Todd McFarlane’s Amazing Spider-Man #300 Gets Facsimile Reprint

1988’s Amazing Spider-Man #300 was the end of one era and the start of another. After discovering that the black suit he’d worn since Secret Wars #8 in 1984 was a living being that tried to bond to him permanently as its host, Peter Parker ditched the alien symbiote for a cloth costume. But in the milestone issue #300 by writer David Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane, the scorned symbiote returned — with a vengeance. The special 25th anniversary issue marked the first full appearance of Eddie Brock’s Venom (who debuted in a final-page reveal ending issue #299) and concluded with another status quo shakeup: Spider-Man’s return to the classic red and blue. 

In time for the issue’s own 35th anniversary, Marvel Comics this week reprinted The Amazing Spider-Man #300 as a facsimile edition. The reprint, on sale now, re-presents the iconic issue in its original form, original ads and all. 

One of the fiercest rivalries of all is born in battle as Spider-Manmeets his deadliest foe…a terrifying entity with all his powers, twicethe muscle and two reasons to hate the wall-crawler! Because thesymbiote costume that Peter Parker rejected has bonded with disgracedreporter Eddie Brock, who blames Spidey for ruining his career!Together, they…are…Venom! They’ve already terrorized Mary Jane, and nowthey seek revenge on their mutual nemesis! Can Peter summon all hisstrength and will and somehow find a weakness to exploit in Venom? Orwill the bell toll for Spider-Man?

Amazing Spider-Man #300 would spawn the rivalry between Spider-Man and Venom, meeting in battle for the first time at the Central Bell: the very place where Peter Parker removed Eddie Brock’s “shadow,” separating himself from the symbiote by subjecting the alien to the tolls of a church bell. Spider-Man returned to his original red-and-blue costume on a final splash page boldly declaring: “The legend begins anew!”

“In the beginning, there was an alien, a symbiote that Spider-Man brought back from a distant planet,” Michelinie recalled in the 1994 Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage trade paperback. “Emulating a sentient, black-and-white costume, the creature eventually tried to bond permanently with Peter Parker, everyone’s favorite web-slinging wonder. But Spidey fought back, and in the course of the battle it wound up sacrificing itself at the last moment to save Spider-Man. Then, a year or two later when I began writing The Amazing Spider-Man, a new villain was called for, and I resurrected an idea I’d begun developing in another book. As a result, I brought back the alien, joined it with a demented man (Eddie Brock) whose sole focus was hatred of Spider-Man, and — along with superstar artist, Todd McFarlane — introduced Venom to the world.”

And now, Venom is (re)introduced in the Amazing Spider-Man #300 facsimile edition, also available as a foil variant, from Marvel Comics.