Amazing Spider-Man #1.5 Review

Does this arc actually stick in the end? Read on to find out.

The official description from Marvel:

THE CLIMACTIC CONCLUSION OF “LEARNING TO CRAWL!”

• We all know what Uncle Ben told Peter about power and responsibility, but there were some secrets he kept from Peter…

• Discover Clash’s fate that kept him secret all these years!

As a lifelong fan of this webhead I honestly had mixed feeling about this whole plan to jump back into the past. The creative team, after five issues, has attempted to explore avenues of our hero’s early days and in many ways the final results turned out rather impressive. I’m happy to report that as I closed this issue I was grinning, while I steadily soaked up the subtle impact of what I just flipped through.

Dan Slott put a young Peter Parker through the paces, as he set him up against a villain who once upon a time only wanted his autograph. Things spiraled out from there, but two key aspects of the lore bubbled to the surface while our protagonist grows into the person he wants to be. The text offers humor, intelligence and just enough old school narrative tricks to sell this personal evolution. With all that said there’s one thing that bothered me, the whole sub-series never seemed sure of when this in fact takes place, it looks like the 1960s but the internet and modern tech are readily used.

It might be just me but the illustrations handed in by Ramón Pérez seem to be improving with each outing. The talent from the first page to the final panel understands the mandate of this arc and wholeheartedly commits to what Learning to Crawl needs. His renditions echo the works of Steve Ditko as they’re further accentuated by Ian Herring and his carefully applied colors. In short: this is a good looking comic that’s bound to please fans of the franchise.

Amazing Spider-Man #1.5 is not perfect but the creative team absolutely sticks a landing. Their lost tale carries weight with our future icon as this outing comes recommended.