Big, strong, and all rage!
After many of the obstacles that recently plagued his life. Spider-Man moves on and attempts to enjoy his new life now married to Mary Jane Watson. When Mary Jane returns home, she finds herself cornered by a hulking man wearing Spider-Man's black costume. Terrified, she tells Peter what she witnessed, and he begins to realize that the alien symbiote he thought he killed may have returned. While on the look out for the person wearing the costume, he's viciously greeted by the symbiotes new host, ex-newspaper writer Eddie Brock, whom blames Spider-Man for destroying his life. -summary
After being around to enjoy these stories in their original run. I for one can tell you nobody saw this coming, no way. In the aftermath of the 12 part series Secret Wars, a handful of characters came out of it effected in certain ways, and a couple were effected negatively. However, no one got it as bad as Spider-Man. His woes here were only just the beginning in this monumental chapter, The Birth of Venom, which happens to be the consequences of two major storylines in the Spider-Man mythos; The Saga of the Alien Costume and The Death of Jean DeWolff. This was definitely one of those wild moments, as the end result was Spider-Man's deadliest enemy since the original Green Goblin.
On the horizon of Spider-Man 3 which came out back in 2007. Marvel decided to release a compilation on the wall crawlers nemesis for the fans in the form of this paperback. And good thing to, because after watching the mediocrity that was Spider-Man 3, myself and many other fans I know were forced to put their retinas through some type of physical healing, and it came in the form of this graphic novel. The Birth of Venom trade paperback collects Secret Wars # 8, The Amazing Spider-Man #252 - 259, 298 - 300, 315 - 317, Annual #25, Fantastic Four #274, and Web of Spider-Man #1. Now, 252 - 259, 300, 315 - 317, and Web of Spider-Man are in their entirety. While the other issues are key pages pertaining to this arc. There's maybe 20 pages between all of them. But the best part is that they're all in order. Despite the slicing and dicing, this book alone contains a very good amount of storytelling packed with suspense, surprises, and great action.
The first half of the story covers other arcs in the Spider-Man world that were going on at the times storylines were being continued, new vendettas were being created, secrets revealed, over the top action, the works. Here, Spider-Man continued his search for the Hobgoblin, since he never believed the Goblin perished in their last battle. During this time, he manages to rustle a few feathers, and he crosses paths with a rising crime boss the Rose. Believing Spider-Man to be a thorn in his side, the Rose dispatches Puma, who's an assassin for hire to deal with the wall crawler. This battle wasn't only action packed and did a great job developing Puma as a threat, but it also managed to drive one of the side plots which involved the costume.
Spider-Man also clashed with a criminal on the rise by the name of Jack O' Lantern, who had his own agenda that would later on be cleared up. The stories in the first half are solid overall, excluding some bland ones here and there, but I feel they will mainly appeal to fans who remembered how important those arcs were back then. Unfortunately, Venom is nowhere to be seen in those earlier issues, and he doesn't make his full appearance until issue # 299, and what a debut it was.
Venom was no doubt an intimidating creature, and the reader just knew Spider-Man was in deep trouble. Venom was scary in every way; the costume had an over-sized mouth with lots of teeth plus he was heavily built. The character development mainly takes place with Venom, as we see how much of a threat he is. He doesn't only possess most of Spider-Man's powers with a lot more muscle, but he's also armed with the knowledge of Spider-Man's identity. In which, he does use to his advantage to create a fair battlefield. Venom is also a ruthless character, proving he will go through anyone to get to Spider-Man. The battles are also intense and they are plenty. Now don't think the battles between the two are all what this is about, because other characters make appearances and the non action related elements of the plot are still interesting.
The artwork for the earlier issues appears dated when compared to Todd McFarlane's work during Amazing Spider-Man 300+, but they're passable with some enjoyable action panels. However, the Venom storyline boasts the best character designs, backgrounds, and action panels. I can just sit back and look at the artwork after reading the dialogue.
The Birth of Venom is a very important piece to the Spider-Man universe, and they would go on to clash many times over. This is an excellent batch of stories that provides solid proof on what made Venom an instant classic. I would also recommend Vengeance of Venom along with this, since that book continues the Spider-Man/Venom feud as well as bringing Carnage into the mix. Both are highly recommended.
Pros: VERY Interesting villain, entertaining fights, character development
Cons: Some filler segments, a little bland artwork