COZMIC VENTURES

If there’s one character that not only changed the world of Spider-Man, but the landscape of comic books as a whole back in the ‘90s and to this day, it’s Venom. First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man #300, the symbiotic baddie was created by writer David Micheline; his now infamous look designed by legendary artist Todd McFarlane. Imagining a world without the alien villain/antihero is a daunting task.

Micheline has gone into detail in multiple interviews about what inspired Venom and how he thought up the unique monstrosity, but that’s a conversation for another day. I say that because Todd McFarlane recently shared what he felt was the moment he realized how Venom should look.

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… This is the page that CREATED Venom!!! If I didn't like the #classic look of #spiderman so much, Venom would never have existed. Here's why… When I took over the artwork for the Amazing Spider-Man comic artistically I wanted to draw #Spidey in his red & blue costume…but he was wearing a black costume at the time. Marvel said they would bring back the 'classic' look in issue #300 if I joined the book (which I did on issue 298). Problem was…what to do with the black costume. So I came up with the alien/monster look and we had a new villain that none of us knew would be such an important character for #Marvel. TODD #venommovie #weareone #venom #villain #happyaccident #accident #surprise #SPIDEY

A post shared by Todd McFarlane (@toddmcfarlane) on Aug 5, 2018 at 9:15pm PDT

Over on Instagram, McFarlane reminisced about the exact comic page that inspired Venom’s design. Whenever creators describe their creative process I’m intrigued.

With the Venom movie coming out in a couple months, one of Spider-Man’s greatest antagonists lives on to this day. At the time of his inception, no one could have banked on Venom lasting for as long as he has. Ultimately, it’s a testament to his character and the fans that love him.