Memorable Moments in Comics - Spider-Man's Black Suit

Memorable Moments in Comics - Spider-Man's Black Suit

Another installment of our Memorable Moments in Comics series. This time we look back to Secret Wars when Spider-Man first got his black suit. The article is published on our blog but we are including the intro to it below.

Editorial Opinion
By superherostuff - Sep 21, 2010 12:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics
Source: Spider-Man's Black Suit

It was 1984 and Jim Shooter was writing the Secret Wars story line. Mike Zeck and Bob Layton were penciling with Christie Scheele coloring in between the lines. The 12 issue series was not only a big hit for a full year, from May '84 through April '85, but also left us with a new item that would influence the entire Marvel universe from then on out. It was Spider-Man's black suit.

Many ask, "where did he get the symbiote?" While many uber geeks answer in irate, and in unison, "The Secret Wars! Duhh!!" But... but, even the uber geeks don't ask the one question that nobody has ever asked, which will be asked at the end of this post.

The Beyonder, some big cosmic dude, chooses a group of heroes and supervillains for combat (think of when the Metrons pulled Kirk the reptilian Gorn captain from their respective ships to a desolate planetoid, forcing the two captains to fight each other) and teleports both heroes and villains to in a planet in a distant galaxy dubbed "Battleworld," which just so happened to be stocked with alien weapons and technology.

You can read the rest of this post on our blog at Memorable Moments in Comics - Spider-Man's Black Suit

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LEEE777
LEEE777 - 9/21/2010, 12:31 PM
Yeah pity they [frick]ed it up in SPIDEY 3!!!

Damn ya gotta luv SECRET WARS!
Weeton
Weeton - 9/21/2010, 12:40 PM
What a great story line that was. Sam Raimi's last iteration has been all but stricken from my thoughts.

@Leee: What's a spidey 3? ;)
FrankLeeGitnit
FrankLeeGitnit - 9/21/2010, 12:47 PM
The prob'x with Spidey 3...

1. You don't just kill the last Hobgoblin

2. Venom doesn't just disappear with a whole person inside of him... let them slink away or something...

Other than than Spidey 3 was not that bad... I kinda liked it...
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 9/21/2010, 12:47 PM
I loved teh black suit, but I have to say even reading as a kid I didn't think much of Secret Wars. Some might see that as blasphemy but the fact is it wasn't a very well written comic. Its only selling point was the huge character cross over. Anyway, I know it was back in day when the standards weren't too high but still, not a big fan.
MassExecutions
MassExecutions - 9/21/2010, 1:10 PM
Its hard for big crossovers to avoid an inherent amount of silliness, but Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet still rule. There's just to much raw awesome in there for them not to. I have one of the last issues of Secret Wars where Klaw makes a ton of monsters to fight the heroes and Cap takes down god-like Dr. Doom. SO COOL.

Are we sure Thor used the same machine as Spidey? I always thought Spidey just used the wrong machine.
MisterJoshua
MisterJoshua - 9/21/2010, 1:11 PM
@ RorMachine : "I know it was back in day when the standards weren't too high but still, not a big fan. "

Same here. Granted, the Secret Wars set in motion a few plotlines that had long-lasting and far-reaching reprecussions throught the entire MarvelVerse, but as a specific example of a story arc, it wasn't much for me.

The basic premise got summed up in a single, 30-minute episode of Teen-Titans.

Granted, when it comes to multi-book tie-ins, nothing takes the place in my heart that Maximum Carnage currently occupies...despite the fact that all of the 'books' that were crossed were Spidey titles.


JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 9/21/2010, 1:12 PM
ROR: You're not wrong about it being poorly written - "Well I'll be an eight ball's uncle" - is pretty much a perfect example of that, lol! :P I enjoyed the story when I read it a few years ago, but after reading so many recent Marvel events where the characters all crossover (Civil War for example) it just didnt seem all that special in comparison to if I'd read it when it was released...plus, as you pointed out, it just wasnt that great to begin with anyway.

The black suit was an awesome time in Spidey's history though. It's always fun when they bring it back such as in "Grim Hunt" recently. Just a pity Spider-Man 3 [frick]ed it's big screen adaptation up so badly!
MassExecutions
MassExecutions - 9/21/2010, 1:21 PM
@MisterJoshua - Ah, Maximum Carnage. Another classic. Why is it so hard to find the trade paper back of that?
zemus
zemus - 9/21/2010, 1:38 PM
SC #8 is hanging up at my desk at work, I gaze at it every day :)
ManThing
ManThing - 9/21/2010, 1:54 PM
That was cool. I love Secret Wars!
thebamf
thebamf - 9/21/2010, 2:20 PM
Secret Wars is awesome. I still read it from time to time.
Matowar
Matowar - 9/21/2010, 2:32 PM
I remember reading Secret Wars when it first came out I was like 8 and it was awesome! I read it from time to time and still love it with two noticeable complaints, first no way Spiderman can beat the entire X-Men, and second it has always bugged me that Thor was knocked out from the mountain but Hulk was ok. Other than them two awesome awesome awesome book.
MisterJoshua
MisterJoshua - 9/21/2010, 2:35 PM
@ MassExecutions : Yeah, Maximum Carnage is a real bi+ch to find, but I can't walk into a con without finding about fifteen hundred copies of Maximum Clonage...go figure.


...and these freaks think that because the books are 'in mint condition' that I'll still buy them. A polished, prepped turd is still a turd.
MassExecutions
MassExecutions - 9/21/2010, 2:44 PM
@MisterJoshua - No doubt.

@Matowar - THAT is because Hulk is the strongest one there is.
TREE24K
TREE24K - 9/21/2010, 3:03 PM
@MassExecutions - Yeah I thought it was understood that Spidey used the wrong machine. I wonder how long its been since the writer of the article has read that story. Been at least 15 years for me and i remember that.
JediRob
JediRob - 9/21/2010, 3:15 PM
What's the question? Why does Thor not have a symbiote and why the "Spider Sense?"

I always took it as Spidey simply uses the wrong machine. I believe that is implied. And as far as the "Spider Sense," well I'd have to go with the symbiote only deactivated his sense when it was Venom after it had bonded with him and knew how it worked.
MercuryWest
MercuryWest - 9/21/2010, 4:11 PM
secret wars #8.. got it!
marvelguy
marvelguy - 9/21/2010, 4:26 PM
Back in the early eighties, the majority of ideas were not well scripted. This was clearly the beginning of the recurring universe-wide crossover. Everyone wants to see all their heroes together. This was before everyone and anyone was in the Avengers. I mean the FF have all been part of the Avengers at one point. Of course, they still wore their FF gear. Yep, truly a different era. Entertaining nonetheless.
Eviltwin
Eviltwin - 9/21/2010, 5:52 PM
Man, I have so many great memories of this series!!
Hands down one of my fav. issues ever, where Spidey gets the black costume.

Has to be my all time favorite Spider-Man suit. An absolute classic.

patriautism
patriautism - 9/21/2010, 8:05 PM
I like the secret wars version of the suit, but that would be really hard to explain in a movie about only Spider-Man.
I personally would have liked to see him keep the cloth replica of the black suit that he wore when his other regular suit was destroyed by Magma. I mean come on, black is cool.
SageMode
SageMode - 9/21/2010, 10:04 PM
I still say that Spider-Man's symbiote suit was his best.
MassExecutions
MassExecutions - 9/22/2010, 6:00 AM
@ElGuason - You are so right about how the suit should look on screen. Why mess with perfection. Slick black, big white spider. Perfect.
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 9/22/2010, 6:25 AM
The black suit was indeed a milestone in Spidey's career. I always liked the little foreshadowing that appears when Spidey first got his black costume- that it set off his Spidey-sense. Nice little hint to keep an eye on that thing, which paid off when Reed Richards discovered that the suit was a symbiote.

My complaint with the black suit? It didn't stay black for very long. Look after the first couple of issues or so- around Amazing 255 or close to it. The costume starts turning blue, with some black around the edges, and in the mask. Blame the lousy coloring we had back then, but that was rather distracting. It was still a very good story, and led to the introduction of one of Spidey's most interesting villains, Venom.

At least the Beyonder didn't hang around. What a cheesy villain! With that silly costume, he looks like he ought to be clubbing with Disco Stu. Put a couple of gold chains on him, give him a white 1980 Corvette and a coked-up blonde bimbo, and put him in front of a club.
Louis2007
Louis2007 - 9/22/2010, 10:05 AM
Loved Secret Wars - no apologies and no shame -

I wonder if Marvel should re-do it with better art
BatarangForce
BatarangForce - 10/4/2010, 5:21 PM
From Wikipedia, Re: Black Suit

"After ruining his red and blue one in battle on Battleworld, the Hulk tells Spider-Man about a machine operated simply by thinking of what kind of suit, weapon or equipment someone needs.

When Spider-Man thought of a new costume, the machine gave him a black sphere. When he touched it, Spider-Man found himself covered in a new black costume.

Later on in Secret Wars #12, Spider-Man sees that other heroes are getting costumes from a different machine, not the one that he used."
Been a long time since I read it, but it looks like it was a different machine.
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