times-out-of-ten he’s just used (and functions as) a super strong guy in a military grade anthropomorphic rhino suit, and that’s also fine; He does undeniably look like a big strong Evil-Rhino-Man, after all. I have no follow up questions, and never once felt the show missed out on an opportunity to flesh out his origin.