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Venom created by a fan
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Started by thehumantorch,

28 posts in this topic

thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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Venom created by a fan

According to Wikipedia

"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.[10] 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.[11] "

Randy, you should have held out for at least $300

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seanfingh

seanfingh

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8 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

Venom created by a fan

According to Wikipedia

"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.[10] 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.[11] "

Randy, you should have held out for at least $300

Or a case of ASM 300 . . .

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ADAMANTIUM

ADAMANTIUM

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Ya Randy was probably excited that Marvel took interest :) Amazing that this isn't common knowledge though, if it was to spurn new ideas. Anyway, Way to Go Randy! When I think Venom I think ASM 300 and Todd Mcfarlane. I know this is just the idea for the suit though. I wonder if it was just the idea for the suit, or how the suit was obtained in Secret Wars 8 etc. And how did they find Randy, did someone else try to patent the same suit and it was taken and they discovered Randy? Was it a contest? and they liked Randy's? I migh be over thinking it....

interesting factoid nonetheless

Edited by ADAMANTIUM
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STORMSHADOW_80

STORMSHADOW_80

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35 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

Ya Randy was probably excited that Marvel took interest :) Amazing that this isn't common knowledge though, if it was to spurn new ideas. Anyway, Way to Go Randy! When I think Venom I think ASM 300 and Todd Mcfarlane. I know this is just the idea for the suit though. I wonder if it was just the idea for the suit, or how the suit was obtained in Secret Wars 8 etc. And how did they find Randy, did someone else try to patent the same suit and it was taken and they discovered Randy? Was it a contest? and they liked Randy's? I migh be over thinking it....

interesting factoid nonetheless

It was a competition CBR Article

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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2 hours ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

It was a competition CBR Article

Neat

"Back in the early 80s, Marvel ran a competition for aspiring writers and artists. Being a life long 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 think my original idea was to increase his sticking power by 25% or something like that.

 

For some lame reason, I had the Wasp involved since she was the resident fashion plate of the Marvel universe at the time. Remember when Jan would show up in every other issue of the Avengers sporting a cool new costume? I loved when they did that! So to me it made sense to have her design the new spider suit when she was over at the Baxter Building for cocktails or something. 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.)

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?"

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ygogolak

ygogolak

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On 4/14/2017 at 3:45 PM, thehumantorch said:

Peanuts to Marvel and it gives them an unencumbered right to the character.  Plus rewarding a fan for an idea they like might lead to more creative fan ideas.

Well, this would be the second one. The Wolverine Foom issue the first. Only the two of the most popular characters.

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SteppinRazor

SteppinRazor

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On 4/14/2017 at 2:41 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

"purchased"? did Randy have a patent?

Just FYI, any original creation is automatically protected as intellectual property.  Whether you can prove the idea was yours is a different story, or whether it was sufficiently altered so as to be a new creation is up to lawyers should it get that far.

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ADAMANTIUM

ADAMANTIUM

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24 minutes ago, SteppinRazor said:

Just FYI, any original creation is automatically protected as intellectual property.  Whether you can prove the idea was yours is a different story, or whether it was sufficiently altered so as to be a new creation is up to lawyers should it get that far.

Good to know :) I didn't know that it was originally a contest. Prop's to Marvel for holding it and standing by the contest to pay for the intellectual property. I think that it is an interesting that it went down. Shame it's not common knowledge, meh it should have given a Randy a little street cred or something lol I'd of almost rather had that than the money....

Edited by ADAMANTIUM
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ADAMANTIUM

ADAMANTIUM

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2 hours ago, divad said:

You patent an "invention" not an idea.

Another good point! I guess I didn't really think my original statement through, in spirit I knew what I meant lol should have probably said copyrighted?

It seems out of my focus how he could have put the idea into invention mode in this instance anyway, he wouldn't have the resources. 

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STORMSHADOW_80

STORMSHADOW_80

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On 4/26/2017 at 4:43 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Good to know :) I didn't know that it was originally a contest. Prop's to Marvel for holding it and standing by the contest to pay for the intellectual property. I think that it is an interesting that it went down. Shame it's not common knowledge, meh it should have given a Randy a little street cred or something lol I'd of almost rather had that than the money....

It would be cool if the intro or credits to movies said something like "Original symbiote suit/Venom concept created by Randy ..."

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