Customer Reviews

Spider-Man: Birth of Venom

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This book contains a wonderful history of Spider-Man's earliest dealings with the alien costume that eventually became Venom. What makes this book better than earlier trade-paperbacks is that it's so much more comprehensive: You don't only get the "Saga of the Alien Costume," but also the David Michelinie / Todd McFarlane stories introducing Venom -- plus a couple of extra issues, to boot! Prospective buyers be aware, though, that this compilation does not include *all* of the full issues listed in the Amazon description (also listed on the back cover of the book) -- some of the issues only have a page or two that dealt with the Alien Costume or Venom. Also, the storytelling and artwork is considerably more simplistic in the early issues (as comics tended to be, in the early 1980's), but they do tell the full background of one of Spidey's most popular villains. All in all, you get:

Marvel Secret Wars #8 (two-and-a-half pages + cover)
Amazing Spidey #252-259 (full issues + covers)
Fantastic Four #274 (two pages)
Spectacular Spider-Man #100 (4 pages: not listed on the back cover, but I don't think these pages are part of any of the other comics)
Web of Spider-Man #1 (full issue + cover)
Amazing Spidey #298 (one page), #299 (two pages),
Amazing Spidey #300, 315-317 (full issues + covers)
Amazing Spidey Annual #25 (ten pages)
"Venom" entry from "Who's Who in the Marvel Universe" (three pages)

As you can see, even with a few pages' excerpts from some comics, you still get an awful lot to read (350 pages!), and regardless of the quality of the early parts, they are all loads of fun. Anyone wanting to read the "birth" and early history of Venom will love this: Highest recommendation!

The trade paperback SPIDER-MAN: BIRTH OF VENOM expands on the 1991 trade SPIDER-MAN: THE SAGA OF THE ALIEN COSTUME, collecting either complete or partial stories from Secret Wars #8, Amazing Spider-Man #252-259, 298-300, & 315-317; Fantastic Four #274; and Web of Spider-Man #1. Contained here is everything you need to know about how Peter Parker's black and white "costume" from the Beyonder's Battleworld became one of his greatest foes. From the brief initial appearance of the costume in Secret Wars through its evolution to a full-fledged villain, it's all here, plus appearances from Puma, Jack O'Lantern, Kingpin, the Rose, Black Cat, and the Fantastic Four. To me, these are the only Venom stories worth reading, as they came before the character's overexposure and inexplicable transformation into something of a "good guy".

The first half of the book follows Peter's discovery of the true nature of his costume, the majority of which is by writer Tom Defalco and artist Ron Frenz. Even though I have read these stories many times, the fun and suspense were still there. Defalco's use of expository dialogue and thought balloons are excessive, but the writing is no less solid for it. Frenz' art is superb, strongly resembling the work of Frank Miller at the time, while successfully incorporating Spidey's unique fighting style and general quirkiness as defined by Steve Ditko.

The second half of the book contains the Venom stories written by David Michelinie and illustrated by Todd McFarlane. This includes the introduction of Eddie Brock and the development of Venom as a major Spidey villain. These guys were certainly the most prominent creators during this period of Spider-Man's history, but I feel that more work is included from them than necessary. This collection could have easily ended with ASM #300, which features the initial battle with Venom and Spidey's return to the red and blue costume. The stories that follow aren't really what I'd call the "birth" of Venom - just more pages of battles.

For me, the best part of this collection is the work from Defalco and Frenz. But overall, the whole book works well - certainly a testament to the creative abilities of all involved.

With Spider-Man 3 looming, fans will finally get to see Venom on the big screen. However, for those who have less experience with the old Spidey comics, this TPB serves a big purpose. Spider-Man: Birth of Venom showcases the original stories that have been condensed and adapted for the mega budget film, as this large TPB focuses on the seperation of Peter Parker and the black, alien costume that turns out to be a symbiote. Soon after, the symbiote bonds with the disgruntled Eddie Brock, and Venom is born. Like previous reviewers have stated, these issues were crafted before Venom was massively overexposed and re-written as a dark hero. This TPB showcases Venom as the best Spider-Man villain since the Green Goblin from the Lee and Conway days, and features a variety of talent including a pre-Spawn Todd MacFarlane, legendary John Byrne, and the great Mike Zeck. Some of the dialogue and writing, namely from Tom DeFalco, is a bit dated, but the good definitely outweighs the bad here. All in all, Birth of Venom is a significant chapter in the aching Spider-Man saga, and this TPB should definitely be given a look by Spidey and/or Venom fans new and old.

Perhaps I had overly high hopes for this collection, and to be fair, the "Birth of Venom" does exactly what it states: it explains and presents the origins of the black suit symbiote and its merger with Eddie Brock to become Venom. But as thankful as I am for those inclusions, this collection suffers from an incredibly disjointed, thrown-together feeling and approach. As a few others have mentioned, some "issues" are only one or two pages thrown in there to move the story along. It's disappointing since it gives the reader of something bigger going on, but without knowing the full story. On that same subject, 1/2 of Venom himself, Eddie Brock, is not even mentioned until his full appearance as Venom, despite being in previous issues. Why they didn't just throw a page or two of him in there, like they did earlier on, is baffling and undermines a big part of who Venom is and why he does what he does. Sure, he explains it through flashbacks, but flashbacks aren't quite the same as reading it in "realtime." Another big problem with the collection, and probably one that just couldn't be worked around, was the inclusion of issues with no closure. The symbiote suit, much more than the character "Venom", was the focus here, but several issues throw in plenty of villains, such as Kingpin, the Rose, Jack O'Lanter, and Hobgoblin, but never reaches a conclusion with any of them really. The issues at the time weren't focused on Venom, so their inclusions and conclusions feel especially jarring. A big part of the Spider-man mythos is the development of these stories and its characters, so it's a tad frustrating wondering what happened to Hobgoblin, or why Hydro-man suddenly popped up. The inclusion of a few issues that don't even HAVE any developments of the symbiote suit undermines the inclusion of the ones that do, as they could have been exercised in favor of more plot and drama.
Speaking of which, while the collection doesn't exactly flow, it does have some great old-time Spider-man moments that were a wonderful reminder of a time long passed. In this volume, Spider-man dates The Black Cat, Mary Jane confesses her knowledge that Peter's Spider-man, and Peter and Aunt May have a spat over college. But, like the rest of the volume, these dramas never reach fruition, but they're interesting scenarios.
Also, the art, as some mentioned, is a mixed bag. It goes from rather poor (early on) to phenomenal (later on.) Having read up on Todd McFarlane, it's interesting to see how his style evolved. With issues jumping forward by months and years, it's shocking to see his Spider-man go from lackluster to the artistic Renaissance man that established McFarlane as a power player in comics. Some of the later issues have poses and action scenes that are almost frame worth, and it's absolutely jarring to compare that to the earlier issues in this volume.
But, even that has its problems. Venom himself has evolved artistically since his introduction, and the Venom in this collection is a very rough version of the character. While he went on to be really overexposed later, he wasn't quite developed enough in this collection either. Visually, he just starts off as a bigger version of the black Spider-man with a toothy grin. Later, his teeth get sharper, he gets more developed, and looks much better... but as good as Todd draws him, Venom truly reached his peak later on, sporting a bluish hue to his costume and getting his trademark tongue and green spit. Those later incarnations are not included in this collection, which would have been a nice touch to see how he developed.
In the end, this collection does its job, but I can't help but feel it could have been done better. I can understand that trying to cram almost 10 years of development into one volume can be daunting, and cuts had to be made, but some inclusions and omissions are baffling, and the complete story feels distinctively lacking. If you're a Venom fan, I can give this a recommendation, but you'd do better reading "Maximum Carnage" or "Venom: Lethal Protector".

If you're interested in preparing for the Spider-Man 3 movie with a little Venom history, this is the place to start. From the very first appearance of Spidey's black costume during the Secret War (the first and best) to a genuine knock-down-drag-out battle involving Venom and Spider-Man, this collection has a good start. Keep in mind though, it's only a start.

If you already own the collection "Spiderman Versus Venom", you don't really need this one. There are several crossover issues from both books. And Venom really doesn't play a strong part until about halfway through this collection. We do get a lot of backstory about how the symbiote costume started controlling Peter and how he ultimately rid himself of it before it joined with Eddie Brock. To me, though, Eddie Brock's Venom makes the whole thing worth it. This was before he became the tamer, good guy version of himself later in the comics. This was Eddie when all he wanted to do was eat Spider-Man's liver and such. He was a genuinely scary villain, and probably the best foe Spidey faced during the 90's.

I have no doubt there will be a volume 2 of this coming out later because of the abrupt end we have. Don't get me wrong, the story is finished, but there was a lot more history between these two later on.

Again, a great collection to get you the Venom backstory. Just remember you'll be flipping quite a few pages before he actually shows up.

WARNING SPOILER ALERT! Well where can I start this book was awesome and I recommend it to any fan of Spiderman or Venom, black costume etc. When I got this trade paperback I knew it was going to be good I just didnt know that I was getting alot more than I expected. First and foremost let me make it perfectly clear dont be fooled by the title because its more than just about Venom fighting Spiderman it takes you to some parts from the Secret Wars saga, like the minute spiderman got the black costume and his journeys with the Black Cat which I thought was cool because when I read Maximum Carnage I remember her stating when she encountered Venom in that book she said the last time they met he broke her nose and I was left wondering wow! I can only imagine how that must have felt because at that time I did'nt own this book. Now that I own it I finnaly got the chance to see that fight if you can call it a fight, Venom almost killed her when he did that and I have to say it looked very painful. Another thing I liked that I did'nt expect to see in this book was when Mary Jane finally finds out who Spiderman really is and breaks down and pours her heart out to him and tells him her story and why she is the way she is with people,to me that was a very powerful moment in the book, probably because I was'nt expecting all of that to be in there, But enough about that lets talk about Venom/Eddie Brock and when he got the costume. After reading this i have to take my hat off to Todd Mcfarlane for his more darker tone in the Venom saga. The way Eddies personality is, it's very disturbing (he really believes GOD answered his prayers when the costume was bestowed upon him so he can kill Spiderman). Another thing I like was the Cape Fear element for example when Parker came home to find Eddie there with aunt May helping out around the house knowing that Eddies up to know good and was just trying to show him that not only does he know his secret identity he knows that he can hurt the people he love at any time unless he gets what he wants, which is a fight to the death. All in all great story telling, great art work, and a epic battle that not only test Spiderman's abilities when facing Venom it also show the true danger of what can happen if a villian know almost every thing about you and you are helpless to stop them from getting to you at any place at anytime. VENOM RULES!

For now I read it to him and he listens, he loves the pictures and this book is giant. It has 348 pages! a great buy for sure! it tells all about spiderman and the symbiote suit, and then venom comes along. very good quality. Highly recommended!

I thought this comic book was pretty good. I enjoy reading the old comics of Spiderman and this is all them. It shares mostly of what venoms storyline is from the begining and same with the symbiote spiderman and the symbiote itself. Just for extra info venom doesn't appear until about halfway through.

Well this book takes me back. When I was still collecting comics, Venom appeared on the scene, and instantly became a classic villain--perhaps _the_ Spider-Man villain. The whole early saga is here, and boy, remember the hair?

As you read. "Spider-Man: Birth of Venom" focuses more on Spidey wearing (and eventuelly trying to get free of) his alien costume than in the fan-favorite vilain. Yeah, Venom appears and fights spidey a lot of times, but not enough to call the book "Birth of Venom". The right name would be "the symbiote saga".