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The artist who co-created Spider-Man's symbiotic black costume will be in Jamestown on Saturday.

Best known for his work on "Amazing Spider-Man" in the 1980s, Frenz is coming to town to help celebrate Chautauqua Comics' 10th anniversary.

Now many years since Peter Parker first wore it, the black Spider-Man suit has evolved over the years into the character Venom - portrayed by Topher Grace in the 2007 Spider-Man.

"They didn't create Venom, that came later on," Chautauqua Comics owner Al Steffens said of Frenz and writer Tom DeFalco. "A lot of people do give them credit, though, because the symbiote later became Venom. It molded with Eddie Brock and became Venom, but the idea was their's."

In addition to Spider-Man, Frenz for years drew Thor and today works on Spider-Girl - a character he and DeFalco co-created. Spider-Girl exists in an alternate future where, as the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, she's being raised by a now retired Spider-Man and has taken up the Spider-family crime fighting duties.

Now in his 26th year of drawing comic books, Frenz has worked with a number of writers - including Roger Stern, who previously participated in a Free Comic Book Day event at Chautauqua Comics.

"They teamed up together," Steffens said of the writer and artist. "These guys worked in conjunction, so anyone who had Roger Stern sign a book from when he was here for Free Comic Book Day should bring that same book back and get Ron Frenz to sign it."

"He is taking time away from his busy schedule to come up here," Steffens said of Frenz. "The time he is here is time he's not at his drawing board and he's not drawing 'Spider-Girl,' so it is very nice that he's doing this."

Frenz can't remember a time when he wasn't drawing and since age 8 had always wanted to work on comic books - with his singular goal to draw Spider-Man. It has been said that Frenz's lean, quirky rendition of Spider-Man and Peter Parker are closer to the stylings of original Spider-Man artist Steve Ditko than most of the other post-Ditko artists.

According to Wikipedia, when DC Comics decided to change Superman's costume and powers, it was Frenz's design that was chosen for Superman's new look. Frenz has a history of working on books where the characters were not in their original costumes. Under his pencil, Spider-Man not only wore a black costume, but Thor similarly took on a new secret identity and look.

In a recent phone interview, Frenz spoke about how he broke into the industry, the changes it has seen throughout the years as well as the ability of comic books to tell stories to people of all ages. More than anything else, Frenz says the thing he loves most about comic books is their ability to tell a story.