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A relatively short Era in the History of Spider-Man is what I am calling the Venom Era...The beginning of that era does not start with the first appearance of Venom though since that character is the "Fusion" of a Man and something else...Something that was pretty controversial back when Amazing Spider-Man #252 hit the stands...Many things were changing in comics and Spidey was one of the comics affected...Just read the Cover to Amazing #252: "The Rumors Are True. Introducing The New Spider-Man!"...What was it?...A New Costume!

Gone was the traditional standby of Blue and Red in his costume and in its place was a new Black Costume with a large White Spider on his chest...Many people loved it, but then again as I remember, most people hated the change...It seemed like a permanent change for Spider-Man when right after Amazing Spider-Man #252 and Marvel Team-Up #141, on the stands the same month, it appeared regularly in all of his titles until he changed costumes permanently with the events in Amazing Spider-Man #299 & 300 and a new popular "hot" artist...He would wear the traditional Blue and Red costume on occasion but none the less, the new one won out as far as exposure goes...So what does this all have to do with Venom?...Well, HE is the "Fusion" of the Man, Eddie Brock, and the Costume!...Now I know what you are saying, a costume fused with a man?...And yes, there is a reason for that!

Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars was the first major cross-over event for Marvel...It was a 12 issue limited series that featured just about every character the writer's could get their hand on, and Spidey was one of them...Issue #8 was the introduction of the infamous costume from the planet where the War was set...What was so special about this costume you may ask?...Well, for one thing it was an Alien!, and for another, it appealed to Spider-Man VERY much and fit him like a glove, But he wasn't the only person that the alien costume "attached" itself to as we shall see!...

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