chezkevin: The Amazing Spider-Man: Learning to Crawl

by Dan Slott and Ramon Perez

"Learning to Crawl" was released in those weird Marvel-numbered "1.X" issues, which made it a really easy reason to simply overlook and to continue picking up the "main" series, Amazing Spider-Man. It really seems like a variation on an old concept: folding the satellite Spider-titles into the main title, now published weekly, if your wallet can handle that kind of thing. But now it's, "hey look, it's the main title with these different numbers. So now you can buy more main Spidey, and give us more money!" What an idea.

Anyways, as for the story itself: I really, really liked it. It's billed as "the chapter you never knew about the story you know by heart," expanding on the first 60 days of Peter Parker's life with his alter-ego, Spider-Man. Dan "the Man" Slott shows off his Spider-knowledge here, perfectly conveying the teenager that Peter was in Amazing Fantasy, in a modern way in 2014. The secret he feels he has to keep from his Aunt May, the need he feels to honor his Uncle Ben, the responsibility he has to protect his classmates, makes so much sense like you always knew it was there, but just discovered.

Peter has just "landed" in his room in the Spider-Man costume, and tells his Aunt "Don't come in!" when...

When you're a teenager, you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and it's a struggle that we get to see through Peter, and reflected to the foil here, "Clayton Cole." Clayton is a teen genius (teenius?) just like Peter, but never learned the responsibility that Peter did. When he's one of the first to see Spider-Man in the wrestling ring (in a nod to modern sensibilities, Clayton is the one who "made Spidey viral," by posting his footage on the web!), he's determined to put on a mask and make a name for himself as well, as the sound-based costumed character, "Clash."

SPOILER ALERT: it doesn't go so well, and causes Peter to question ever putting the mask on. There's a touching, hilarious moment with Aunt May at the end that serves as a "retcon" for why Spider-Man jokes all the time. Believable if you want, and if you don't, well, no big deal.

There's no doubt about it: Dan Slott just gets Peter Parker. He gets what makes him tick, and this is the perfect showcase for it. Back then, when Slott was a "breaking" author, he penned a four-issue miniseries about Spider-Man and the Human Torch, highlighting four different times in their relationship together. It was a story that was half-nostalgia/tribute, and half-just damn good storytelling about these characters we've grown to love. Learning to Crawl is no different.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Ramon Perez does a wonderful job of re-creating the world of 1960s' Peter Parker, in a modern manner. He "riffs" off of Steve Ditko's 9-grid pages in the early issues of Amazing, blowing them up for action scenes or slicing them apart for longer scenes. I really love his layouts, and below is an example two pages.

Peter goes to school counseling for his recent school behavior, and learns to "code switch," so to speak

Having a sound-based costumed character in a soundless medium format means you can do some fun stuff with conveying that sense. Clash's gadgets allow him to take sound from the environment and amplify them as a weapon, and here's what it looks like: