Spider-man’s iconic black suit not only began as fan-fiction; but was created in my own backyard…
It goes without saying, but Spider-man is one of the most recognizable and popular fictional characters of modern times. Aside from the practical life lessons Spider-man’s tales teach us, he simply has one of best designed costumes of any superhero. The classic costume was designed by co-creator Steve Ditko back in 1962 and, for decades, has had minimal changes. That is until 1984, when Marvel comics unleashed the Saga of the Alien Costume detailing Spidey’s new look, powers, and “responsibilities” that came with it. The jet black costume with the large white spider “hugging” Spidey’s torso is considered iconic by today’s standards. But, once again proving the world of fandom hasn’t changed, his new threads were met with major fan backlash.
Despite the bed wetting, Marvel comics truly embraced Spider-man’s new look. Going as far as rebranding their own corporate logos, letterheads, and marketing materials featuring Spider-man solely wearing his fresh black and white duds. Signifying the era of red and blue was over. The dark minimalist modern look is Spider-man as we know him. A move as bold as the costume itself! But why change something already iconic? Why fix what isn’t broken? Well, to simply shake up the Spider-verse. The higher the stakes of the story, the more attention it gets, the more copies sold. Spider-man trading his iconic costume for a new one is daring. But just how and why is it happening?
There are two ways to explain this: one involving interplanetary war, alien technology, and super powers. And a second that’s far more personal and interesting.
From a fictional perspective, Spider-man went to Beyonder’s Battleworld during Secret Wars, picked up the black symbiote from a machine he thought would fix his damaged suit, and had Mr. Fantastic remove it once he discovered it was sentient and taking control of his body. Then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter felt like stirring the proverbial spider-pot. And the Saga of the Alien Costume involved some heavy hitting comic talents of the day; with names like Tom DeFalco and John Byrne absorbed by the symbiotic goop. Spidey went on wearing the black suit for the next 4 years of publication.
The symbiotic alien costume became one of Spider-man’s most legendary looks and eventually led to an entire symbiote saga spawned (heh) by Todd Mcfarlane. During Mcfarlane’s rise to industry superstardom, he created the super villain Venom who went on to become Spider-man’s most popular adversary and a comic book all star in his own right. Decades later the symbiotes have become not only a staple of Spider-man but the Marvel Comic universe.
And It All Started With a Piece of Fan Mail…
Lets fast forward to early 2007, Sam Raimi’s third blockbuster Spider-man film looked to be adapting the saga of the symbiote suit; by this time considered an iconic storyline. Suddenly the “symbiote saga” became as relevant as ever within popular culture. The massive hype surrounding Spider-man 3 shattered the quiet demeanor of humble Spider-fan Randy Schueller. A fan letter response circa 1982 had been circulating online concerning the black suit saga. Comic Book Resource managed to contact Randy Schueller, the fan in question, and published a response directly from him:
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There’s been some discussion in the fan press recently about the original idea for Spidey’s black costume coming from an anonymous fan. Well it’s true and I am that fan. Here’s my story…
Back in the early 80s, Marvel ran a competition for aspiring writers and artists. Being a lifelong Spidey fan with delusions of comic grandeur, I took a stab at a story 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 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.)
Oh yeah, and I stole an idea from Iron Man and made his web shooters work using the same cybernetic technology that Tony Stark used to control his armor. Peter just had to mentally imagine the kind of web line he wanted to shoot and the suit would do it for him. (Keep in mind, this was 25 years before Civil War and “Iron Spidey”!)
A few months after submitting the story I received a letter from Jim Shooter saying he liked the idea and wanted to buy it for $220. I was thrilled! But the best part – they offered me a chance to write the story. How cool is that?
I ended up submitting a second version and even had a follow-up phone call or two with Tom DeFalco to discuss the script. Wow! Me on the phone with a real live Marvel editor. I still can’t believe this happened !In the end, the whole scripting thing just didn’t work out for me – I don’t remember the exact reasons. I submitted another version of the story, they didn’t like it, I stopped sending in letters. The whole thing just kind of fell apart. Regardless, I had no regrets. As a true blue Spidey fan, this was a very cool moment in my life.
A year or so later, when Secret Wars came out and I saw my costume idea executed in a completely different way than I had envisioned it, I was simultaneously thrilled and saddened. And when the idea of the black costume caught on, I was even more thrilled. And then when VENOM was created I was…disturbed. I was never a fan of the costume-turned-villain idea. Venom just never really seemed to work for me. But I digress…
Now, fast-forward to 2007. I see that the black costume (MY black costume, sort of) is making it’s way to Spider-Man 3. Wow! I couldn’t stand it anymore – I had to come out of the closet and tell my friends and coworkers about my contribution to this year’s BIGGEST blockbuster. And I had all the documents to prove it even if Marvel never mentioned my name.
Since Marvel paid me for the story, I have no real gripe, but I do feel bad that they didn’t give me any kind of acknowledgment in the comics. You know, something like, “costume concept by Randy Schueller” or “Thanks to Randy Schueller for inspiration,” or “Randy Schueller, you Spidey fan-boy stud, you rock!” But no, I got nothin’! That’s my one disappointment in this whole story.
I’ve written to Tom Defalco before, but I’ve gotten no response. Maybe Marvel is afraid I’ll sue them or something, but that’s not the case at all! I don’t want any money, I don’t want any legal rights to the Venom character. All I want is this: a mention in the letters column of Amazing Spider-Man recognizing me as the nameless fan who sparked the idea for the black suit which eventually led to the idea for Venom which eventually became the basis for this freakin’ monster movie we call Spider-Man 3. That’s all I want.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Randy Schueller
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Since this story broke back in 2007, Randy has been credited in a few articles and wiki pages concerning Spider-man’s black suit. But he has yet to receive any official credit or nod from Marvel Comics. Randy also did not detail if the black suit would give Peter Parker emo hair and cringey dance moves.
Jim Shooter’s response letter is dated August 3rd, 1982.
Going back, news of the costume change hit the October 1983 issue of Comics Journal. It included a full character illustration in profile (The image, like the rest of the magazine’s interiors, was in black and white, but the accompanying article notes that Spider-Man will be “trading in his costume for a black-and-red one…“). This is the first proof of Randy Schueller’s idea surfacing publicly. Complete with the red spider Randy mentioned in his 2007 response. And, finally, a few months later on January 31st, 1984 Amazing Spider-Man #252 was released: the first published story featuring Spider-Man’s black costume. With the torso spider now inexplicably white. By this time, As Randy mentioned, the story was out of his hands and he was ghosted by Marvel Comics.
Randy Schueller’s concept led to one of the most iconic story arcs in Spider-man history that’s relevant to this very day. Yet he simply brushed greatness…with no credit received.
This tale is nothing new if you’re familiar with the industry of comic books. Theft and appropriate credit is something that the comic book industry has had trouble with since its inception and still has till this very day. Growing up, you may not be aware of the shadiness of it all. Instead you’re swept away through the escapades of Spider-man’s adventures, oblivious to the tangled web weaved behind-the-scenes. But, hopefully, if anything…if this article can inform just one person about this case in particular…it’s worth writing.
Now Let’s Bring This All Back Home…Literally
If you know me, you know Spider-man is a character that means entirely too much to me. His stories have helped me through personal hardships and I’ve used him as a beacon to help others through their own peaks and valleys. Being a lifelong fan, I’ve followed this particular “comic book urban legend” as it broke back in 2007 and took note. Complete with Randy Schueller’s letter saved on my computer. Because what was most surprising about all of this was Randy’s address typed on the response letter. He lived in my old neighborhood.
Only a couple miles from my own home. A building I’ve passed possibly hundreds of times. The apartment where he wrote his “black suit” idea was on the block of the K-Mart I frequented. The very K-Mart where my Spider-man action figures, pajamas, and comic books were purchased from. Deeper you say? I distinctly remember buying the black suit Spider-man and Venom action figures there. Just a stone’s throw away from where the original idea bubbled up! Of course, I had no idea at the time. Who the hell would?
To go even deeper, the apartment building is located off Harlem Avenue…behind, what is now, a deli. But that deli used to be two businesses: an auto parts store and a used video game retailer. In high school, I used to regularly walk to that video game store to buy and sell many games, among them being several Spider-man video games ranging from awful (Return of the Sinister Six) to excellent (Activision’s Spider-man). Being a peak comic geek in my high school days, I’d often (proudly) wear my black symbiote Spider-man shirt. All while directly behind me were the humble beginnings of one of Spider-man’s most legendary storylines. Like J. Jonah Jameson realizing Peter Parker is Spider-man…it was completely unbeknownst to me.
Realizing this back in 2007, it’s safe to say my little nerd world was rocked. I immediately took a walk to the address just because I had to see it for myself. And I decided to visit it again for this very article! Might as well celebrate many anniversaries: 44 years since Randy Schueller sent in that fateful letter to Marvel…40 years since the published debut of the black costume…even the 18th anniversary of me finding all this shit out. I stood, once more, where Spider-man’s black suit was inexplicably conjured. It wasn’t some space asteroid or Battleworld. Not even the Marvel bullpen. Instead it was 4319 N. Neva Ave of Norridge, Illinois. There isn’t a 12 foot bronze statue or “Birthplace of Spider-man’s Black Suit” plaque, or even a pile of old Spider-man action figures surrounded by used candles. There’s nothing. Just another unremarkable block of dated Chicago apartment buildings. The K-mart’s gone. The video game store is gone. And I’d bet you a fun size 3 Musketeers that Randy Schueller hasn’t lived here in ages ( if he happens to read this I bet he thinks I’m weird).
But like the black symbiote suit itself, it holds many past memories. It’s really cool to unweave a bit of Spider-man’s treasured tangled webs leading to your own backyard. And I knew I was in the right spot…because I’m pretty sure my spidersense did indeed tingle.
Until next time, True Believers.
Excelsior and all that stuff.
ChrisDoesComics.com 