The Sinister Spider-Man Issue 0

It was December 25, 1999, 6:04 AM. I was the only one awake and I was trying to get my sisters up, they wouldn't budge. The reason I was trying to get them up is because we always slept in my sister, Emma's room. When I finally got them up, it was 7:48 AM. After we unwrapped all our presents, my overall favorite was my green N64. Because I was so eager to play my new copy of StarFox 64, I set it up. (I don't know how though seeing as I was 6 years old.) I spent roughly 3 hours playing the game, then I decided I was putting too much time into my game and decided to look into some of my other presents.

I went over to my Christmas tree and grabbed all of my presents in several trips walking back and forth. On the last trip over to my tree to grab my Spider-Man comics. I had heard about this new storyline called "Maximum Carnage" and expressed great interest in the series of books. I had pleaded my mom to try to find the 14 issue storyline. Sure enough, on this fateful christmas day I had gotten all 14 issues of Maxmum Carnage. I was (and still are) an avid Spider- Man fan. As I grabbed my comics I noticed a little black page under my christmas tree skirt. I peered under the skirt as I saw the words at the top of the page. They said "The Sinister Spider-Man" showing a picture of the symbiote suit from the "Secret Wars" Marvel Comics storyline. Instantly when I read sinister, it reminded me of The Sinister Six, a enemy team in the Spidey comics.

I looked to see what number issue this was, not knowing that this version of Spider-Man existed. The only versions of Spider-Man comics that existed at this time were The Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Spider-Man. I flipped open the pages and it smelled like it was newly printed. The comic book opened with Peter Parker's clone (Ben Reilly) in the position of Peter in the first issue of Spider-Man. (Amazing Fantasy #15) Ben Reilly was bitten by the spider on the field trip and started feeling sick just like Peter Parker did in Spidey issue #1. When Ben got home, he fell on his bed and started convulsing. (Just like Peter Parker did in Spider-Man from 2002) Ben later woke up and looked in the mirror. I saw Ben for the first time after he had been bitten. What I saw was... weird...

Ben had six arms, as what happened to the other dimension Peter from his spider mutation. Later on, Ben designed his costume with the symbiote design. As soon Ben got to the city, he started fighting The Chameleon. Now, in 2014, I know why they did this. I find that as a pretty cool detail to put in the comic as, he was the first villain that The Amazing Spider-Man fought. But, after Chameleon was defeated, Ben became more animalistic and started growling. Soon after, he started growing spider fangs. After growing the fangs, he ripped open the stomach of the Chameleon and started devouring his insides. The next and final page showed the "Spider-Demon" as I called it, looking right at me saying "I will come, I am the devourer of worlds. I come from hell to collect souls. I will come for yours next."

Out of fear, I closed the book, telling nobody about it. I decided I was going to do research this book. I glanced back at the cover and checked who made it. No Marvel Comics logo or anything. I decided to look into the book one more time and all the pages had turned blank. Because it was snowing outside, we had our fireplace lit. I threw the book into the fire and it burned. And, as it burned, I briefly saw a hand reach out and then crumble into itself. I went into my mom's room and reasearched on my Windows 98 computer. I just told my mom I was going to play Chip's Challenge, an old game that I loved to play. I reasearched, nothing was found. I was angry, as I had to wait for AOL to load for 20 minutes. About a few minutes later, I heard a ring at the doorbell. I figured it was a late christmas gift, my mom was sick so, I told her I would get it. I opened the door and looked down. It was a package, addressed to me. I opened it and in front of my face i saw the cover of The Sinister Spider-Man issue #1.