The Amazing Spider-Man #3 dives deeper into the new relationships Peter Parker finds himself in, but also provides a deeper context and understanding of his older ones. Writer Joe Kelly, artist Pepe Larraz, colorist Marte Gracia, and letterer Joe Caramagna all work together to show us more of Peter’s past, while working to give us a compelling story in his present as well, tying it all together beautifully.
The issue starts with a flashback of Peter wearing Uncle Ben’s old military jacket, but something doesn’t feel right. Aunt May attacks him in the flashback, causing him to wake up in the present. He’s currently fighting Itsy Bitsy, a clone of Deadpool and himself. Peter tries to protect Rhino while fighting Itsy Bitsy, and keeps having flashbacks of Uncle Ben and Aunt May while doing so. She’s poisoned both him and Rhino, causing them to hallucinate. The two continue fighting until she eventually flees, leaving Peter in the water as he tries to pull himself together. He manages to escape himself, making it to Aunt May’s apartment to try and rest as well as figure out what’s wrong with him.
WRITING
Kelly has found a terrific voice for Peter Parker. He remains his quippy self that we all know and love, but Peter is at his best when his thoughts go deeper than that. Kelly displays Peter’s genuine worry and concern for those around him, as well as showing how serious he takes each situation that calls for it. Kelly does a good job showing how Peter’s a symbol of hope not just through his actions, but through his words as well. There’s a scene where Peter is talking to a reformed Norman Osborn that’s trying to help him figure out the source of the hallucinogen. At the end of the interaction between the two, Peter tells him how being good suits him. You can tell that it really sticks with Norman, and the reassurance sticks with the reader as well.
Kelly also manages to pack so much important exposition in each page without it feeling overstuffed. Every interaction between characters feels heartfelt and necessary, like we’ll always have time for it. It’s a really important skill to master when doing a Spider-Man book, and Kelly’s done it. What makes Peter Parker so special is that, even when he fails, he’s still there for everyone and is as invested as he can be. Kelly really works hard to show you that.
ART
Facial expressions always seems like the hardest thing to do in Spider-Man comics. An artist has to be able to tell so much story just through his expressive eyes. Larraz takes a crack at that here and excels. You can always tell through the mask whether Peter is determined, afraid, shocked, or hurt, all through his expressive eyes that either squint or widen in certain ways. Larraz conveys each emotion wonderfully through that, but it doesn’t stop there. He’s just as good as capturing the emotion outside the mask. There are flashbacks through the issue that focus on Peter’s past, and in those you can tell that he’s been defiant recently just through his posture and facial expressions. It’s a tough thing to convey, especially for such a heroic character. Larraz, however, knows exactly how to set up each character in each panel that tells you exactly how they feel without any words being spoken whatsoever.
COLORS
In this run so far, we’ve gotten a few chunks of what Peter’s past looked like. Everyone knows the general origin of Spider-Man, but the team digs deeper here into areas we otherwise haven’t really seen before. Gracia does a great job of making each flashback sequence feel dreamlike, but also like something isn’t right in them. There are a lot of whites and grays that could just be generic backgrounds, but then you see these detailed gray shadows behind each character. These really add depth to each panel, showing that the characters are somewhere real, but not incredibly detailed. In one flashback, May grabs Peter in a rough way. In this panel, Gracia emphasizes that through shading over Peter completely when he’s been otherwise clear, showing a departure into unknown territory.
Gracia’s coloring of the actual Spider-Man suit is beautiful. It’s a really satisfying red that, with the right lighting on it, mixes with blue to give a great purple shine. There’s also this scene where a wet and cold Peter Parker marches to Aunt May’s apartment, and both what he wears and the room around him both just look really flat and gray, signifying that this isn’t really supposed to be Peter’s most flattering moment. It’s some really great and expressive storytelling.
LETTERS
There’s some really nice lettering touches in this issue from Caramagna, specifically with Itsy Bitsy. Everyone has the sort of standard text bubbles, except for her. Hers are inverted to be these scratchy and wobbly black bubbles with a sinister white text inside, making sure you know that she sounds scary. It’s a great way of differentiating her from everyone else, despite her being a half clone of Peter. The lettering also really stands out in the flashback sequences. Aunt May and Peter speak with such an urgency in those occasionally that it feels like the text is popping out of the bubbles, a second red layer sometimes appearing around each bubble. The motivation of each sentence spoken feels clearly defined because of this.
CONCLUSION
The Amazing Spider-Man #3 really makes the run feel like it’s starting to find itself. Kelly’s Spidey voice is amazing, Larraz’s expressions are impressive, Gracia’s colorwork is consistent, and Caramagna’s lettering is descriptive. Each character’s actions and intents are displayed in full force through all of these aspects on every page. The team should be proud of the work they’ve done here. If they keep this pace going forward, this could be one of the best Spider-Man runs in recent memory.
