Here we are again with part 2 of the retrospective covering Black Costume Spider-Man and Venom action figures of the 80's and 90's. In the previous installment we covered the early incarnations of these black-suited adventurers, but from 1997-2000 the toy makers started getting a little more creative with their offerings.
By 1997 Venom had long been the Wolverine of Marvel villains, with every comic book on the stands featuring a guest appearance from the toothy monster to help boost sales. Sometimes more than once. Pretty soon there were off-shoots like Carnage (the psychotic star of Maximum Carnage comics and video games) and a whole group of multi-colored symbiote spider-people that were causing problems for Ol' Venom. Looking to fill space on toy shelves and capitalize on is popularity, Toy Biz came up with this disturbing offering.
You guessed it, the Bride of Venom. Apparently this was based on a storyline featuring Eddie Brock's ex-wife getting in on the symbiotic action, but by the looks of it, she's not thrilled about this new outfit. The frozen look of horror on her face and strange contortion of her body kind of limits the playtime scenarios, but it's still pretty awesome. Plus, female versions of famous male characters are always a fun novelty. Generally speaking, action figures of super-heroines are usually few and far between because it is believed that boys don't want to play with them and girls only want dolls. Speaking of which...
"Oh, Baaaarbie, we're hoooooommme! Now let us eat your brains." Did I mention that Venom is fond of speaking in the 3rd person? Although with this offering I'm not quite sure what type of consumer Toy Biz was speaking to. It's definitely a throwback to the Mego dolls of the 70's, though Mego never made their toys this buff. There is something cool about seeing an actual cloth costume instead of a paint job on plastic, but since Venom's outfit was literally a second skin, this comes off like a second rate cosplay attempt. Returning to my earlier comments, boys didn't want to play with dolls and girls weren't itching to include a drooling super villain into their Rollerblading Barbie play scenarios. So who, besides people who believed that adding "Special/Collector's Edition" to a box instantly created value, was going to buy this? Not many, judging by the fact that there were 3 or 4 of these things on the shelf at the Antique store where I bought it several years ago.
This Famous Covers 2-pack proves that there is a "right way" to package super-hero dolls. What really drew me to the set when I first saw it on store shelves, was that I actually owned the comic issues that inspired it. See, before Spider-Man ended up with his symbiotic black costume, he met the new Spider-Woman who was the originator of the look. Shortly after the Secret Wars, the duo teamed up for 2 issues to fight the villainous Wrecking Crew. When I saw that they had created toys to commemorate this team-up, I was pretty excited. But even if I didn't know the source material, it would still have been a great looking set.
The box art is very dynamic, giving you direct reference as to what inspired Toy Biz to even make this Limited Edition set and the gold accents really make it extra special. I especially appreciate the gatefold feature of the box that opens to reveal the figures and even more details about their momentous meeting. These dolls are much closer to the Mego style and could have easily been a part of that line if released around the same time as the comic book story being commemorated. This is my 3rd favorite piece in my collection, next to our final entry for this edition, which takes the #2 spot (Number one is the original Secret Wars black costume figure covered in Part 1).
The Spider-Man Classics series from 2000 took it's inspiration directly from the comic book page and packaged a re-print of the comic with the figure. This one came with The Amazing Spider-Man #252, which is the first appearance of the black costume outside the the Secret Wars mini series. Since that is one of the few collectible comics I paid inflated prices to own (the other being the actual first appearance in Secret Wars #8), buying this beauty was a no-brainer. The sleek sculpt and poseable nature of this multi-jointed Spider-Man is what really makes it special. Had this come out 5 years earlier he would have been played with and posed daily, but even in the package they gave him a dynamic pose that makes him worthy of wall display. While we're on the subject...
The figures I've shared in this retrospective remain carefully packed away in boxes, though it is my dream to one day display them all in chronological order along the wall of my "man-cave". Unfortunately my wife feels that family portraits are more appropriate wall decor (go figure). In the meantime I have had to settle for a Spider-Man themed bathroom that my wife so graciously let me design. From the soap dispenser to the embroidered hand towels, this is the room in the house I can truly call my own and "impress" guests with when they come to visit. My little tribute also features a framed portrait of one of my favorite black costume images by Todd McFarlane.
Thanks for reading. So what is your obscure collector's obsession?
These figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Follow me on Twitter @hojukoolander and you'll likely see me sharing more of these awesome action figures.
