The Co(s)mic ComicBook B'Cast!

The Fifth Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Holy Grail Part One (You mean there's more than one part of this?)  Oh yeah.

The Holy Grail.  I’m not talking about the Stanley Cup or the heavy metal band from Pasadena California.  I’m talking about that one item that will complete your collection.  Have you ever said: If I can get that, my collection is complete?  I say that all the time, just one more item and I won’t buy anymore but the list just seems to grow and grow.
 
The first time I heard the term used in the collecting context was when it was mentioned by Walt Flanagan on the AMC series Comic Book Men Season One.  Walt’s Holy Grail is original John Buscema Silver Surfer artwork.  So I am borrowing that term Holy Grail.

Ever since then I thought about my Holy Grail.  Over the years I have wanted a few comic books, ones that I lost over the years, ones that I saw and never had the money to buy, you know the missed opportunities and the unattainable.  Over the years there’s been quite a few.  Think about it, think about your Holy Grail, the item or items you’ve always wanted.

Okay in this broadcast, I’m going to share one of my Holy Grails, here it is:

That’s Amazing Spider Man # 252, written by Tom Defalco and Roger Stern, pencils by Ron Frenz, Inks by Brett Breeding and colours by Glynis Wein.  The Cover is by Ron Frenz and Klaus Janson.
I can still remember the first time I laid eyes on this comic, a classmate of mine bought it and was showing it to everyone, I couldn’t believe it, Spider Man had a new costume!!! Inconceivable!!! Yet there it was in all it’s glory.  I had to have it but that issue sold out, fast!  I was devastated but my classmate was a great pal and lent it to me, I read it from cover to cover, I loved it, I wanted it but it wasn’t mine to keep. I’ve been looking for a copy ever since.

I did some research and the original idea of a new costume for Spider-Man that would later become the character Venom was conceived of by a Marvel Comics reader from Norridge, Illinois named Randy Schueller. Marvel purchased the idea for $220.00 after the editor-in-chief at the time, Jim Shooter, sent Schueller a letter acknowledging Marvel’s desire to acquire the idea from him, in 1982. Schueller’s design was then modified by Mike Zeck, becoming the Symbiote costume.
Shooter came up with the idea of switching Spider-Man to a black-and-white costume, possibly influenced by the intended costume design for the new Spider-Woman with artists Mike Zeck and Rick Leonardi as well as others, designing the black-and-white costume.  It was writer Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz who established that the costume was a sentient alien being and also that it was vulnerable to high sonic energy.  Okay this part one of this broadcast, stay tuned for more on this, my Holy Grail.  What's yours?
 #amazing spider man #roger stern #tom de falco #ron frenz #rick leonardi #randy schueller #mike zeck #james shooter