Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: July 2000
Cover Price: $2.25
Writer: Paul Grist
Artist: Kyle Hotz
In 2000, Marvel published a series of one-shots that revealed what Marvel Comics would be like in the Marvel Universe.
Loud-mouthed editor/publisher T.T. Thomas is out to destroy Spider-Man’s image. He blames him for the death of his son, Jay T. Thomas and uses his paper to lambast the wallcrawler with every opportunity that presents itself. So, when Thomas is attacked by Professor Squid (who’s upset at Thomas’ editorials that claimed his work was unscientific), it’s somewhat of a surprise to see Spider-Man come to Thomas’ rescue. It makes us wonder what the motivation is for this silent, monstrous looking hero. Perhaps he’s just following well-developed morals … or perhaps there’s a connection between the two that has yet to be discovered…
Kyle Hotz‘s character designs for Spider-Man are incredible. The creepy looking smile hiding behind his mask on the last page hints that our hero may be more sinister than we’d like to think. The main battle between spider and squid isn’t all that impressive or page-turning but it’s the back-story, the main character’s mysterious origin and the under-handed subplots that make me want to know more about this developing storyline. Not to mention that art … that spooky, great-looking art!
On Ebay: Marvels Comics | Spider-Man | Paul Grist | Kyle Hotz
On AtomicAvenue: Marvels Comics