Hotz graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1993. While still in the final year he started working as a comic book artist on horror titles such as Slash and Cold Blooded. After finishing school he was hired by Malibu Comics (later acquired by Marvel Comics) to illustrate the superhero comic Night Man. He was soon noticed by Marvel, who employed him on titles such as Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider 2099 and two Carnage one-shots. He went on to draw most of the popular Marvel characters, such as Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America and Venom. In 2000 he co-created the Marvel supervillain The Hood with writer Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated two eponymous series.[2]
In parallel with his Marvel work, Hotz drew several mini-series for independent publishers such as Dark Horse Comics and IDW Publishing. He co-created Epilogue with writer Steve Niles, illustrated The Agency, and both wrote and illustrated the creator-owned graphic novel Mosaic for Sirius Entertainment. He collaborated with writer Eric Powell (of The Goon fame) on three 4-issue series featuring a fictional version of legendary outlaw Billy the Kid, under the common title of Billy the Kid's Old Timey Oddities.[3]
