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Amazing Spider-Man #1000 will be “a really big blowout” that will kickstart” the next chapter” of the Marvel’s Spidey saga, says Joe Kelly
Marvel has one modest goal for Amazing Spider-Man #1000: Make it the “best anniversary issue of ALL TIME.”
NewsbyChris Arrant, Editor-in-Chief
Additional contributions byJoshua Lapin-Bertone
Published on Mon Aug 17 2026
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The flagship title of Marvel Comics, Amazing Spider-Man, is about to celebrate 1000 issues. They would have done a giant inflatable Spider-Man down the streets of New York City, but they’ve already done that… instead, they are creating the biggest issue of the series ever, and for series writer Joe Kelly, he’s also respectfully aiming to be the best Amazing Spider-Man anniversary issue of all time.
“We’ve done the next chapter of the ongoing story of Spider-Man, which is also very much so that if somebody hasn’t picked up a Spidey book, they can read that chapter, and they’ll know what’s going on for sure,” Kelly tells Popverse. “And then it is just a murderer’s row of unbelievable talent and people who have been connected with Spider-Man over the years, and I think some very cool surprises in there for all the rest of the material. It’s going to be a humongous, awesome package.”
How “humongous”? The Marvel crew has gone to unprecedented lengths to fill Amazing Spider-Man #1000 with more pages of comics than any of the previous 999 Amazing Spider-Man issues. It’s like if an issue of Amazing Spider-Man got bitten by a radioactive spider, and its superhuman powers are not only a lead story by series writer Joe Kelly and artist Pepe Larraz, but also some huge guest creators.
“My goal has always been for this issue to be the absolute best anniversary issue of ALL TIME! That’s big talk, I know, but I’m super proud of the stories and material and covers for this book,” says Lowe. “I landed a few of my huge asks and was surprised by a few, too!”
- ‘The Gesture’ by the Ultimate Spider-Man team of Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen
- ‘Tears of the Spider-Queen’ by Frank Miller and Peach Momoko
- ‘Still Standing’ by Fargo director Noah Hawley and Patrick Gleason
- ‘Of Webs and Six-Guns’ by Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man co-creator Larry Lieber and Giuseppe Camuncoli
Kelly says that to prepare for Amazing Spider-Man #1000 to be a great story and stand up to the heights of previous Amazing Spider-Man anniversary stories, he went back to read all the previous big anniversary issues.
“I looked at all the Spidey ones. I really was curious to see how they all played out. And it was interesting to see that there was kind of a balance of ‘let’s celebrate the character’ and also ‘let’s have a chapter,'” says Kelly. “Sometimes they’re mutually exclusive. Sometimes it was just like, hey, let’s just talk about Spider-Man and his history. And other times it was an important milestone or whatever.”
“I wanted to see if there was a way to merge those in our story. And I think we’ve done that,” adds Kelly. “It was a good challenge; it was a good puzzle. I wanted to still do some of the greatest hits, but I didn’t want to get bogged down in it. And I think we have a way to do that, which, especially in the hands of Pepe Larraz, looks exceptional. It’s an outstanding issue.”
Kelly reveals that his first idea for the lead story in Amazing Spider-Man #1000 celebrated the character “and specifically his relationship with New York,” but after thinking on it more, he thought it wasn’t right for the occasion, especially given when this issue was dropping inside the larger narrative of the series. Once he looked at the big picture, he realized his Amazing Spider-Man #1000 story with Pepe Larraz needed to be “a really big blowout that will be the next chapter of this kind of epic that we’re trying to weave.”
“It’s everything I want in a Spidey book. I’m hoping that everybody will feel that as well,” says Kelly. “It’s operatic. With Pepe Larraz, I can never overstate how talented I think he is. He just brings things to life in a way that is so dynamic, and even things that you’ve seen before. We talked about other anniversaries referencing the origin story and stuff like that. Pepe does it in a way that’s unique, and he kills himself to do it. I mean, he works really hard.”
Amazing Spider-Man #1000 goes on sale on September 30.
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Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant is the Popverse’s Editor-in-Chief. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher’s Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)
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