Marvel Announces Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow

As one Venom story ends, another begins. Marvel Comics today announced Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow, the first in a line of upcoming What If style miniseries. Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow comes from writer Chip Zdarsky (Daredevil), artist Pasqual Ferry (Thor), and colorist Matt Hollingsworth (Hawkeye). Phil Noto provides the cover for the first issue, seen below. The series will explore the dark side of Peter Parker, imagining a world where he became Venom. The series asks what would have happened if Peter had never thrown away his symbiote Spider-Man costume but instead embraced its new power. Peter is facing a never-ending gauntlet of villains and remains haunted by nightmares from the past. When the Hobgoblin strikes, he hits a breaking point and must ask whether he's calling the shots or his suit.

"I'm thrilled to be kicking off a new era of What If stories with this tale of a Spider-Man gone bad! How bad will he be? Will he have a goatee and no hyphen in his name? Pick up issue one to find out! But seriously, I feel that with Spider's Shadow we're exploring some dark situations with Spidey and the Marvel Universe, while making it cool and fun to read. I think longtime fans will love it and new readers will be amazed at what Marvel lets us do," Zdarsky teased in a press release. "Pasqual and Matt are producing amazing work on this book. When every page comes in, I share them with all of my friends even though Marvel says I'm not allowed to do that."

"Since I started working at Marvel some long years ago, I always dreamed of drawing Spiderman, I came close a couple of times to get it, but the God of Thunder and Iron Man got in the way at the last moment— which were quite a joy too. So when I was offered the opportunity to draw this miniseries, you can imagine my happiness. In addition, I always wanted to experiment with the black suit from Secret Wars so the icing on the cake was doing that in the form of a What If series set at the beginning of that journey," Ferry said. "Chip's script is really shocking and surprising, a delight for someone fan of the character like me, and I'm sure it will catch the readers as much as it is drawing it with me. Hold on to the seats, because Spider's Shadow is going to surprise you in a way that you cannot imagine!"

Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #1, the first issue of a four-part series, goes on sale in April.

• SPIDER-MAN: SPIDER'S SHADOW #1 (of 4)
• Written by CHIP ZDARSKY
• Art by PASQUAL FERRY
• Colors by MATT HOLLINGSWORTH
• Cover by PHIL NOTO