10 Reasons We Still Love Marvel's Secret Wars 30 Years Later
2. It Gave Us Venom
Perhaps Secret Wars most significant contribution to the Marvel Universe was that it introduced the comic book world to the alien symbiote. The symbiote initially bonds to Spider-Man in Secret Wars #8, giving us the black suit (the first major costume change in the characters career). After being rejected by Spidey, the alien joins up with the sociopathic Eddie Brock, leading to the birth of the supervilain Venom. While some believe that Venom and the symbiote would eventually be overused and overexposed by Marvel, when the character first burst onto the scene, there was no bigger phenomenon in comics. The muscle-bound killer who also possessed a warped moral code that made him somewhat sympathetic, was arguably the most popular new Spider-Man villain created since the Silver Age of comics when Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. were churning out iconic villain after iconic villain. The events from Secret Wars #8 were referenced in Spider-Man comics multiple times in the months and years after the series was published, including in Venoms origin story in Amazing Spider-Man #300. And in terms of collectability, Secret Wars #8 is the only issue from the series that is legitimately sought after because it is the first appearance of the symbitoe.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
