HOST STORIES
marvel executive editor tom brevoort on why everyone loves a cool monster
With the idea of a black Spider-Man costume first being proposed in a reader’s letter to then-Marvel editor Jim Shooter in 1982, several writers and artists contributed to Venom’s development. Shooter first introduced the symbiotic Spidey suit in classic crossover Secret
Wars in May 1984, the very same month that Roger Stern, Tom De Falco and Ron Frenz revealed in
Amazing Spider-Man #252 that it was actually a sentient alien. But it was David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane who were mostly responsible for the creation of the Black Barrel of Slime that we know and love to hate today, debuting his inaugural alter ego Eddie Brock in 1988’s landmark comic
Amazing Spider-Man #300. “It was David Michelinie who originated the idea of bonding that leftover suit to somebody to make a villain and it was Todd McFarlane who crafted the huge, over-muscled Venom physique and the crazy exaggerated shark-grin,” says Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort, who believes that Venom’s striking design is a large part of his appeal.
“People, especially kids, love monsters, and Venom is a great, monstrous version of Spider-Man,” he continues. “He’s also got just a little bit of the Joker in him, in that he says outrageous things and laughs at inappropriate moments. He’s an outsider tough guy, an iconoclast, an outlaw, and those are qualities that people connect with. Right from the start, Venom was hugely popular.”
While other Spider-Man characters including Mac “Scorpion” Gargan and Peter Parker’s former classmate Flash Thompson have enjoyed spells as hosts, it’s journalist Eddie Brock who’s most associated with the Lethal Protector. “As the original Venom, Brock has a legitimacy that simply cannot be taken away from him,” reasons Brevoort. “No matter how many times he loses that symbiote to somebody else or is given some other identity or role, it seems inevitable that he’ll eventually come back to being Venom again. And it’s really Eddie’s relationship with the symbiote and his personality that define what we think of as Venom beyond the visuals.”
As the movie tagline suggests, Venom is more of an anti-hero than a traditional heroic lead. “I don’t see Venom as a hero at all,” admits Brevoort. “He deludes himself into thinking that he’s a hero, and that occasionally drives him to do good things. But he’s too narcissistic, too self-centred and self-pitying, and too prone to bouts of uber-violence to really be a full-on hero.”