Symbiote Spider-Man #1

Peter David – Writer

Greg Land – Artist

Spider-Man stands over a beaten and battered Mysterio. As Mysterio gets back on his feet, a webshot hits Mysterio in the chest and Spider-Man swings Mysterio into a desk and other furniture.

Flashback to a meeting between Quentin Beck and his old college friend Johnny at the local watering hole. Quentin asks Johnny for his help in a bank robbery. Johnny politely declines. This comes as a shock to Quentin as Johnny is a smart and respected member of the Kingpin’s criminal organization.

Mysterio stages his heist and has a female bank employee open the vault. Before Mysterio can take any money, a security guard pulls his gun on the villain. As Mysterio teleports and knocks out the security guard, the gun goes off and a bullet hits the woman, killing her. Mysterio is seen in an alleyway, his fishbowl helmet off, regretting what happened.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is running from rooftop to rooftop with a painting in his grasp. He has stolen it from the villainous Human Fly, who tried to take it from an art gallery. The Human Fly spews his acid venom at Spider-Man who dodges it, as it lands on an antenna instead. Spider-Man shoots webbing in The Human Fly’s face and after trying to remove it, the antenna falls and traps the villain underneath.

The next morning, Felicia Hardy visits Peter at his apartment. Peter has something to attend to and Felicia decides to tag along. Peter visits Uncle Ben’s grave on the anniversary of his death. Peter explains to Felicia how his uncle’s death and Peter’s failure to stop his murderer at an earlier juncture made him the responsible hero he is today. After finishing his story, Peter notices Quentin Beck and chases after him, leaving Felicia behind. Aunt May arrives at the cemetery and the two women talk. Felicia tells May her and Peter are dating. May wants Felicia to talk Peter into going back to college because she thinks he’s wasting his life and potential.

That night, Quentin is suited up as Mysterio and recounts his visit at the cemetery. He went to pay his respects at the grave of the woman inadvertently killed during the failed heist. He looked over and thought he saw her alive and well, but it was really Felicia with Peter. As Quentin decides to give up his villainous ways, Spider-Man attacks the criminal inside his hideout. Spider-Man found out about the bank robbery and asks why Quentin was at the cemetery. Mysterio says he was there to visit his sister’s grave as she was killed during the attempted heist. As Peter feels remorse for attacking Mysterio, the villain detonates a bomb and says Spider-Man has 10 seconds to leave the building before its fully engulfed in flames. Mysterio teleports away and Spider-Man dives through a window, which turns out to be painted on the side of the wall. With time running out, Spider-Man punches a hole through the wall to escape.

As Spider-Man pulls himself out of a pile of garbage and walks away, his costume recedes off his face with a thought. Mysterio, hiding in the shadows, sees this take place and decides he isn’t out of the bad guy game just yet. He wants to know the secret of Spider-Man’s new costume and will do whatever it takes to find the answer!

Venom has had a resurgence of popularity thanks to the release of the movie starring Tom Hardy and Donny Cates’ run on the title. Symbiote Spider-Man is an untold tale that takes place shortly after Peter’s return from Battleworld during Secret Wars. I added this title to my pull list almost immediately because Peter David is writing this miniseries and who DOESN’T love the Black Costume era of Spider-Man?

If you have seen Spider-Man: Far from Home and are looking to take a dive into Spider-Man comics, I recommend Symbiote Spider-Man. It’s a self-contained story free from heavy continuity and it even features Mysterio!

Up Next – Set during the original ALIEN COSTUME SAGA — before Peter learned of the symbiote suit’s true nature — comes the second installment of this all-new tale from comic legends Peter David and Greg Land! Mysterio, after swallowing another loss against Spider-Man, has sworn vengeance upon the web-slinger! Recruiting another villain to enlisting the aid of an impressionable Hollywood stuntman to take on Spider-Man, Mysterio is dead set on ending Web-Head once and for all! However, the symbiote suit isn’t willing to give up its host without a fight…