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Marvel Knights: Spider-Man (2004)
Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Back in Black
From the darkness comes a spider...
Spider-Man has never been more sensational than in "Back in Black," the event that has profoundly rewritten the rules for Peter Parker! The harrowing moments of Civil War may be in his rearview mirror, but their repercussions are a constant ordeal in Peter's life, as he must face the challenges born from the revelation of his identity. Facing down an army of super-powered Spider-Man impostors, grappling with the evil Mister Hyde, and standing up to the scourge of Venom and his alter ego Eddie Brock - the stakes have never been higher as he tries to navigate an emotional terrain that has found him forever changed.
Collecting Sensational Spider-Man #35-40 and Annual #1, Spider-Man Family #1-2, Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook.
Spider-Man has never been more sensational than in "Back in Black," the event that has profoundly rewritten the rules for Peter Parker! The harrowing moments of Civil War may be in his rearview mirror, but their repercussions are a constant ordeal in Peter's life, as he must face the challenges born from the revelation of his identity. Facing down an army of super-powered Spider-Man impostors, grappling with the evil Mister Hyde, and standing up to the scourge of Venom and his alter ego Eddie Brock - the stakes have never been higher as he tries to navigate an emotional terrain that has found him forever changed.
Collecting Sensational Spider-Man #35-40 and Annual #1, Spider-Man Family #1-2, Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook.
310 pages, Hardcover
First published November 28, 2007
7 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
About the author
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
467 books476 followersRoberto Aguirre-Sacasa is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series Glee, Big Love, Riverdale, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He is Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics.
Aguirre-Sacasa grew up liking comic books, recalling in 2003, "My mom would take us out to the 7-Eleven on River Road during the summer, and we would get Slurpees and buy comics off the spinning rack. I would read them all over and over again, and draw my own pictures and stuff."
He began writing for Marvel Comics, he explained, when "Marvel hired an editor to find new writers, and they hired her from a theatrical agency. So she started calling theaters and asking if they knew any playwrights who might be good for comic books. A couple of different theaters said she should look at me. So she called me, I sent her a couple of my plays and she said 'Great, would you like to pitch on a couple of comic books in the works?'"
His first submissions were "not what [they were] interested in for the character[s]" but eventually he was assigned an 11-page Fantastic Four story, "The True Meaning of...," for the Marvel Holiday Special 2004. He went on to write Fantastic Four stories in Marvel Knights 4, a spinoff of that superhero team's long-running title; and stories for Nightcrawler vol. 3; The Sensational Spider-Man vol. 2; and Dead of Night featuring Man-Thing.
In May 2008 Aguirre-Sacasa returned to the Fantastic Four with a miniseries tie-in to the company-wide "Secret Invasion" storyline concerning a years-long infiltration of Earth by the shape-shifting alien race, the Skrulls,and an Angel Revelations miniseries with artists Barry Kitson and Adam Polina, respectively. He adapted for comics the Stephen King novel The Stand.
In 2013, he created Afterlife with Archie, depicting Archie Andrews in the midst of a zombie apocalypse; the book's success led to Aguirre-Sacasa being named Archie Comics' chief creative officer.
Aguirre-Sacasa grew up liking comic books, recalling in 2003, "My mom would take us out to the 7-Eleven on River Road during the summer, and we would get Slurpees and buy comics off the spinning rack. I would read them all over and over again, and draw my own pictures and stuff."
He began writing for Marvel Comics, he explained, when "Marvel hired an editor to find new writers, and they hired her from a theatrical agency. So she started calling theaters and asking if they knew any playwrights who might be good for comic books. A couple of different theaters said she should look at me. So she called me, I sent her a couple of my plays and she said 'Great, would you like to pitch on a couple of comic books in the works?'"
His first submissions were "not what [they were] interested in for the character[s]" but eventually he was assigned an 11-page Fantastic Four story, "The True Meaning of...," for the Marvel Holiday Special 2004. He went on to write Fantastic Four stories in Marvel Knights 4, a spinoff of that superhero team's long-running title; and stories for Nightcrawler vol. 3; The Sensational Spider-Man vol. 2; and Dead of Night featuring Man-Thing.
In May 2008 Aguirre-Sacasa returned to the Fantastic Four with a miniseries tie-in to the company-wide "Secret Invasion" storyline concerning a years-long infiltration of Earth by the shape-shifting alien race, the Skrulls,and an Angel Revelations miniseries with artists Barry Kitson and Adam Polina, respectively. He adapted for comics the Stephen King novel The Stand.
In 2013, he created Afterlife with Archie, depicting Archie Andrews in the midst of a zombie apocalypse; the book's success led to Aguirre-Sacasa being named Archie Comics' chief creative officer.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 27, 2020
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
The instant a person has an epiphanic moment where they understand what they want to do with their lives, their whole moral compass and most basic primal instincts are tweaked as their decision-making becomes goal-oriented going forward. But what happens if they encounter a tragedy far too heart-breaking for their mind to conceive? As their resilience and perseverance are sent on hyperdrive, some break while others will keep their heads up determined to change their ways. With three Spider-Man series written and illustrated in parallel back in 2007 (The Amazing Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and The Sensational Spider-Man), it’s writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s stories that find themselves exploring the tumultuous and fragile state of Peter Parker following a terrifying tragedy as he tries to understand what he’s done wrong ever since he’s decided to become a superhero.
What is Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Back in Black about? This companion volume to the Spider-Man: Back in Black story arc explores the dark and twisted transformation of Peter Parker following the life-altering events that take place around Marvel’s Civil War. Having announced his secret identity to the world through a news conference, he ended up being at odds with Tony Stark, joining Captain America in their anti-registration regime. Unfortunately, their defeat forced them underground afterward. Unfortunately for Peter Parker, his life crumbles when the imprisoned Kingpin of Crime hires a sniper to take him and his loved ones down. Although Mary Jane was saved on that tragic night, another meaningful life is now on the verge of death. Battling with a thirst for vengeance and clinging onto the tiniest ray of hope, Peter Parker brings back his black suit modeled after the Venom symbiote as he fights off a myriad of villains while leaving behind his humour and his purpose.
This hardcover deluxe edition collects Sensational Spider-Man #35-40 and Annual #1, Spider-Man Family #1-2, Marvel Spotlight: Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Back in Black Handbook.
From a violent mad scientist and Venom seeking their dreaded revenge on Spider-Man to bittersweet and eye-opening discussions with powerful and magical entities, the stories featured in this volume drew upon the webslinger’s devastating reality to display his struggles to return to his friendly superheroes days. Hunted by the potential loss of a loved one, he’s brought to reflect on his new ways with comparisons to monsters being drawn by those who only wish harm upon him in the first place. Convinced that the recent tragedies and the hell he’s put his loved ones in since the beginning of his days as Spider-Man would never have occurred if he hadn’t decided to do good with his powers, Peter Parker roams the street out of pure habit rather than good. Although some of these stories do a good job of depicting the complex and tainted relationships he now has with friends and lovers, others are far-fetched and are stretched too thin with the ideas explored.
A chunky portion of this volume is constituted of interesting discussions with various Spider-Man writers as well as a fascinating character encyclopedia section, giving this edition a very informational touch and further establishing it as a companion piece instead of aiming for an essential volume for fan’s who have read Spider-Man: Back in Black. As for the artists featured in this volume, they all possess a certain degree of talent as they utilize different styles to tell the desired stories. Despite this lack of consistency, the mere essence of this companion volume made it less warrant of profound scrutiny and allowed for a much more laxist enjoyment. However, artists Clayton Crain’s and Salvador Larroca’s artworks do merit a round of applause in their distinctiveness. After all, receiving a mixed bag of visual styles isn’t always that bad.
Spider-Man, Peter Parker: Back in Black is an unusual yet diverting companion collection of thought-provoking and sometimes mediocre stories exploring Peter Parker’s and Mary Jane’s mental state following a tragedy afflicted to a loved one.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
July 3, 2015
Several stories here but the best was Mary Jane being threatened with arrest and her reminiscing on why she fell in love with Peter and what they meant to each other.
November 21, 2022
Decent stories of Peter going through a VERy dark part in his life. I liked it as a companion to the main line at the time with Spider-man back in black.
January 5, 2019
A mixed bag. Some issues are OK, others aren't. None are great. This takes place shortly after Marvel's Civil War. The back of the book has several bios of heroes and villains, most of whom don't appear in the issues contained in this book.
My favorite issue was Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1, where Mary Jane reminisces about her history with Peter.
They should've left out (and never published) Sensational Spider-Man #40, a sacrilegious and completely unnecessary issue about Jesus talking to Peter Parker.
Notes
Richard and Mary Parker (Peter's parents) were CIA agents. Nick Fury recruited Richard for his CIA cell. The Parkers freed Wolverine from Hydra, and infiltrated the spy network of the Red Skull (Albert Malik). The Red Skull's right-hand man, the Finisher, tampered with their plane, resulting in a fatal crash.
The Symbiotes destroyed all other life on their planet millennia ago, then travelled from planet to planet, killing as they went. One Symbiote, "the Other," sought to join with its host rather than destroy it. The Beyonder transported it to Battleworld for the Secret War, where it bonded with Peter Parker, who wore it back to Earth. Peter separated from it using church bells. It then bonded with Eddie Brock to form Venom. Its offspring bonded with Brock's cellmate Cletus Kassady to form Carnage.
My favorite issue was Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1, where Mary Jane reminisces about her history with Peter.
They should've left out (and never published) Sensational Spider-Man #40, a sacrilegious and completely unnecessary issue about Jesus talking to Peter Parker.
Notes
Richard and Mary Parker (Peter's parents) were CIA agents. Nick Fury recruited Richard for his CIA cell. The Parkers freed Wolverine from Hydra, and infiltrated the spy network of the Red Skull (Albert Malik). The Red Skull's right-hand man, the Finisher, tampered with their plane, resulting in a fatal crash.
The Symbiotes destroyed all other life on their planet millennia ago, then travelled from planet to planet, killing as they went. One Symbiote, "the Other," sought to join with its host rather than destroy it. The Beyonder transported it to Battleworld for the Secret War, where it bonded with Peter Parker, who wore it back to Earth. Peter separated from it using church bells. It then bonded with Eddie Brock to form Venom. Its offspring bonded with Brock's cellmate Cletus Kassady to form Carnage.
June 24, 2017
I like this second half of Back in Black. My favorite story would have to be the annual issue where Peter and MJ are thinking back the good times they have where they were friends and when they fell in love with each other.
May 31, 2021
I'm reading this as part of a deep dive into Venom and the symbiotes' history in the Marvel universe.
There are two separate stories in this collection featuring Venom. The first is a continuiation of Mark Millar's continuity, wherein Brock auctioned off the Venom symbiote and gave the money to charity. This leaves Brock, who has cancer, near death and hospitalized, and, lo is he in the same hospital where Aunt May is recovering from being shot (part of J Michael Straczynski's post Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event. There's an inner-struggle about whether Eddie should kill her, as he is encouraged to do by the Venom symbiote.
It's not great. Especially given how much I've enjoyed Aguirre-Sacasa's other Marvel work. But it is good to see that they retconned Millar's epilogue and are continuing to eveolve Eddie Brock's character.
The second story seems to ignore continuity completely, and just be a quick, silly story showing Brock/Venom as an anti-hero, killing corrupt scientists and investors involved in testing cancer cures on unsuspecting transients. It's weirdly paced and doesn't amount to anything in the larger scale of either Venom or Spider-Man's story but there are a couple of decent moments with Ben Ulrich, whom you'd imagine would be intricately tied into Brock's journalist back story.
I think the Back In Black storyline is an important part of Peter Parker's story in the Marvel Universe, but you can easily skip over it if you're just reading important Venom stories.
There are two separate stories in this collection featuring Venom. The first is a continuiation of Mark Millar's continuity, wherein Brock auctioned off the Venom symbiote and gave the money to charity. This leaves Brock, who has cancer, near death and hospitalized, and, lo is he in the same hospital where Aunt May is recovering from being shot (part of J Michael Straczynski's post Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event. There's an inner-struggle about whether Eddie should kill her, as he is encouraged to do by the Venom symbiote.
It's not great. Especially given how much I've enjoyed Aguirre-Sacasa's other Marvel work. But it is good to see that they retconned Millar's epilogue and are continuing to eveolve Eddie Brock's character.
The second story seems to ignore continuity completely, and just be a quick, silly story showing Brock/Venom as an anti-hero, killing corrupt scientists and investors involved in testing cancer cures on unsuspecting transients. It's weirdly paced and doesn't amount to anything in the larger scale of either Venom or Spider-Man's story but there are a couple of decent moments with Ben Ulrich, whom you'd imagine would be intricately tied into Brock's journalist back story.
I think the Back In Black storyline is an important part of Peter Parker's story in the Marvel Universe, but you can easily skip over it if you're just reading important Venom stories.
October 10, 2022
A mixed bag of stories wrapping up this title before JMS ends it with One More Day. I mostly like what's here, and even love some of it:
-"The Strange Case of..." (35-37): a weird little arc in the context of Civil War, Hyde is capturing runaway teen boys, attempting to turn them into Spider-Man to see if any of them choose "good" in the way that Peter did. It's OK, kind of a throwaway/filler story that feels weird in context.
-"To Have and To Hold" ('07 Annual): MJ reminisces about her and Peter falling in love after SHIELD captures her in an attempt to lure him out. REALLY loved this.
-"The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock" (38-39): Eddie Brock, suffering from cancer with the memories of Venom still haunting his mind, discovers he is in the same hospital as Aunt May and attacks. Better than I expected at the top, Eddie is a compelling character and the writing carries that off.
-"The Book of Peter" (40): Peter, anticipating that May is about to die, a mysterious stranger who is basically God reminds him of all of the good he has done. It's OK, more than a little disjointed and kind of out of place in the current run given what's about to happen next.
So yeah, a mixed bag overall but well worth your time if you're already reading this era of Spidey.
-"The Strange Case of..." (35-37): a weird little arc in the context of Civil War, Hyde is capturing runaway teen boys, attempting to turn them into Spider-Man to see if any of them choose "good" in the way that Peter did. It's OK, kind of a throwaway/filler story that feels weird in context.
-"To Have and To Hold" ('07 Annual): MJ reminisces about her and Peter falling in love after SHIELD captures her in an attempt to lure him out. REALLY loved this.
-"The Last Temptation of Eddie Brock" (38-39): Eddie Brock, suffering from cancer with the memories of Venom still haunting his mind, discovers he is in the same hospital as Aunt May and attacks. Better than I expected at the top, Eddie is a compelling character and the writing carries that off.
-"The Book of Peter" (40): Peter, anticipating that May is about to die, a mysterious stranger who is basically God reminds him of all of the good he has done. It's OK, more than a little disjointed and kind of out of place in the current run given what's about to happen next.
So yeah, a mixed bag overall but well worth your time if you're already reading this era of Spidey.
November 11, 2024
Boy, with the amount of banger issues that came from the Back in Black era, you can really tell that all the Spider-Man writers were trying to go out with a bang before One More Day ruined everything. The 3-parter with Mr. Hyde making copycat Spider-Men and the two Spider-Man Family issues were whatever, but everything else was really good to all-time great. Really though, between Aunt May in the mindscape literally telling Peter that she’s okay with dying in the Eddie Brock 2-parter and the One Above All (a.k.a. literal God) telling Peter to stop killing himself over what happened and to just have faith in the process, Aguirre-Sacasa was really trying to lay it on thick that he knew what was coming and he was very much not jazzed about it. And then you have the annual from Matt Fraction reminiscing on Peter and MJ’s relationship probably because he knew we were never going to get anything that wholesome between them ever again.
January 5, 2020
I would love to see what Aguirre-Sacasa would do with a Spider-Man book he was in full control over. It's clear the fantastic playwright and eventual CCO of Archie Comics had some interesting ideas and a strong handle on the characters' voices, but his own ideas are saddled with the overarching narrative of the events unfolding through Civil War, Back In Black, and eventually One More Day during his tenure on Sensational Spider-Man. It also feels at times like his writing is in competition with the occasionally less-than-stellar art from his collaborators.
BUT, this collection includes Sensational Spider-Man Annual 1, otherwise known as To Have and To Hold, one of the best issues in the history of Spider-Man comics. So. I can't be too hard on it.
BUT, this collection includes Sensational Spider-Man Annual 1, otherwise known as To Have and To Hold, one of the best issues in the history of Spider-Man comics. So. I can't be too hard on it.
December 12, 2019
Fantastic book, especially as I read it simultaneously with the "Spider-Man: Back in Black" volume. Most of these tales I hadn't read in ages. Two stories in PPS-M:BiB really knocked me for a loop: "The Book of Peter" (SS-M #40) was a great penultimate way to cap that series. And "To Have and To Hold" (S-SM Annual #1) was a touching adventure that gave new definition to true love, and why Peter and MJ are such perfect soulmates. Kudos to writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and all involved in this part of the Spider-Man legend! Glad to be reminded of those times, and to live them again.
August 21, 2024
2.5 stars. This one just feels very average. Nothing crazy or exciting happens here. The only unifying factor in this book is just the black costume. Very much ehh, especially while reading Ultimate Spider-Man simultaneously.
October 6, 2021
Couldn’t remember anything about this volume from a previous read, but it was good and I especially enjoyed the annual.
December 23, 2021
The Fraction annual is the obvious highlight, but the rest is mostly fun, if nothing special.
June 23, 2023
Some stories were great, some were mid.
September 16, 2014
I guess I love torture, having just spent some time not enjoying the primary Back in Black hardcover, and then immediately reading this supplemental garbage. This is just another lackluster Spider-Man collection that only further goes to show that Marvel had no idea what to do with the character back when this was being printed. His motivations and choices don’t match up at all with the ones we’ve seen in the other simultaneous publications. It makes me kind of think that One More Day, the Spidey total reboot story that follows this collection, was a little bit necessary. Spider-Man was so bogged down in post-Civil War identity revelation problems, crazy leftover spider powers from JMS’s misguided plots, and a lack of any central goal or villain to play off of, that totally restarting the whole shebang feels like the right move at this point.
In this book, we start with a weirdo story about someone abducting teenagers and trying to turn them into rogue Spider-Men for a vague reason that is never fully justified. It's incredibly far-fetched, and the twists and turns along the way are all too convenient to really keep the story interesting. It also kind of takes care of itself, without Peter really having to do much to handle the issue, ultimately ending in a hefty fizzle.
We also get a story of Eddie Brock, who has sold his Venom symbiote off and is dying of cancer, realizing he’s in the hospital right next to Aunt May, who he now knows is Spider-Man’s aunt, thanks to Peter revealing his identity (we all caught up now?). This essentially drives him Jack Torrance-level bonkers, complete with echoes of the symbiote telling him KILL KILL MURDER KILL. Good thing his room was coincidentally right next to Aunt May’s, otherwise we wouldn’t have a story!
I’m pretty tired of all the coincidence story lines in Spider-Man. Almost every villain in the series is somehow connected to Peter Parker, and it always just so happens that they also are a crazy lizard man or something. Well, let's take it a step further this time and just have the bad guy literally be next door. Great! Now what? What if we just keep making the bad guy act crazy, but never actually have him take any action? Sounds like some fantastic water treading, boys, write it up!
I also got the distinct feeling that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa very much did not want One More Day to happen. His Sensational Spider-Man run ends with a story about God coming down and telling Peter that everything is going to be okay, and essentially goes so far as to say "The real story is that Peter and Mary Jane live happily ever after." This is a direct contradiction of One More Day's reboot, as was the Annual included in this collection.
The Annual! Now here's the only story of the bunch that actually works. As I was reading it, I started to wonder why I all of a sudden cared about Peter and Mary Jane. The structure of the story was inventive and emotional, and the art followed suit incredibly well. The narrative builds on Peter's past, present and future to show just how important he and Mary Jane's relationship is. I started thinking "What happened? When did Aguirre-Sacasa learn to write like this?" Newsflash: he didn't. It was Matt Fraction! This just proved to me how great and standout Fraction can be when he puts his mind to it. I didn't even know it was him, but I immediately recognized a huge jump in storytelling quality.
Anyway, this is another incredibly missable Spider-Man outing (seemingly all they were making in the mid-2000s). I'd recommend maybe picking up the Annual somewhere by itself, but there's no reason to own this oversized lump of a hardcover.
In this book, we start with a weirdo story about someone abducting teenagers and trying to turn them into rogue Spider-Men for a vague reason that is never fully justified. It's incredibly far-fetched, and the twists and turns along the way are all too convenient to really keep the story interesting. It also kind of takes care of itself, without Peter really having to do much to handle the issue, ultimately ending in a hefty fizzle.
We also get a story of Eddie Brock, who has sold his Venom symbiote off and is dying of cancer, realizing he’s in the hospital right next to Aunt May, who he now knows is Spider-Man’s aunt, thanks to Peter revealing his identity (we all caught up now?). This essentially drives him Jack Torrance-level bonkers, complete with echoes of the symbiote telling him KILL KILL MURDER KILL. Good thing his room was coincidentally right next to Aunt May’s, otherwise we wouldn’t have a story!
I’m pretty tired of all the coincidence story lines in Spider-Man. Almost every villain in the series is somehow connected to Peter Parker, and it always just so happens that they also are a crazy lizard man or something. Well, let's take it a step further this time and just have the bad guy literally be next door. Great! Now what? What if we just keep making the bad guy act crazy, but never actually have him take any action? Sounds like some fantastic water treading, boys, write it up!
I also got the distinct feeling that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa very much did not want One More Day to happen. His Sensational Spider-Man run ends with a story about God coming down and telling Peter that everything is going to be okay, and essentially goes so far as to say "The real story is that Peter and Mary Jane live happily ever after." This is a direct contradiction of One More Day's reboot, as was the Annual included in this collection.
The Annual! Now here's the only story of the bunch that actually works. As I was reading it, I started to wonder why I all of a sudden cared about Peter and Mary Jane. The structure of the story was inventive and emotional, and the art followed suit incredibly well. The narrative builds on Peter's past, present and future to show just how important he and Mary Jane's relationship is. I started thinking "What happened? When did Aguirre-Sacasa learn to write like this?" Newsflash: he didn't. It was Matt Fraction! This just proved to me how great and standout Fraction can be when he puts his mind to it. I didn't even know it was him, but I immediately recognized a huge jump in storytelling quality.
Anyway, this is another incredibly missable Spider-Man outing (seemingly all they were making in the mid-2000s). I'd recommend maybe picking up the Annual somewhere by itself, but there's no reason to own this oversized lump of a hardcover.
May 27, 2008
Just as Spider-Man throws on his black costume (because he's all sad about Aunt May getting shot) a villain captures homeless youth, pumps them up with volatile Spider-powers, and gives them other suits Spidey has worn. The only catch, besides bad fashion is that these new Spideys die off quickly.
This main story has a bunch of filler at the end. First up is what Eddie Brock, the original Venom, thinks of Aunt May getting shot and Spidey putting on the black suit. Then, Spidey has a chat with some sort of God. After that, Matt Fraction writes a nice love letter to the various great points on Spidey and Mary Jane's history. Then comes the first two issues from Spider-Man Family, followed by a Marvel Spotlight and a Guide to the Marvel Universe where you can learn all everything there is to know about Supercharger or the Iguana.
With so many stories, this book is all over the place. It feels like Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's storyline is the third stringer, behind the two stories collected in Spider-Man: Back in Black. While his stuff is all right, it doesn't feel at all important.
This main story has a bunch of filler at the end. First up is what Eddie Brock, the original Venom, thinks of Aunt May getting shot and Spidey putting on the black suit. Then, Spidey has a chat with some sort of God. After that, Matt Fraction writes a nice love letter to the various great points on Spidey and Mary Jane's history. Then comes the first two issues from Spider-Man Family, followed by a Marvel Spotlight and a Guide to the Marvel Universe where you can learn all everything there is to know about Supercharger or the Iguana.
With so many stories, this book is all over the place. It feels like Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's storyline is the third stringer, behind the two stories collected in Spider-Man: Back in Black. While his stuff is all right, it doesn't feel at all important.
January 23, 2025
An absolute variety pack of a book.
There are cool ideas here, and a lot of cool art. The tone is all over the place and the idea that any of this is taking place somewhere around the other two narratives from the main Back in Black book (which was already stretching believability at best) is straight goofy.
Taken on its own, though, you end up with some intriguingly horror-bent stories, some loftier stories, and some extremely comic-booky narratives. It’s a mixed bag, and so you end up with an extremely average if eclectic collection of loosely tied-together comics.
I will say, you can absolutely skip all the material at the back from the Marvel Spotlight or the Handbook. It’s real dry.
There are cool ideas here, and a lot of cool art. The tone is all over the place and the idea that any of this is taking place somewhere around the other two narratives from the main Back in Black book (which was already stretching believability at best) is straight goofy.
Taken on its own, though, you end up with some intriguingly horror-bent stories, some loftier stories, and some extremely comic-booky narratives. It’s a mixed bag, and so you end up with an extremely average if eclectic collection of loosely tied-together comics.
I will say, you can absolutely skip all the material at the back from the Marvel Spotlight or the Handbook. It’s real dry.
Want to read
July 26, 2011I was not super impressed with this trade, at least as far as the "Back in Black" stories went. The "Last Temptation of Eddie Brock" was not nearly as compelling as I had hoped and took what could be a very interesting story and made it a snore fest. The best storyline in the whole volume (in my opinion) was the MJ/Peter history told from both their perspectives. Other than that, and the interesting extras with interviews and character guides, I didn't feel as though this was that worthwhile. However, I may give the second volume should it present itself.
December 3, 2013
This takes place after the Civil War. Spiderman puts on the black suit after his aunt was shot. He is angry with himself and everyone else, and in the last part Venom comes back and fights with Spiderman. It is a dark and action packed story with some drama. I would recommend this to people that like an action story and is a Spiderman fan.
June 22, 2008
Beter dab deel 1; misschien omdat ik nu al beter kon volgen in het verhaal?
August 12, 2008
I prefered this collection to the Amazing collection. Better story, more interesting.
April 26, 2009
One decent story, the rest pretty much filler.
June 27, 2016
3.5 really
September 1, 2017
A nice collection of Symbiote Suit stories dating back from the beginning to Venom and even after Civil War. Didn't hate it, didn't love it, just some good Peter Parker.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews