Spider-Man # 1 2000 NM

Spider-Man #1 with a July 2000 cover date refers to a unique meta-fictional one-shot titled Marvels Comics: Spider-Man #1.

Written by Paul Grist and illustrated by Kyle Hotz, this special book was part of a larger, experimental "Marvels Comics" publishing event where Marvel printed comics that supposedly existed inside the mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616). The issue is presented as if it were an in-universe publication created by a fictional rival to the Daily Bugle, the Daily Clarion. 

The Plot: The Propaganda of the Masked Menace

• The In-Universe Premise: Rather than treating Spider-Man like a noble hero, this comic book is written from the perspective of how the general public view him—a creepy, dangerous, and monstrous urban legend. The narrative explicitly plays into the anti-Spider-Man media bias.
• The Campaign: The publisher of the Daily Clarion, T.T. Thomas, is obsessed with unmasking the "wall-crawling weirdo" and exposing him as a public hazard. He funds an investigative campaign to discover the secret origin of Spider-Man, attempting to link his appearance to an experimental, failed space flight. 
• The Villain: The primary antagonist of the issue is Professor Squid (making his first appearance). He is a horribly mutated freak who actively battles Spider-Man in the concrete canyons of New York City.
• The Vicious Silhouette: Throughout the story, Spider-Man is depicted as a menacing, borderline-vampiric figure who stalks criminals and "dines on the blood of his enemies"—leaning heavily into the fictional sensationalist reporting of the Clarion.

Creative Team & Visual Style

• Writer: Paul Grist
• Artist / Cover Art: Kyle Hotz
• Colorist: Steve Oliff
• Aesthetic: Artist Kyle Hotz utilizes his signature, heavily detailed, and highly stylized horror aesthetic. The lines are jagged and grotesque, perfectly capturing how terrifying a real-life human spider would look to normal citizens trapped in Gotham-esque paranoia.