Collects Amazing Spider-Man #298-300 and 315-317. This trade paperback retells the original Venom saga. Spidey's black-and-white costume, which is actually an alien life form, melds with ex-reporter Eddie Brock (no fan of Spider-Man to begin with), resulting in the popular villain known as Venom. Written by David Michelinie, with art by Todd McFarlane.

Softcover, 112 pages, full color.  1st printing.

Todd MacFarlane's art defines Spiderman to me, to this day. And these stories are a big part of that for me. Classic encounters with a now classic villian. Very entertaining writing.

Today I read this classic story in the oldest trade paperback that I own. The trade was published in 1990, and it collects two small sections of Amazing Spider-Man 298 and 299, plus full issues of Amazing Spider-Man 300, 315, 316, and 317. These issues chronicle the original "Venom" storyline. In issue 300, Spider-Man and Venom come face-to-face for the first time, and we learn how Eddie Brock took on the symbiote costume.

The reason I give this story such a high ranking is because the writers do a fantastic job at making the reader feel like the stakes are very high. Even though I knew that Spider-Man would ultimately survive the battle, the story-telling made me feel like there was a chance that Peter would be killed. Venom truly seemed unstoppable, and I can see why he became such a popular character in the 1990's. I'm not certain that Marvel originally planned to eventually make him an anti-hero, but even in these early issues, Venom has a sense of what is morally right and wrong. While he has no problem killing Spider-Man, he feels sorrow over innocent lives that are lost in the midst of his mission.

I'm guessing that there is a more updated volume of the original story, so however you can get your hands on it, I would recommend that Spider-Man fans check this out.

Venom is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, who survives by bonding with a host, usually human. This dual-life form receives enhanced powers and usually refers to itself as "Venom". The symbiote was originally introduced as a living alien costume in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), with a full first appearance as Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988).

The Venom symbiote's first human host was Spider-Man himself, who eventually discovered its true nefarious nature and separated himself from the creature in The Amazing Spider-Man #258 (November 1984)—with a brief rejoining five months later in Web of Spider-Man #1. The symbiote went on to merge with other hosts, beginning with Eddie Brock, its second and best-known host, with whom it first became Venom. Venom has endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent villains, and was initially regarded as one of his three archenemies, alongside the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Since his debut however, Venom has evolved into an antiheroic figure, slowly distancing himself from his initial goal to ruin Spider-Man's life to try and do good instead, even putting aside his differences with and helping Spider-Man at times. After Brock, numerous other hosts for Venom followed; some of the most notable are the villain Mac Gargan, who was the main incarnation of Venom from 2005 to 2009, and Flash Thompson, who became the superhero Agent Venom from 2011 to 2016, before Venom returned to Brock in 2017. Venom's most recent and current host is Brock's biological son, Dylan. Venom is also depicted as having spawned several children—Scream, Lasher, Phage, Agony, Riot, Mania, Sleeper, and most notably, Carnage, who becomes Venom's archenemy after being bound to serial killer Cletus Kasady.

A fan-favorite character and well-known figure in popular culture, Venom (primarily the Eddie Brock incarnation) has been featured in various media adaptations of Spider-Man over the years, including feature films, television series and video games. The character was portrayed by Tobey Maguire and Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3 (2007), with Tom Hardy primarily portraying the character in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe films Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), as well as an uncredited post-credit scene appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

The Eddie Brock incarnation of Venom is among Spider-Man's most famous rogues, and is regarded by many as a dark reflection of the hero. Comics journalist and historian Mike Conroy writes of the character: "What started out as a replacement costume for Spider-Man turned into one of the Marvel web-slinger's greatest nightmares".

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