1986 - Unpublished Spider-Man Cover by Art Nichols

Spidey in his black costume by David Wachter

Spider-Man by Clayton Crain

Spider-Man by Rick Leonardi

Hulk & Spider-Man by J.C. Grande

Hulk & Spider-Man by J.C. Grande

Spider-Man vs. The Green Goblin and The Hobgoblin!

Spidey and his hands full with a pair of Goblins! By Ron Frenz.

Happy Halloween!

Spider-Man and Black Cat by Frank Brunner

Capturing a great 1980s moment...

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=1003727&GSub=28296

Amazing Spider-Man #258 cover recreation

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=929288&GSub=134683

Here's the original cover for comparison purposes:

1982 – The Real Story Behind Spider-Man’s Black Costume

One of the more significant changes in the Marvel 1980s was the introduction of Spider-Man’s black costume. This costume first appeared in Secret Wars #8 drawn by Mike Zeck and John Beatty and would later evolve into Spider-Man’s archnemesis Venom through the 1990s.

Interestingly, the inspiration behind the new costume actually came from a fan, Randy Schueller.


Here’s Schueller original idea:

“I thought it would be cool if Spidey needed to upgrade his powers and his look, so I came up with this idea that Reed Richards had made a new costume for Spidey using the same unstable molecules that the FF costumes are made of. The unstable molecules would flow into Peter's pores and allow him to cling to walls better. I think my original idea was to increase his sticking power by 25% or something like that.”


“Anyway, I saw the new suit as a stealth version of the original costume - jet black so he could blend in with the shadows. At best, all you could see of him was the blood red spider emblem, emblazoned on his chest. (Yeah, in my design the spider was red, not white. I also gave him underarm webbing like in the original Ditko design.)”

That red costume inspiration was also part of the original design sketches of the new costume done by Rick Leonardi, grabbed from Marvel Age #12.

And seeing the success of the black costume through Venom and in Spider-Man 3, it sucks that Randy didn’t get any kind of acknowledgement either in the comic book or in the movie.

Well, if it helps: “Thanks Randy!”

See here for the full story and Randy Schueller’s point of view of what happened.