Web of Spider-Man #1
Web of Spider-Man #1 serves as the definitive closing chapter of the Alien Costume Saga — a cross-title arc that ran through Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Marvel Team-Up — delivering the final, emotionally charged showdown between Peter Parker and the symbiote, resolved memorably through the ringing of church bells. The church-bell separation scene proved so elemental to the character that it has been reproduced in virtually every subsequent adaptation of the saga, including the Spider-Man animated series (1994), The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 (2007). The issue also marks the first appearances of the Vulturions — a quartet of criminals who reverse-engineered Adrian Toomes's wing technology — and introduces the symbiote's pivotal act of saving Peter's life out of something resembling love, a moral ambiguity that would inform Venom's characterization for decades. As the debut issue of a brand-new ongoing series that ran 129 issues through 1995, it simultaneously established Web of Spider-Man as Marvel's third concurrent Spider-Man monthly title.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was created specifically to replace Marvel Team-Up, which ended with issue #150 in early 1985, giving Spider-Man a dedicated third ongoing solo title rather than a team-up anthology. Writer Louise Simonson — then credited as Louise Jones, later Louise Simonson after her marriage to Walt Simonson — was tapped to launch the book under editor Danny Fingeroth, with Jim Shooter serving as editor-in-chief; the issue was released with a cover date of April 1985 (on sale December 1984). Penciller Greg LaRocque handled the interior art with inks by Jim Mooney, while fantasy illustrator Charles Vess contributed a distinctive fully painted cover — a deliberate choice, noted in The Spider-Man Vault, to signal that this new series would have its own identity. The editorial decision to anchor the first issue to the conclusion of the symbiote storyline was a high-profile launch strategy, capitalizing on one of the most-talked-about subplots in Spider-Man comics at the time.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance of the Vulturions (Honcho, Gripes, Pigeon, and Sugar Face) — four criminals who learned Vulture-wing technology from Adrian Toomes while sharing a prison cell with him.
- Written by Louise Simonson, penciled by Greg LaRocque, inked by Jim Mooney, with a fully painted cover by fantasy artist Charles Vess; Danny Fingeroth edited under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
- Concludes the multi-title Alien Costume Saga: the symbiote re-bonds with Peter Parker after escaping Reed Richards's lab, and Peter uses the bells of a church to force its separation — an act the symbiote counters by dragging the unconscious Peter to safety before seemingly perishing.
- The series replaced Marvel Team-Up (which ended at #150) as Marvel's third regular Spider-Man ongoing series alongside Amazing Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man.
- The church-bell separation scene in this issue is the direct source material for analogous scenes in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994), The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 (2007).
- The story continues from Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #100, with the symbiote having escaped from containment in Amazing Spider-Man #261.
- The issue has been reprinted in numerous collected editions including Spider-Man: Birth of Venom (2007), Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga (2014–2015), True Believers: Venom Symbiosis (2018), Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 25 (2023), and Spider-Man: The Complete Black Costume Saga Omnibus (2024); a Dynamic Forces edition signed by Louise Simonson and numbered to 500 copies also exists.
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