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Symbiote Spider-Man
Symbiote Spider-Man: Alien Reality
Years ago, the amazing Spider-Man returned from the Beyonder's Battleworld sporting a sleek new black costume - with a dark and sinister secret! The "costume" was alive, an alien symbiote that would go on to torment Peter Parker; create his greatest foe, Venom, and eventually unleash symbiotic madness on the Marvel Universe! But for now, turn back the clock to the time of Symbiote Spider-Man and experience another all-new tale set in the early days before Peter discovered the costume's true nature! Even his stylish new black duds won't protect him when Spider-Man finds himself entrenched in a battle with the Hobgoblin! But where did Hobby get these strange new powers? Peter David and Greg Land return for the next thrilling installment woven between the classic issues of the Alien Costume Saga! COLLECTING: SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: ALIEN REALITY (2019) 1-5
121 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 30, 2020
4 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Peter David
3,573 books1,368 followersaka David Peters
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 13, 2023
I like this volume much more than the first one. I do like the idea of Spider-man learning skill. I like the new reality story and the art work is great. The problem I have with it for mr Spider-man checks out too much with too much time of the Symbiote in control. The other thing is everyone on the Marvel universe seem to figure it out but nobody bothers to tell Spidie.
A good story wit some good twists and turns fir Venom fans this would be great, but I have always been a fan of Peter/Spider-man over coming things not just checking out and leaving it to someone/something else.
A good story wit some good twists and turns fir Venom fans this would be great, but I have always been a fan of Peter/Spider-man over coming things not just checking out and leaving it to someone/something else.
May 10, 2022
This was a lot of fun. It takes place back before Venom was a thing and Spider-Man was running around in the black suit (and Peter David was writing Peter Parker, Spectacular Sider-Man.) Hobgoblin alters reality so that he's the Sorcerer Supreme's apprentice. Only Doctor Strange and Spider-Man remember and have to figure out how to change their world back.
November 10, 2020
A what if story basically. When hobgoblin becomes the new Dr. Strange and everything in Peter's life changes. Nothing really new or fresh and besides some good dialogue from David, neither the plot or art do much of anything. This is pretty much one of rhe most skippable comics ever.
August 9, 2020
This sequel to David and Land's original Symbiote Spider-Man mini-series jumps forward a few months in comic time; Peter's still wearing the Venom symbiote suit, and this time runs into the Hobgoblin. What could be a straight forward Spidey story instead becomes a reality-warping What If? when the Goblin teams up with Baron Mordo to re-write all of time and space. Oops.
The premise is sound, I'll give this series that right off the bat. It definitely keeps things unpredictable, which is difficult for a series set in the past (so you know it's all going to turn out alright). The alternate reality has some fun changes, like the Black Widow/Cat combo, although that unfortunately loses a bit of punch because of Land's chronic pornface artwork.
It all kind of fizzles out in the final issue however. David attempts to get philosophical with the Word Of God and how imagination and Spider-Man feed into that, but the issue ends so abruptly that we don't get to explore any of it, which is a bit disappointing.
Not a bad sequel, but definitely a jilted ending that could have done with a few more pages. And Greg Land's gunna Greg Land, so your mileage may vary there.
The premise is sound, I'll give this series that right off the bat. It definitely keeps things unpredictable, which is difficult for a series set in the past (so you know it's all going to turn out alright). The alternate reality has some fun changes, like the Black Widow/Cat combo, although that unfortunately loses a bit of punch because of Land's chronic pornface artwork.
It all kind of fizzles out in the final issue however. David attempts to get philosophical with the Word Of God and how imagination and Spider-Man feed into that, but the issue ends so abruptly that we don't get to explore any of it, which is a bit disappointing.
Not a bad sequel, but definitely a jilted ending that could have done with a few more pages. And Greg Land's gunna Greg Land, so your mileage may vary there.
November 26, 2020
Enjoying these symbiote Spider-Man stories a good deal. Fresh take on old stories. David does not disappoint.
March 12, 2023
Ok for me this is just about pitch-perfect cotton-candy Spidey storytelling. Few wasted panels, a little weird humour, and a zany adventure.
Greg Land’s art is really growing on me in this series. If not for his badly-photoshop-traced faces (and what’s with the monotooth he draws on everyone? Not everyone can pull it off like Tom Cruise apparently does), the camera angles, the clearly-spelled-out action (and the complementarily great colouring by Frank D’Armata) are doing Peter David justice.
Did I just give Land a half-added compliment? I think I need to re-examine my life choices. But not as badly as Spidey will once Reed clues him in… til then, Felicia ahoy!
Greg Land’s art is really growing on me in this series. If not for his badly-photoshop-traced faces (and what’s with the monotooth he draws on everyone? Not everyone can pull it off like Tom Cruise apparently does), the camera angles, the clearly-spelled-out action (and the complementarily great colouring by Frank D’Armata) are doing Peter David justice.
Did I just give Land a half-added compliment? I think I need to re-examine my life choices. But not as badly as Spidey will once Reed clues him in… til then, Felicia ahoy!
August 2, 2021
WTF was this lmao
October 10, 2020
Qualcuno si offende se dico che sono follemente innamorato di come Greg Land disegna l'Uomo Ragno con il costume nero?
March 24, 2021
Peter David está diferente. Peter David está mudado. Peter David não é mais o mesmo. Assim como na primeira minissérie do Homem-Aranha Simbionte, essa segunda o escritor que nos envolvia em tramas psicolócias e bem arquitetadas foi no piloto automático. Percebe-se o seu estilo, apresentando humor, tramas religiosas e desencontros temporais e espacias, mas... não é a mesma coisa. A arte de Greg Land, o rei das cópias - e não é aquela casa de Xerox - também não ajuda muito a minissérie. Só li mesmo porque fazia parte do MIX da revista do Venom. Muito ruim.
November 21, 2020
Another really fun callback to the 1980's Symbiote Spider-Man. I really enjoyed the story and art in this one. The only issue I have is the ending feels a little abrupt, other than that I loved it.
February 1, 2023
Another story set in a timeline during post Secret Wars and pre Venom.
This time Spider-Man falls into an alternate reality where The Hobgoblin is the Sorcerer Supreme not Stephen Strange!
The crazy thing is this isn’t even the weirdest thing to happen in this book, imagine a reality where Uncle Ben and Aunt May are still alive (for a little longer) the Black Widow is now The Red Cat, Morbius the Living Vampire is in the Antarctic and all of this madness is all because Baron Mordo has the power of a book with the “Word of God”
That was so much fun, the jokes were legitimately funny, loads of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming and the artwork was beautiful.
Impossible to score higher than a 4⭐️ due to the type of series it is, but a very entertaining book if you know the basic history of Spider-Man and some Doctor Strange too.
This time Spider-Man falls into an alternate reality where The Hobgoblin is the Sorcerer Supreme not Stephen Strange!
The crazy thing is this isn’t even the weirdest thing to happen in this book, imagine a reality where Uncle Ben and Aunt May are still alive (for a little longer) the Black Widow is now The Red Cat, Morbius the Living Vampire is in the Antarctic and all of this madness is all because Baron Mordo has the power of a book with the “Word of God”
That was so much fun, the jokes were legitimately funny, loads of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming and the artwork was beautiful.
Impossible to score higher than a 4⭐️ due to the type of series it is, but a very entertaining book if you know the basic history of Spider-Man and some Doctor Strange too.
August 23, 2022
I like Greg Land for this series. But not Peter David. Land earns 2 stars. David earns zero. The jokes did not land, and the story was a pointless meander, not to mention unclear?
- For which portions of the tory was the symbiote in control? All of it?
- Which portions of the story are a dream, which portions are altered reality?
- Did the symbiote spend a year learning magic? Does it still know magic?
- Why so many odd and specific changes in the dream world to Peter's life? Who benefitted from keeping Ben alive and replacing Felicia? Just random butterfly knock-on effects?
I shouldn't read stuff I know I don't like. I just really enjoyed the original alien costume saga and wished this was more faithful to it.
- For which portions of the tory was the symbiote in control? All of it?
- Which portions of the story are a dream, which portions are altered reality?
- Did the symbiote spend a year learning magic? Does it still know magic?
- Why so many odd and specific changes in the dream world to Peter's life? Who benefitted from keeping Ben alive and replacing Felicia? Just random butterfly knock-on effects?
I shouldn't read stuff I know I don't like. I just really enjoyed the original alien costume saga and wished this was more faithful to it.
December 17, 2020
It begins with the premise of a classic Spidey vs Hobby story, but it turns out to be a great mess.
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April 13, 2022The first Symbiote Spider-Man collection was slight, but of all things, the Absolute Carnage tie-in was surprisingly, remarkably good, so I thought I'd have another go. Which now feels like a mistake, because this reads like it's part of some kind of bet for the most ways to make a story feel entirely inconsequential. It's set in the past, before Peter Parker got wise to the downside of his black costume – and then on top of that, the timeline gets magically altered, so we're in a world where the Hobgoblin is a wizard, and the Black Widow is the Black Cat except she's called the Red Cat even though by that logic the Black Cat would be the White Cat. And obviously that's all going to be reset, but just to make sure, the one thing which might give Peter some pause about fixing things, and thus the story some tension, gets undone first. Which we subsequently find out puts him into a catatonic state, so he's not even mentally present for the rest of the story, it's just the suit! Which nonetheless knows what a retcon is, and discusses it in a fourth-wall-prodding (but not really funny) fashion, before the story's centrepiece, which is of all things the suit and Nightmare skipping through the realm of the human imagination, discussing belief and the meaning of life. If this was the first outing of a celebrity fan turned scriptwriter, or me attempting to get down one of the peculiar dreams I've been having this week, I could understand it – but this is Peter David, a veteran Marvel writer, and one who more often than not still has the goods. Even with the keen appetite for more and more Spidey comics lately, I genuinely don't get any part of how this miniseries came to be, and I've not even mentioned that the art is by Greg bloody Land.
April 30, 2025
Peter Parker is wearing the black costume. He doesn't know it's sentient yet. During a fight with Kraven, Spider-Man gets poisoned and his whole world turns upside down. Kraven is suddenly an ally, Peter is is dating Natasha who is also Black Cat (or Red), the Hobgoblin is still an enemy, but is now wielding Strange's power and Strage himself is a bum. What has happened?
August 25, 2020
Though not his best, PAD effortlessly writes another winner.
In this Untold Tale of Spider-Man, Peter David has a ton of fun with a new plot device with the power to rewrite reality, leading Spider-Man, the Symbiote Suit, and a now homeless Doctor Strange to team up in this new, often quite funny, reality. Alongside the usual gags you'd find in this type of story (Kraven the Hunter dressed up like some sort of goofy looking Australian park ranger with a pike hat, think the Hunter from the first Jumanji film that hunted down Robin Williams) he also sneaks in some unexpected bags and observations in like in the final issue where he sneaks in some clever commentary on the nature of retcons in writing long form stories. I also took one star off because Greg Land's notorious stock trading images resurfaced in here again, though I will give him credit for his drawing of Nightmare on his black stallion, it looked like a trace of great and dynamic looking classical painting, I was very impressed with that.
In this Untold Tale of Spider-Man, Peter David has a ton of fun with a new plot device with the power to rewrite reality, leading Spider-Man, the Symbiote Suit, and a now homeless Doctor Strange to team up in this new, often quite funny, reality. Alongside the usual gags you'd find in this type of story (Kraven the Hunter dressed up like some sort of goofy looking Australian park ranger with a pike hat, think the Hunter from the first Jumanji film that hunted down Robin Williams) he also sneaks in some unexpected bags and observations in like in the final issue where he sneaks in some clever commentary on the nature of retcons in writing long form stories. I also took one star off because Greg Land's notorious stock trading images resurfaced in here again, though I will give him credit for his drawing of Nightmare on his black stallion, it looked like a trace of great and dynamic looking classical painting, I was very impressed with that.
March 18, 2021
I've generally had a bit of a fondness for this Symbiote Spider-Man comic by Peter David, but man this volume elevated things to another level and really let David play with some interesting ideas.
When Spider-Man is surprised to find most of the world changed except for him, he figures it's a problem of a magical nature. But somehow one of the villains from his rogue's gallery is now sorcerer supreme and Peter Parker is at a loss as to what exactly has gone on.
The twists and turns that this story manages to explore make it more than your run-of-the-mill alternate reality story. What really got me were some of the loftier metaphysical concepts at the end, coupled with the more great spotlight moments with the symbiote costume AND fun fight sequences that all came together for a pretty good Spider-Man story indeed.
When Spider-Man is surprised to find most of the world changed except for him, he figures it's a problem of a magical nature. But somehow one of the villains from his rogue's gallery is now sorcerer supreme and Peter Parker is at a loss as to what exactly has gone on.
The twists and turns that this story manages to explore make it more than your run-of-the-mill alternate reality story. What really got me were some of the loftier metaphysical concepts at the end, coupled with the more great spotlight moments with the symbiote costume AND fun fight sequences that all came together for a pretty good Spider-Man story indeed.
February 15, 2025
Man, I am torn on this one. On the one hand, this is simply a sloppy book, from the plot holes to even several “typos” in the dialog bubbles (I guess they are technically called "lapsus calami" or "slips of the pen"), which you just don’t see very often in comics. On the other hand, it is just so dang fun. I am not sure why I have always felt that Symbiote Spider-man has a special magic to it, but I always find myself gravitating to it anytime I need my Spidey fix. Not only does it have Hobgoblin, one of my favorite villans, it also has some scenes that would probably fit better in Gaiman’s “Sandman or “The Books of Magic” than in a Peter Parker story. Well, I guess since Doctor Strange and Mordo are involved, I should expect it to be hallucinatory. So, regardless of the plot holes and heavy-handed exposition here and there, I guess love it.
March 6, 2021
Ummm ok.... this Volume kind of reads like a bunch of "What If?" comics. Supposedly set during a time when Peter was wearing the black symbiote suit, this story features twists on reality: Hobgoblin is the Sorcerer Supreme, Natasha is not the Black Widow but the Red Cat, Uncle Ben is alive (but then Aunt May dies instead of him), and Baron Mordo is involved.... this is kind of all over the place.
I'm not even sure that we know what is real by the time this is finished...
But... Peter David is a fantastic Spidey writer, and definitely keeps your attention here.
Overall? Not bad... but not essential.
I'm not even sure that we know what is real by the time this is finished...
But... Peter David is a fantastic Spidey writer, and definitely keeps your attention here.
Overall? Not bad... but not essential.
October 19, 2020
Takes me back to the days when I was collecting Spidey comics hard, in the zone more than any other time on my comics journey. Sure this is another “oh-man-we-gotta-fix-this-bad-alternate-reality”tale, but I am a pushover when it comes to the Wall Crawler. Good art, not distracting. Doctor Strange sure is a man of his word....didn’t even fully warn Spidey that he had a dangerous alien on his body because he said he wouldn’t. A fun ride.
July 13, 2022
Peter David continues his look back into the pre-venom symbiote days. While not nearly as good as the first volume, Alien Reality was fun. Seeing dream worlds can be hit or miss and this was just that. This didn't feel as seamless a fit into the original story as the first volume. It seemed like more of a standalone story. The art by Greg Land was good with a lot of dynamic scenes. Overall, this was a solid story but felt disconnected.
May 17, 2021
COLLECTS SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: ALIEN REALITY (2019) ISSUES #1-5
This one started our really strong, and ended with a whimper. I liked the alternate universe that Spider-Man entered, but it wasn't explored quite as much as I would have liked. Doctor Strange has an important part to play in this story, and Hobgoblin is featured as one of the villains.
Final rating = 3.5 stars
This one started our really strong, and ended with a whimper. I liked the alternate universe that Spider-Man entered, but it wasn't explored quite as much as I would have liked. Doctor Strange has an important part to play in this story, and Hobgoblin is featured as one of the villains.
Final rating = 3.5 stars
April 6, 2022
Another fun flashback story to the days of Spidey's alien costume, this time featuring the Hobgoblin in a major role. We also get to see Spider-Man team up with Doctor Strange to face some weird changes to reality. Some of the plot twists in the story are genuine surprises, but also become questionable if you think about them too much... so this is best enjoyed without thinking too much. (B+)
November 28, 2022
Realmente de bom mesmo só a arte e o início da edição pois a partir que anda as tramas envolvendo realidades alternativas vou cada vez gostando menos das ideias colocadas, a única coisa que salva é arte que é muito bela de resto não trás muito de interessante não...
March 11, 2024
I really like this series of Symbiote Spider-man one-shots. They're quick to read, filled with action and interesting twists, and Greg Land's art is perhaps the best of his career. An enjoyable diversion for Spidey fans.
August 16, 2020
A bit disjointed and confusing. A disappointment after it's much more enjoable predecessor,.
October 18, 2020
Not really a spider-man story, more of a doctor strange story featuring spider-man
November 26, 2020
Great art, fun story
March 18, 2021
Kind of a cool what if vibe for a long past era of Spidey history.
April 13, 2021
Not as good as the first volume but still a really good story rating:7/10
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews