Learning to Crawl Part Four

Discouraged from fighting crime as Spider-Man, Peter Parker instead uses his unique abilities to photograph the other super-heroes that have appeared on the scene. He manages to snap a photo of the Thing having a temper tantrum in a parking lot,[1] Thor flying through the air with Jane Foster in his arms,[2] and Iron Man crushing rocks for some orphans as part of a charity show.[3] J. Jonah Jameson is willing to buy the photos off Parker but wants more photos of Spider-Man as they sell more papers.

For the first time since the death of Uncle Ben, it appears that everything is starting to look up for Peter Parker. The money from the Bugle helps pay for Aunt May’s bills. At school, Peter is refocused on his studies and he has become good friends with the kids in the AV Club. On top of that, he just landed another part-time job working at Dr. Cobbwell.[4] Mr. Flannigan, Peter’s school counselor, is also impressed by Peter’s change in behavior. When asked what caused him to turn things around, Peter tells him that he came face-to-face with reality. In reality, Peter’s adventures as Spider-Man — including his most recent battle with the Tinkerer and apparent alien invaders — put him face-to-face with the absurdity of life.[5]

Meanwhile, Clayton Cole is trying to get the attention he craves. As the Clash, he crashes a battle-of-the-bands competition. However, his appearance over the stage is poorly received. When the lead singer of a band calls him a loser, the Clash and unleashes a sonic blast on them. When security tries to arrest him, the Clash amplifies that sound of the crowd booing to bowl them over. The Clash poses for all the cell phones recording the event and announces that the Clash will be the next big thing before taking off. Thinking he made a huge impression, Clayton returns home and checks online to see how people have reacted to his appearance. He is furious to learn that everyone is calling the Clash a Spider-Man copycat. The loudest voice is of the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson, who sees the appearance of the Clash as validation of his concern that Spider-Man is a bad influence.

The following day, Peter Parker is shocked to see the front page of the Daily Bugle is blaming Spider-Man for the Clash's attack at the battle of the bands. His Aunt May reads over his shoulder and tells her nephew that she considers both the Clash and Spider-Man menaces after her recent encounter with them. Peter begins to think that the Clash is his responsibility since Spider-Man somehow inspired him. At school, Peter begins taking out all the books the library has about sound so he can try and come up with a way of disabling the Clash’s powers. When Peter gets home he drafts up designs for an anti-sonic inverter but unfortunately, the parts he needs are expensive. Peter decides to borrow the parts he needs from Dr. Cobwell’s lab as well as the AV Club at school. He figures nobody will mind that he is borrowing these things, and is unaware that Flash Thompson is paying close attention to what Peter is up to. Once Peter has completed his device he realizes that he is going to need a lot of money to buy replacements of the parts he borrowed.

Peter heads to the Daily Bugle where he meets J. Jonah Jameson’s new secretary, Betty Brant. He meets with Jonah and asks for an advance for his next set of photos. Jameson flat out rejects him as Peter’s spider-sense begins going off. That’s when the Clash comes crashing in to get revenge against Jameson for calling him a Spider-Man copycat. As the Clash trashes the Daily Bugle’s bullpen, Peter rushes to the nearest wall outlet to plug in his anti-sonic inverter. As the device charges he then quickly changes into Spider-Man. When the wall-crawler makes his presence known both the Clash and Jameson accuse each other of being allied with Spider-Man. The Clash then begins amplifying Jameson’s recrimination to literally beat Spider-Man with Jonah’s words. The web-slinger quickly webs Jonah’s mouth up so he stops giving Clash ammunition. Eventually, the anti-sonic inverter is fully charged and Spider-Man uses it to bounce the Clash’s sonic attacks back at him. However, the Clash has a back-up plan and changes the frequency of his sonic blasters. This causes deafening feedback that is so loud it shatters the windows. While Spider-Man is disorientated, the Clash decides to flee the scene. Clayton is riding high because he defeated Spider-Man. While back at the Bugle, Jonah apologizes for calling Spider-Man a menace, but this is a backhanded compliment because he now thinks Spider-Man is nothing more. Spider-Man then leaves in shame as Jameson rushes to get the story about Spider-Man’s defeat to the presses.

Things suddenly start going bad for Peter Parker’s personal life as well. Flash Thompson had told Principal Davis about Peter’s theft from the school, landing him in trouble. By lunchtime, the AV Club has learned about it and are now snubbing Peter. Worse, Mr. Flannigan calls Aunt May to tell her about it. May assures Flannigan that she will pay to replace everything. Peter also owns up to Dr. Cobwell about the parts he borrowed and promises to pay him back. Instead, the scientist fires him on the spot. When Peter tries to go to the Daily Bugle, Jameson is furious that Peter didn’t get any photos of the battle between Spider-Man and the Clash and fires him as well. At this point, Peter doesn’t know what to do as he still needs to stop the Clash but has no idea how. He goes to the grave of his Uncle Ben for advice, but of course, the dead can’t speak.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, the Clash, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson, Polly McKenna, Mr. Flannigan, Andrew Davis, Thing, Thor, Jane Foster, Iron Man, Tinkerer, Quentin Beck (unidentified)

Continuity Notes

1. The Thing has a temper tantrum in the parking lot was takes place between his appearances in Strange Tales #109 and 110.

2. Thor and Jane Foster appear here between Journey into Mystery #93 and 94.

3. Iron Man’s appearance here takes place between Tales of Suspense #42 and 43, according to the Marvel Chronology Project. I’d say that this is not correct. The scene depicted here is clearly from Tales of Suspense #41, when Iron Man crushes a cannonball with his bare hands to entertain some orphans.

4. The job with Dr. Cobwell and Spider-Man’s subsequent battle with the Tinkerer was all covered in the 2nd story of Amazing Spider-Man #2. This story takes place between the events of that story.

5. Amazing Spider-Man #2 leaves readers to believe that the Tinkerer was an alien from outer space. However, it’s later revealed in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #50, this was all a ruse. The “aliens” and their technology, and “mothership” were actually the special effects creations of Quentin Beck, the man who would go on to become Mysterio. Peter won’t learn this until years later.