Marvel Comics has dropped Spider-Man into the middle of its long-running Black, White & Blood series with a symbiote spin.

“Fade to Black” by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Sumit Kumar (from the pages of Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #1) finds Peter Parker making his way down a bustling city street on Halloween night. When a pair of children wearing red-and-blue and black-and-white Spider-Man costumes pass by, Peter can’t help but be pulled back to the inner battle he fought against the Venom symbiote not all that long ago. In fact, Peter can still hear the symbiote whispering away in the back of his mind, and when he looks in the mirror, it seems as if Venom is still right there with him.

Written by J.M. DEMATTEIS, ALYSSA WONG, DUSTIN NGUYEN, and J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI Art by ELENA CASAGRANDE, FRAN GALÁN, DUSTIN NGUYEN, and SUMIT KUMAR Inks by CRAIG YEUNG Colors by ELENA CASAGRANDE, FRAN GALÁN, DUSTIN NGUYEN, and PROTOBUNKER’S DONO SÁNCHEZ-ALMARA Letters by VC’s JOE CARAMAGNA Main cover art by LEINIL FRANCIS YU & ROMULO FAJARDO JR. Variant covers by LEINIL FRANCIS YU & ROMULO FAJARDO JR., GREG LAND & FRANK D’ARMATA, RON FRENZ, BRETT BREEDING & ALEX SINCLAIR, MR GARCIN, and SKOTTIE YOUNG

Marvel’s trichrome series of anthology titles began in 2020 with the release of Wolverine: Black, White & Blood. Consisting of four issues, each with its own set of self-contained stories, Wolverine: Black, White & Blood quickly became a fan-favorite title, kicking off an entire line with the same black, white, and red motif. Over the next four years, Marvel mainstays such as Carnage, Deadpool, Moon Knight and Marvel Zombies all received the Black, White & Bloodtreatment. The latest franchise to do so was Alien, which featured writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and artist Michael Dowling throughout its Black, White & Blood miniseries.

The Venom symbiote has come a long way since appearing as what seemed to be a new suit for the titular hero back in the pages of 1984’s Amazing Spider-Man #252 by Tom DeFalco, Roger Stern, and Ron Frenz. Soon enough, Peter Parker realized that the suit was a symbiote desperately trying to make their bond permanent by any means necessary. Once separate, the symbiote found a new host in the form of Eddie Brock, who shared both Venom’s disdain for the hero and proclivity for violence.

Most recently, Venom has found itself at the center of Marvel Comics’ Venom War, which pits Eddie and his son Dylan Brock against one another in a battle for the fate of the entire Marvel Universe. Though both Eddie and Dylan believe that calamity will ensue should the other reclaim their bond to the Venom symbiote, there is no telling which of these purported outcomes will come to pass. Even still, Eddie and Dylan have both drawn their respective battle lines, all while amassing their own teams of superpowered supporters to aid in the fight to come.

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #1 goes on sale on August 7 from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics