This is the second post in a row I looked for a “Spider-Man” category to tag it with, but I didn’t have one.
So last time we were talking about that scene in Fantastic Four #274 (1985), in which the alien symbiote that had been Spider-Man’s costume is freed from the lab where it had been contained. Here is a better look at the page in question (as drawn by John Byrne, Al Gordon and apparently Dan Adkins):
It was brought up in the comments that it was a little weird that this important moment in Spider-Man’s history happens in a Fantastic Four comic, but commenter “S” reminds us that the scene did appear in Amazing Spider-Man #261 (February 1985) by Tom Defalco, Ron Frenz and Joe Rubinstein:
Slightly embarrassing in that I read this Spider-Man comic and should have remembered, though I think I can be forgiven since it’s probably been close to forty years since I’ve done so.
S also mentions this drone incursion was possibly sent by the Kristoff version of Doctor Doom (remember that period?), which is confirmed by this panel from Fantastic Four #278 (May 1985) by Byrne and Jerry Ordway:
As we see in the Spider-Man page, “Doom’s” plan didn’t explicitly involve “freeing the alien symbiote,” but somehow that critter managed to attract the probe into investigating further. Hence, the release of the symbiote putting it well on its way to Venom-ness, and leading into the release just a couple of months later of Web of Spider-Man #1, where said symbiote plays a part.
So there you go. Hopefully these couple of posts sucked all the Venom out of my blood and it’s no longer in my system, and I can finally move on to different topics. Like the Spider-Man villain Carnage, I could probably do a couple of weeks on him.
So interesting to see those sequences side by side. The economy of Byrne’s storytelling is really impressive. Not only are the visuals crystal clear, but the silence amps up the creepiness.
I get that DeFalco had more to explain, but his page is pretty wordy. He could have relied on Frenz’s art more.
Putting the crucial Spider-Man scene in FF seems like a Jim Shooter mandate to me: “Push the Universe!” So it makes a sort of sense.
What I don’t recall is if there was ever any follow-up on this scene. Was there ever a moment when Reed realized the symbiote was gone and said “Uh… oops?” I don’t think there was; I think the Baxter Building was blown up shortly after, rendering the whole thing moot, but certainly Reed would have been checking in on it before then, right? (Oh, wait, this is Reed. Of course not…)
It also appearing in FF does make some sense, as Reed Richards got the symbiote off of Peter in the first place. (using some fancy tech).
“but certainly Reed would have been checking in on it before then, right? (Oh, wait, this is Reed. Of course not…)”
Reed: one of the original absent-minded professors!