Amazing Spider-Man #300

[iamrman]

Somebody wearing what seemed to be Peter's old alien costume snuck in to the apartment and gave Mary Jane a fright.

Later, the Parkers go to their new apartment to take some pictures. Then things start to get saucy.

Not only Peter's spirits, amirite?

It turns out the guy wearing the alien suit is... some dude we never saw before!

Time for a motive rant, I guess.

Comments

[numeronone]

There is something deeply unsettling about the original look for Venom lacking slobber, tongue, sharpness...being just a bulkier Spider-Man with an unhinged rictus.

[morallyambiguousscience]

I'd argue its actually a better design than modern Venom, but that's probably just my own weird tastes speaking.

Also, this Eddie is just a completely horrible person on every level, its amazing how much he's softened over the years.

[numeronone]

I mean, he did have to die of cancer and become a space god-king.

[deh_tommy]

If I remember correctly, the person who first drew him with the long slobbery tongue and the sharp teeth deliberately tried to exaggerate those features because of a weird Mandela effect he had where he thought that had been a thing before and he was trying to mock it. Of course, he was the first person to actually draw the tongue and the slobber (and I think the needle teeth) for Venom, and since it ended up sticking he became responsible for the very things he was making fun of.

[scorntx]

It is weird that the objectively less monstrous look is somehow more alarming than the later one.

But it kind of works as well?

[numeronone]

Since he’s experimenting with Self vs. Self territory anyway, I’m now wondering what would happen if Ewing pitted modern day weary-king-type Eddie against self-sabotaging-Catholic-with-a-grudge Eddie, and had the former way more grossed out than the latter.

[steverodgers5]

I much prefer it. It's definitely creepier to me, from not going over the top into silliness.

[beyondthefringe]

A knock-off Spider-Man?
What a silly villain, he'll never last.

[blues32]

While I loved this introduction to Venom...it was entirely off the mark. Emil Gregg didn't confess to Brock. He was captured trying to kill Jameson himself because he overheard Carter's audio journal sessions and thought it was a voice in his head. They certainly wouldn't have asked Brock for the ID of the Sin Eater.

You have to wonder if any of it actually happened. Brock is clearly unhinged here. His logic for blaming Spider-Man was that, if Spider-Man didn't catch the Sin Eater, Carter would have stopped. This is despite the fact that Carter was trying to shoot Betty Brant when Spider-Man broke in and started beating him.

The pages where Venom reveals himself to Mary Jane were chilling. Just sitting in the darkness, waiting. Then a slit forms on the "mask", widening into an impossibly large grin. "Hi, honey. We're home."

[zylly]

Not to mention Brock is basically blaming Peter for catching a serial killer and undermining his journalistic credibility. As though it would be better for the killer to be free.

[blues32]

He justifies it by saying that, if Emil took the heat for the Sin-Eater killings, Carter would have stopped. So, in Brock's mind, it wouldn't be leaving the killer free. The problem would solve itself. It's pure delusion.

[bravest_spinja]

It's said that the DeFalco era was paradoxically about putting the Marvel universe back to factory settings but also chasing trends we would eventually recognize as an Image house style.

This was probably the best coordination of that contradiction--Spidey would pretty much permanently return to the classic look, but a very re-stylized take on it, and in return the "new look" would be attached to separate, popular character.

[windleopard2]

This was the second Spider-Man comic I ever owned (the first was an out-of-continuity kid magazine I bought in London). However, I don't recall the photography scene from my version.

[blues32]

I had a collection of Venom issues, starting with issue 299 and ending with the issue where Peter beats Venom by offering to take the symboite back, the strain of attempting to remove itself from Brock and bond with Peter being too much for them. The photography scene was definitely in there.

[steverodgers5]

I've still got the original comic. (One of the few I kept from back then, because its a favourite.) And it's defintely there.

Would be easy to miss though as it's a double sized issue with a lot going on.

[tripodeca113]

"CURSE YOU SPIDER-MAN FOR EXPOSING MY OWN SUBSTANDARD JOURNALSIM!"
Super-villains have rarely been good at self-introspection, so this does makes sense.

I like how every other version and adaption has a better motive for Eddie to hate Spider-Man

[windleopard2]

"CURSE YOU SPIDER-MAN FOR EXPOSING MY OWN SUBSTANDARD JOURNALSIM!"
Super-villains have rarely been good at self-introspection, so this does makes sense.

Yeah, this is why I never understood the criticisms about Brock's motive for hating Spider-Man. He's far from the only villain with an irrational and misplaced grudge. Hell, Dr. Doom hates Reed entirely for something that Reed clearly did not do; at least Eddie can genuinely say that Spider-Man's actions did negatively impact his life

I like how every other version and adaption has a better motive for Eddie to hate Spider-Man

Spider-Man 3 does keep the aspects of Eddie being an irresponsible journalist who is exposed by Peter. If anything, Eddie's worse in that movie because he went out of his way to frame Spider-Man for a crime he didn't commit just to fast track his career. Spectacular Spider-Man has the most sympathetic depiction of Eddie because he doesn't start out as an entitled, irresponsible dolt and Spider-Man does a lot to make it look like he is trying to screw Eddie over.

[blues32]

Well, here's the thing with Doom. He thoroughly believes that Reed sabotaged the device out of jealousy. He can't accept that, as Reed pointed out, he had made an error in his own calculations. And there's no real proof that Reed DIDN'T sabotage the systems other than the fact that we, as the reader, know he didn't. Ergo, he must have done it, in Doom's eyes.

Brock, on the other hand, seems to be completely misremembering the events. Carter was literally caught in the act. His expose' was going to be ruined either way. His theory that Carter would have stopped when Emil took the fall was nonsense. Emil was in custody when it happened.

As for original movie Brock, he was all sorts of messed up. For example, he believed he was dating Gwen Stacy. He was not. They had gone out, sure, but Gwen wasn't really interested. Then, after all the crap he pulled was exposed, he goes to church, not to pray for forgiveness because he planned suicide, but because he wanted God to strike Peter down. "Strike Parker down for proving how much of a dick I am."

[windleopard2]

Not only Peter's spirits, amirite?

His blood pressure too?

[mazway_75]

It is fun how even Micheline never expected Venom to last like he did but somehow connected.