91. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars vol 1 #8 ... Marvel (obviously) ...

Once in a while, a character change is so significant that it takes on a life of its own and that's exactly what happens here. This particular limited or maxi series contributed to three more or less major things to the Marvel Universe:

1. It started off with the mega-crossover concept of the 80s that has off-and-on continued until today with one main storyline each year affecting multiple titles

2. It introduced a major villain/ character that has returned once in a blue moon until today in the form of the Beyonder (s)

3. It introduced a change in the heroes that remained relevant until today ... in the form of a new costume for Spider-Man

As the cover shows, this is how Spidey first dressed in black. Basically trapped on an alien planet, Spider Man sides with the Avengers and other assorted good guys trying to defend themselves against the bad guys and have his uniform torn. So what does he do? He saw and a gizmo and tinkered with it and voila out comes a black sphere that grew all over him and becomes a new costume that responds to his very thoughts

As Spidey himself said ... perhaps he was influenced by Spider Woman's black costume for indeed it does seem derivative ... of course until end of this issue nothing much else is done with the costume or even until end of the series ....

But we all know that it subsequently becomes Venom and a symbiote and that led onto other symbiote related tales including Carnage, Maximum Carnage, Planet of the Symbiotes and what-not

Ratings: 8/10