IT'S SYMBIE #1 — When a hostless symbiote decides to cause trouble, you don’t stop him, you just grab a seat.

There’s a specific kind of magic that happens when a comic stops taking itself seriously. IT'S SYMBIE #1 drops that weight entirely. Jacob Chabot doesn’t just write a joke book; he builds a structural gag engine where the punchline is always a different corner of the Marvel Universe. You don’t need to have followed his previous digital runs or Infinity Comic appearances to get here.

The setup is delightfully simple. Symbie is a symbiote who lost his host, and instead of brooding over it or seeking revenge, he treats the whole situation as an open invitation to explore. Freed by Spider-Man long ago, he’s spent his days wandering the Marvel cosmos looking for the next person to prank. This issue funnels those wandering chapters into a focused narrative where he sets his sights on heavy hitters like Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Thor, and Captain America, while also sliding into the world of the Marvel Mutts. It’s a character study in reverse: instead of a host teaching the symbiote how to be human, the symbiote teaches the universe how to loosen up.

The real draw here is how Enid Balam handles the art. He understands that a hostless symbiote needs to feel weightless, and his layouts bounce across the page with that exact quality. You get the benefit of Chabot’s cover, which perfectly captures the character’s deceptively simple design, but the interior art does the heavy lifting. Balam uses negative space and sharp, clean lines to make the comedy land without relying on visual clutter. When Symbie stretches across a panel to mess with the Fantastic Four or casually drapes himself over Captain America’s shield, the timing feels deliberate and crafted. It’s a fresh visual voice in a market that often defaults to dense shading and aggressive linework.

If you’re picking this up, keep an eye on the variant covers circulating for this first print run. Chabot’s cover art is already becoming a collector favorite, and the main cover is clean enough to work on any shelf. The unexpected move here is how quietly Chabot proves he can pace a joke-driven narrative without losing momentum. It’s a skill that takes a lot of writers months to nail. When you’re ready to track it down, the storefront lists every available edition so you can just pick the version that fits your setup. Start with the main cover, and let the rest of the stack follow naturally.