Happy 20th Anniversary Venom (aka Eddie Brock)!

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Actually I'm quite early, two months from (now is January, he first appeared in March) now is the twentieth memory of just his hand appearance, April 2008 is the twentieth anniversary of Venoms actual appearance.

May 2008 is the actual 20th anniversary of the character, 20 whole years after his appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #300 in the first issue published for him as the main villain after scaring Mary Jane in her and Peters Chelsea apartment, and the first original view of "Edward Brock" former reporter of the partially suspended Daily Globe (has closed for a period of time in Amazing Spider-Man #210 after the publisher was about to get burned) who was fired because of the sin eater story was foiled by Spider-Man and caused Edwin to lose his job and get the idea of committing suicide (that was foiled by the symbiote Peter thought has killed in Web of Spider-Man #1 by the bells of "Our lady's saint church" while getting rid of the vulturions) and the symbiote bonded with our esteemed former journalist preventing him from suicide and help him get his revenge on their mutual enemy; Spider-Man.

After one encounter that ended by defeating the symbiote using its structure against it Spider-Man handed his foe to Ben Grimm in the Baxter Building Venom was/were delivered to the vault (Special prison for super powered villains) which later escaped from it by a clever plot.

Venom and Spider-Man had multiple encounters later (more as enemies and less as allies) they started have times acting as allies after the birth of the Carnage symbiote (spawned by Venom), after their first time beating Carnage Spider-Man and Venom had a truce that didn't last long.

 

[GregX]

Eddie Brock is a useless, shallow character who's motivations never made sense. Poorly written, poorly developed. Why doesn't he hate the guy who lied to him about being the Sin Eater?

The original plan for Venom would have been much better...

But as we know now (as per the interview with Michelinie in Comics Creators), it turns out that there were reasons why Brock was not as effective a choice for the host of the symbiote - he wasn't the one Michelinie's had in mind! This story has pretty well made the rounds of fandom, but Venom was originally supposed to be a pregnant woman whose husband was killed in an automobile accident because the driver was distracted by Spider-Man. To add to the misery, the husband was flattened right in front of her. The shock forced her into labor, and she lost her baby, and her mind, in the process. The symbiote would find her in her grief and bond with her and the two would seek revenge against Spider-Man. While a misguided motivation, at least it wasn't because her misery was caused by her own actions as Brock's was. She was a true victim and hadn't done anything wrong except being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And since Spider-Man has historically had very few female villains of any lasting merit, this could have been a definite change from the ordinary.


But Spider-Editor Jim Salicrup did not believe that the audience would accept a woman as a viable physical threat to Spider-Man, even one enhanced by an alien symbiote.[SIZE=+1] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]

 

[Harlan_Phoenix]

That actually sounds pretty interesting, the reasoning for not doing it is incredibly stupid.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

Yeah, I never liked Venom. He seemed whiny as a villain and horrible when they tried to make him a hero, always screaming about protecting "innocence" but not above popping a random security guard's head like a grape if he got in his way. A giant crybaby hypocrite with a persecution complex is annoying, not cool.

The pregnant woman ideas sounds better, as she would have actually had something more rational to be upset about.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Eddy Brock is much better.
They chose a person who is physically much stronger than the ordinary powerless Peter Parker to make Venom more powerful than Spider-Man. I'm glad they made Venom as Edwin because that gave him a chance to be animated and be perfectly produced.
The pregnant woman; some ideas seem intriguing then when they are met in full form they appear senseless and horrendous.

 

[GregX]

The pregnant woman; some ideas seem intriguing then when they are met in full form they appear senseless and horrendous.

Yup, Eddie Brock was a senseless and horrendous idea. The pregnant woman was not. She would have made a very compelling villain.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

Maybe they can still do the original pregnant woman idea. Everyone seems to hate Scorpi-Venom.

 

[Antiyonder]

Eddy Brock is much better.
They chose a person who is physically much stronger than the ordinary powerless Peter Parker to make Venom more powerful than Spider-Man. I'm glad they made Venom as Edwin because that gave him a chance to be animated and be perfectly produced.
The pregnant woman; some ideas seem intriguing then when they are met in full form they appear senseless and horrendous.

I'd say Venom's best moments are the ones that occured in other mediums as well as USM.

And as stated in the article, the pregnant woman unlike Brock, truly isn't at fault for her misery whereas Eddie's problem would have been avoided if he took precautions about reporting the Sin Eater.

 

[Harlan_Phoenix]

Eddy Brock is much better.
They chose a person who is physically much stronger than the ordinary powerless Peter Parker to make Venom more powerful than Spider-Man. I'm glad they made Venom as Edwin because that gave him a chance to be animated and be perfectly produced.
The pregnant woman; some ideas seem intriguing then when they are met in full form they appear senseless and horrendous.

Considering your previous opinions about how women shouldn't be superheroes, I'm going to assume that this is inherently biased, and not because of the actual specifics of the characters.

The only version of Venom I like is the version from the movies, and even then, I could live without his existence. There's nothing all that interesting about Venom when you get down to the core of the character. He was just one of Todd McFarlane's gritty pieces of dung (I say this as a Spawn fan). An unnecessarily dark character from the 90's.

Him having an entirely different planned origin (and gender, for that matter) makes a lot of sense when you really look at it.

 

[AdamYJ]

And as stated in the article, the pregnant woman unlike Brock, truly isn't at fault for her misery whereas Eddie's problem would have been avoided if he took precautions about reporting the Sin Eater.

I thought that was the point of the character. He was a guy who blamed other people for his own problems.

The female version may have been easier to sympathize with, but . . . I'll just admit it, sometimes I don't want to sympathize with the villians.

What makes Venom cool is not that he's some tragic character (because he's not), it's that he's a scary, psycho, S.O.B. Compared to Spidey's other enemies, who just look kind of silly, Venom just looks really frightening. He's like something out of a sci-fi horror movie. There's a reason why everyone who is not an old-school comic book fan likes Venom and that's it.

You can wish for "what might have been", but what was actually had its good points.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

David Michielenei should have at least written her story in a what if issue at that time. Now with brand new day is with Harry Osborn just recently out of rehab it will be difficult to turn the original idea to publication

 

[Frank Castle]

I've always liked the look of Venom but that's about it. His story and every aspect of the character excluding his look just sucks.

 

[Antiyonder]

I thought that was the point of the character. He was a guy who blamed other people for his own problems.

Fair enough, but shouldn't Eddie feel the need to pass the blame to the Phony Sin Eater and maybe Daredevil for that matter as he "helped" to bring the real SE in.

The female version may have been easier to sympathize with, but . . . I'll just admit it, sometimes I don't want to sympathize with the villians.

But when the character was meant to be sympathetic, changing the background is sloppyness on the managements part. That's again why I agree that the other versions of the character are better, because they could actually plan the events leading to up Venom rather than making it up on the fly.

Plus they did it for a faulty reason. That readers apparently couldn't take the female version as a serious threat as opposed to a male villain. Flimsy for two reasons:

A. As they say, Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

B. Wonder Woman, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Rogue are certainly strong.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

Even if Eddie was angry at DareDevil the symbiote is still pissed off with its former victim (host) for hurting it so much with the bell ringing

 

[Spider-Man]

I always thought Venom had a great visual style to him but lacked character, especially in the later years. Even the new version with Matt Gargan under the symbiote lacks a certain punch to it. Personally I though his best presentations were in Ultimate Spider-Man (the best) and Spider-Man: The Animated Series (which gave us a good take on his convoluted origin). He's all flash and no substance but has been used to good effect on occasion.

 

[desi]

I agree with Spider-man. I also think, while the original idea (when it comes to character development and origin) is better and has emotional value, Venom as a mad (and probably) chubby middle aged lady just doesn't sound right. The female villains are, for me, writer's way of putting some eye-candy in the book...and you know what pregnancy does to a woman's figure. Venom was made so he could appeal to majority of comic book readers, which are male. Venom has served his purpose. Actually he has done overtime. If Venom was a woman, could you imagine her being in Spider-man 3? Ok, I could imagine it but could you imagine the movie being a success?

 

[GregX]

I agree with Spider-man. I also think, while the original idea (when it comes to character development and origin) is better and has emotional value, Venom as a mad (and probably) chubby middle aged lady just doesn't sound right. The female villains are, for me, writer's way of putting some eye-candy in the book...and you know what pregnancy does to a woman's figure. Venom was made so he could appeal to majority of comic book readers, which are male. Venom has served his purpose. Actually he has done overtime. If Venom was a woman, could you imagine her being in Spider-man 3? Ok, I could imagine it but could you imagine the movie being a success?

No offense, but that's pretty sexist. Spider-Man 3 had so many problems, Venom's gender is completely irrelevant to that. The character as presented in the original idea sounds compelling and potentially quite scary.

Pregnant = Middle Aged? Um, the majority of women that I know get pregnant in their twenties or early thirties. Hardly what I'd call middle aged. As for what it does to a woman's figure, the sexiest, most beautiful woman I know is a mother of four.

And what's wrong with female villains? They go way beyond eye candy. Look at Demona on "Gargoyles" for example.

 

[desi]

No offense, but that's pretty sexist. Spider-Man 3 had so many problems, Venom's gender is completely irrelevant to that. The character as presented in the original idea sounds compelling and potentially quite scary.

I probably do sound sexist, but what I am trying to say is Venom wouldn't be as popular if it was a girl. I like the the female venom origin but like before I am talking poularity of the character.

Pregnant = Middle Aged? Um, the majority of women that I know get pregnant in their twenties or early thirties.

Well, I guess it depends on the people we know. But either way it would be stereotyping. A woman can be pregnant and married at just about any age. In fact, in old days in certain countries, girls married in their teens.

As for what it does to a woman's fgure, the sexiest, most beautiful woman I know is a mother of four.

This one is also a stereotype on my part but to a lesser extent. Not everyone loses their figure but it is a known fact that many women do. And you can't deny that.

And what's wrong with female villains? They go way beyond eye candy. Look at Demona on "Gargoyles" for example.

But this is not Gargoyles (which was a show first and comic book later), this is spider-man. Spider-man is known for the eye-candy female villains. Hell, more than half the female villains and heroes in comic books are meant to be good looking.The ones that are not "eye-candy" are not that popular. Venom is easily in the top 3 villains of Spider-man. It is possible but I dont think female-venom would have been that popular.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

I think it would have been a much better story. In the right hands it could have been another Kraven's Last Hunt or Death of Jean Dewolff. But it's not necessarily one that would have been sustainable for more than one or two storylines. That's such an emotionally intense situation that it demands closure. Apparently, however, for Brock "I'm mad at you for some vague thing that you were only tangentially involved in" is enough for decades of animosity.

Another thing about Eddie Brock, why was he so obsessed with innocence? He was a reporter for some sleazy rag. As a journalist myself, I can tell you that innocence is definitely not a qualification for a job like that, and if you have it when you start you'll lose it pretty quickly.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

Even if Eddie was angry at DareDevil the symbiote is still pissed off with its former victim (host) for hurting it so much with the bell ringing

By that logic he should be more out to get Reed Richards, for inventing all those sonic guns and cages.