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17 years after his landmark Amazing Spider-Man run ended - a conclusion which included him asking for his name to be removed from the final issues, due to disagreements with editorial about changes to his planned finale - writer J. Michael Straczynski is returning to write Marvel's iconic webhead once again.

JMS, as he's allowed fans to call him, is coming back to contribute a Spider-Man short story to August's first issue of the upcoming Spider-Man: Black, White & Blood limited series. The book is framed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Spider-Man's black costume, which debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #252, all the way back in 1984; back then, fans had no idea what a Klyntar even was; they were far more innocent times.

In his story, Straczynski is working with artist Sumit Kumar on a modern-day story retconning decades of storytelling to say that a piece of the Venom symbiote (from which the black suit originated) is still hanging around inside Peter Parker's body.

"J. Michael Straczynski and artist Sumit Kumar in his Marvel Comics debut rips Peter Parker's (and the symbiote's) heart out!" reads Marvel's description of the story. "A last vestige of the symbiote has stayed with Peter all these years, waiting for the right moment to tear Spidey down!"

Additional contributors to the issue include J.M. DeMatteis, who tells a story relating to his fan-favorite 'Kraven's Last Hunt' storyline, as well as Dustin Nguyen, who writes and draws a story that Marvel promises "will bring Spidey to uncharted heights against the backdrop of Dustin’s groundbreaking visual style."

Spider-Man: Black, White & Blood #1 (of 4) goes on sale August 7. Take a look at the covers for the issue in the gallery below.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• With Daredevil, and spinoffs from Black Panther, What If, and more, Marvel Studios' 2025 Disney+ slate is bigger than ever, and that might be a big deal for the future
• If Kraven the Hunter flops, Sony's Spider-Man Universe could look for a Marvel-assisted reboot
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.