Venom Poster #10 Eddie Brock Spotlight/Origin/Facts by Wayne A. Murray

Description

Awesome rare Venom art with interesting factoids about his powers and origin! Eddie Brock is a character created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane. Originally a comic book supervillain, Brock’s earliest appearance is a cameo in Web of Spider-Man #18 (September 1986) before making his first full appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #299 (April 1988) as Venom. The character has since appeared in many Marvel Comics publications including his own series Venom. Introduced as the first incarnation of the Spider-Man villain Venom, the character becomes an anti-hero, working with and against superheroes.

In the original version of the story, Brock is a journalist who exposes the identity of a serial killer only for the real killer to be caught by Spider-Man, Brock having accused the wrong man. Disgraced and suicidal, Brock comes into contact with an alien Symbiote, rejected by Peter Parker. The Symbiote bonds with Brock becoming Venom and together they seek out revenge against their mutual enemy. Though Brock repeatedly comes into conflict with Spider-Man, he also attempts to operate as a hero, albeit a violent one, seeking to save those he deems “innocent”. In 2008, after being separated from the Venom Symbiote, Brock gains a new Symbiote and becomes the anti-hero Anti-Venom. However, that symbiote is sacrificed to help cure the “Spider-Island” epidemic during the 2011 storyline. In 2012 he is bonded to the Toxin symbiote. Though Brock is a human with no powers, the Symbiote suit bestows upon him a range of abilities including many of the powers belonging to Spider-Man, the Symbiote’s original host.

Writer David Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane are generally credited with the character’s creation, based on a number of plot ideas and concepts from various other creators. The question of who created the character of Venom became an issue of contention in 1993 when Michelinie wrote to the comic book industry magazine Wizard, which had referred to Michelinie in issue #17 as “co-creator” of Venom. In his letter, printed in issue #21 (May 1993), Michelinie wrote that he was the character’s sole creator, while saying also he believed that without McFarlane the character would not have attained the popularity it did.

Writer Peter David corroborated Michelinie’s view in his “But I Digress” column in the June 4, 1993 Comics Buyer’s Guide, in which he stated that Michelinie discussed the ideas behind the character with him at the time of its creation. At that time, David was the writer on The Spectacular Spider-Man and wrote the “Sin Eater” storyline from which Eddie Brock’s backstory would be derived, well before McFarlane was assigned to the art duties on Amazing. Because artists who design the costumes or appearances of major characters and/or illustrate their first appearances are generally credited as co-creators, Venom represents a complex situation, because the costume from which Venom’s appearance is derived was not designed by McFarlane.

Erik Larsen responded to Michelinie’s letter with one of his own that was printed in Wizard #23 (July 1993), in which he dismissed Michelinie’s contributions to the character, arguing that Michelinie merely “swiped” the preexisting symbiote and its powers to place it on a character whose motivations were poorly conceived, one-dimensional, unbelievable, and clichéd. Larsen also argued that it was McFarlane’s rendition of the character that made it commercial.

The preexisting elements that dealt with the symbiote costume itself – to which Michelinie did not contribute – have also been noted. The original idea of a new costume for Spider-Man that would later become the character Venom was conceived of by a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois named Randy Schueller. Marvel purchased the idea for $220.00 after the editor-in-chief at the time, Jim Shooter, sent Schueller a letter acknowledging Marvel’s desire to acquire the idea from him, in 1982. Schueller’s design was then modified by Mike Zeck, becoming the Symbiote costume. For example, Shooter came up with the idea of switching Spider-Man to a black-and-white costume, possibly influenced by the intended costume design for the new Spider-Woman, with artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi, as well as others, designing the black-and-white costume Writer/artist John Byrne asserts on his website that the idea for a costume made of self-healing biological material was one he originated when he was the artist on Iron Fist to explain how that character’s costume was constantly being torn and then apparently repaired by the next issue, explaining that he ended up not using the idea on that title, but that Roger Stern later asked him if he could use the idea for Spider-Man’s alien costume. Stern in turn plotted the issue in which the costume first appeared but then left the title. It was writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz who had established that the costume was a sentient alien being and also that it was vulnerable to high sonic energy during their run on The Amazing Spider-Man that preceded Michelinie’s. Regardless, Peter David’s position is that Michelinie is the sole creator, since the idea of creating a separate character using the alien symbiote was Michelinie’s, as was Eddie Brock’s backstory, and that without the idea to create such a character, the character would not have existed.

In an interview with Tom DeFalco, McFarlane states that Michelinie did indeed come up with the idea of Venom and the character’s basic design (“a big guy in the black costume”). However, he contends that it was he (McFarlane) who gave Venom his monster-like features. He claims; “I just wanted to make him kooky and creepy, and not just some guy in a black suit.”

As Venom, Brock gains several abilities similar to those of Spider-Man, the Symbiote’s former host, including superhuman strength, speed, agility and reflexes as well as the ability to adhere to most surfaces with his hands and feet. The Symbiote is also able to project a web-like substance from its body, similar to Spider-Man’s. However, this webbing is produced organically by the Symbiote from its own mass, which means that overuse can weaken the alien until it is able to regenerate. The Symbiote can also send out tendrils which can be used to grab or manipulate items from a distance.

Near mint condition.