Peter Parker: Spider-Man #9
Shadows of the Past
In the Bowery, a lone man sits on a stoop and makes a toast to his friend, the late Joey Z.[1] Suddenly he is enveloped in a strange black goo that is hungry for something. The bonding causes the man a great deal of pain. This black substance is actually the Venom symbiote and it realizes that it needs to find either Peter Parker and Eddie Brock if it is to sate its hunger and continue living.[2]
Meanwhile, at his 5th avenue apartment, Peter Parker talks to his Aunt May about the harassing phone calls Mary Jane has been receiving lately.[3] May thought that Mary Jane would talk to Peter about it but she became determined to deal with it on her own.[4] May figures Mary Jane didn’t want to upset Peter since he started his new job at TriCorp.[5] May was satisfied to mind her own business until Mary Jane stopped taking Peter’s calls. That’s when the phone starts ringing prompting Peter to rush off. May tells Peter that wherever he is going to take a sweater because it is cold outside.
Quickly changing into Spider-Man on the roof, Peter believes that Eddie Brock is responsible for the phone calls since his old foe recently broke out of jail and used to use his knowledge of Peter Parker’s secrets to harass his loved ones. As Spider-Man scours the city and busts crooks he thinks about how this nightmare all started when he brought the alien symbiote back from the Secret Wars thinking it to be merely a costume. Then he found out it was alive and trying to permanently bond to him. He rejected it and thought it was destroyed but it survived and bonded to Eddie Brock, someone who blamed Spider-Man for ruining his career as a reporter. The merger between As Venom, Brock and the symbiote proved to be one of his most deadly foes.[6] Eventually, Spider-Man figures he can’t find Brock on his own and decides to call on some friends for some help unaware that the symbiote has been following him around all night.
Spider-Man pays a visit to the Stacy home but notices that Arthur Stacy is busy having a family meeting with his son Paul and daughter Jill. The meeting turns into a shouting match and after Paul storms out, the wall-crawler waits a few minutes before dropping in on Arthur in his study. He tells Spider-Man that he told his children to leave town while he is investigating Senator Stewart Ward but neither of his children is taking the danger seriously. Paul was even more volatile than usual after learning that Spider-Man is involved in the investigation and he has not gotten over that Spider-Man was around when his uncle George and cousin Gwen were killed.[7] Knowing this is not why Spider-Man came to visit him, Arthur learns that the wall-crawler is looking to track down Eddie Brock. When Arthur asks if the Venom symbiote should be a problem, but Spider-Man is certain that the alien creature won’t be a problem and swings off. As he leaves, Peter decides that he can’t go on lying to his wife about being Spider-Man again and vows to tell her the truth the next time he can talk to her.[8]
Returning home, Peter goes to sleep and as he slumbers the symbiote enters his room. It is about to bond him when suddenly the phone rings waking him up forcing the symbiote to hide. It’s the operator who tells Peter that they have been trying to connect him with the topical island where Mary Jane is doing a photoshoot but unfortunately, the area has been hit with a huge storm that has cut the phone lines. That’s when Peter notices the symbiote but is unable to act because Aunt May enters his room to ask if he had any success connecting with Mary Jane. After telling May what he has learned he suggests that they go out and get something to eat and quickly ushers his aunt out of the room so he can get dressed. In reality, he wants to be alone so he can confront the symbiote. Ordering it to come out, he demands to know why it has come to him. The symbiote tells him that it is hungry and needs to bond with him. Peter refuses to allow it to bond with him asking it where Eddie Brock is. The symbiote doesn’t know and tries to bond again, but Peter vows to destroy it if it makes an attempt again. Realizing that it has hit a dead-end, the symbiote leaves to search for Eddie Brock instead. Peter starts putting on his Spider-Man costume to chase after it when suddenly the doorbell rings. Realizing he’s stuck, Peter puts on clothes over his costume and goes to see who it is. It turns out to be Jill Stacy who tells them that she got a telegram from Mary Jane that says the phone lines were cut and she’s worried about Peter and is on her way back home. Peter asks if Mary Jane is still angry and Jill reminds him that it is a telegram that she got and figures Peter is going to have to grovel a lot when she gets back. That’s when she tells him that her father is grumpy because he found out something for Spider-Man and has no way of contacting the wall-crawler.
Later, Peter changes into Spider-Man and makes a return visit to the Stacy home. There, Arthur gives him the current address for Eddie Brock. As Spider-Man heads that way he is unaware that the symbiote is still following him. At a trashy hotel near the East River, Eddie Brock tries to pray in his single room but the landlord comes banging on his door demanding that Brock pay his overdue rent. Getting fed up that Eddie won’t unlock the door, the landlord breaks through the door but he can’t get Brock to stop praying. Furious, he tells Eddie that he better pay up soon or he will call the cops. That’s when Spider-Man enters the room and confronts Brock. When he accuses Eddie about harassing his wife, Eddie has no idea what he is talking about. He tells Spider-Man that while he used to know his secret identity that information was taken away from him sometime earlier.[9] That’s when the symbiote enters the room and Eddie tells Spider-Man to keep the creature away from him. As the wall-crawler struggles to keep hold of the symbiote, Eddie panics and ends up running through the window. The symbiote breaks free and follows Eddie as he falls into the East River. Spider-Man searches the shore for any trace of Eddie Brock or the symbiote but finds none. At that moment, downriver, Venom emerges from the water and is glad to be reunited with his other. He decides that he should pay his landlord a visit before the real fun can begin.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Venom, Aunt May, Arthur Stacy, Jill Stacy, Paul Stacy
Continuity Notes
Joey Z was a crook was murdered by the Trapster to frame Spider-Man in Spider-Man #87. Spider-Man eventually cleared his name in Spider-Man #92.
The symbiote was seemingly killed in Venom: The Finale #3, obviously those reports were greatly exaggerated.
Mary Jane started receiving obscene phone calls from a Stalker starting in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #5. These calls will continue to escalate until Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13.
May refers to Peter and Mary Jane as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
Peter started working at TriCorp in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1. This job won’t last as he will be fired in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #16.
Spider-Man recounts a lot of history here let’s get into it:
Spider-Man obtained the alien symbiote and started wearing it as a costume in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8
Thanks to Mister Fantastic, Peter learned that the costume was alive in Amazing Spider-Man #258 and had it separated from him.
The symbiote tried to bond with him again in Web of Spider-Man #1, but he seemingly killed it by exposing it to ringing church bells as one of the symbiote’s weaknesses were powerful sonic waves.
Around this time, Eddie Brock was an employee for the Daily Globe and interviewed a man he thought was the spree-shooter called Sin-Eater. Spider-Man captured the real Sin-Eater in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #110. This led to Brock getting fired. He eventually found the symbiote and bonded to it to become Venom. This was all explained in Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Arthur’s brother George died after pushing a child out of the way of falling debris during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus in Amazing Spider-Man #90. George’s daughter Gwen was later murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Peter promised to retire as Spider-Man during the Final Chapter story arc. He started wearing the webs again in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #2 and has been keeping this a secret from Mary Jane.
Eddie Brock suffered a blow to the head in Spider-Man: The Venom Agenda #1 that made him forget Spider-Man’s secret identity or anything about his personal life, talk about selective amnesia.
