Reddit reviews Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga Book 1

There are 2 TPBs called The Complete Alien Costume Saga that tell the WHOLE story from day 1 until the suit get removed.

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga Vol 1

The Amazing Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga Vol 2

I'm gonna basically copy/paste the recs I gave to a similar question about a month ago, but should be helpful to you as well:

IMHO I think the best way to get started is to use some TPBs. I don't know if that's financially feasible, but you can always score them either used or go through ComixOlogy to get things 50-70% less. Orion's list is immensely helpful, but I understand if you don't know what things are redundant or which collections are better to get.

Spider-Man: Birth of Venom (https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Birth-Venom-Jim-Shooter/dp/0785124985/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516558401&sr=8-1&keywords=Spider-Man+Birth+of+Venom) will get you through all the scattered early appearances of the symbiote and Venom, though I'd say a good half of the book is just Spider-Man in the black costume.

Next up would be Spider-Man: The Vengeance of Venom (https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Vengeance-Venom-David-Michelinie/dp/0785157603/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516558621&sr=8-1&keywords=spider-man+the+vengeance+of+venom). When I was a kid I actually just got Spider-Man: Venom Returns ( https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Venom-Returns-Marvel-comics/dp/0871359669/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516558401&sr=8-2&keywords=Spider-Man+Birth+of+Venom) also out of print but strangely cheaper, and also has less comics collected in it.

OR you could just pick up the Complete Alien Costume Saga, which is split into 2 parts (https://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Complete-Alien-Costume-Saga/dp/0785188673/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516558998&sr=1-1&keywords=Spider-Man%3A+The+Complete+Alien+Costume+Saga). I'm not personally familiar with it, but it seems to collect basically the same comics as the other two.

Then you can definitely pick up the Lethal Protector TBP (https://www.amazon.com/Venom-Lethal-Protector-David-Michelinie/dp/0785158472/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516559535&sr=1-1&keywords=venom+lethal+protector).

Unfortunately for most of the mini-series stuff, you have to just buy the individual comics. The minis I personally feel would be worth your time are:

Separation Anxiety (which is technically also available as a TPB: https://www.amazon.com/Venom-Separation-Anxiety-Carl-Potts/dp/1302901729/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1516559656&sr=1-1&keywords=venom+separation+anxiety)

Venom: Sinner Takes All

Venom: Along Came A Spider

Venom: The Hunger

Venom: License To Kill

That will get you started with most of the 80s-90s Eddie Brock classic Venom stuff. I'm not gonna say it's not worth it to check out the other stories, but maybe start with these and if you like what you read, then you can go back in and fill in the gaps. I tracked down all the stuff on Orion's list and read through it over a few months to fill in my gaps from when I was younger (because back then there wasn't such a thing as digital comics, so I literally just read what I could find in back issues at my LCS).

During the 2000s-2010s things get a little more scattered, since the symbiote moves to different hosts. If you literally want to read all the symbiote's travels you basically have to follow Orion's list :-/ From Gargan's run Sinister Spider-Man is basically the only thing you need to read to 'get' his version of Venom. Flash's run is great (Venom Vol. 2) and also conveniently collected in TPBs, along with Venom: Space Knight.

From there you can ease into the current Venom run, and then they're rebooting the series in May and allegedly that will help newbies "hop on" to the reading train. Unfortunately Western comics are confusing as hell (unlike most Manga series) so it's kind of awkward when you're not just like, accustomed to it. Like you described, I got into Spider-Man when I was like, 8 years old and then quickly got attached to Venom more than Spidey. Then I got sucked down the comics tube, so I'm kind of used to the way the stupid numbering and rebooting and crossover-ing is at this point.

>What comics/issues would you recommend for someone who just wanted a general understanding of the major events in the Marvel timeline?

Most of the major events you'll want to familiarize yourself with can be found here. The Kree-Skrull war is the first big event to have really lasting consequences all the way up to today.

To get a handle on modern Marvel this might be helpful. It will walk you through the more important events issue by issue. For a quick and dirty way of getting caught up there is a fast track trade list here.

As for Spidey... First off, Spider-man had a pretty major retcon in 2007. If you're just going to be getting into Amazing again that may be a good place for you to hop on. Spider-man: Brand New Day would be your starting point. For more classic Spidey, Kraven's Last Hunt is considered one of (if not the) best SM stories of all time. The original Symbiote saga is important as well.

I don't usually venture much outside the main (Earth-616) Marvel universe, so I'll let someone else explain the differences between those.

Spider-Man: The Complete Alien Costume Saga Book 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785188673/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kQ3AxbFRKQ5ZH

There's actually 2 TPBs that collect the symbiote suit run called the Complete Alien Costume Saga here's some links to amazon if you're interested- Book 1

Book 2

Then there is also a TPB of when Eddie Brock first becomes Venom and his first and Second Encounters with Spider-Man called Birth of Venom

Edit Formatting and spelling because I'm dumb.

here!

Here is a collection of the original symbiote saga. I can't imagine there's a better place to start reading.