Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #13

Background

Two issues ago, Curt Connors returned to New York, but when the Lizard was spotted bounding away from an explosion at a laboratory, Curt insisted to Spider-Man that it wasn't his fault. Last issue, Spidey tries to help Curt get to the bottom of the explosion, but finding out the truth proves to be simple when Curt transforms into the Lizard and gets the drop on Spidey, making Spidey realize that the Lizard was behind it all along...

Story Details

After being attacked by the Lizard, Spider-Man lies slumped against a wall in the sewers when he realizes that Curt Connors has been controlling the Lizard all along. Spidey and the Lizard fight, as Spidey continues to realize that instead of being the tragic figure cursed with the violent alter-ego that he's always assumed Curt to be, Connors actually uses the Lizard as an escape mechanism, and that he's been playing all of the people close to him for years. They continue to fight, but after Spidey is dazed by a vicious tail- swipe that slams him into the wall, the Lizard manages to escape.

The scene shifts to the home of Curt Connors' sister, who's taking care of Curt's son Billy. The Lizard smashes through the window of the house and grabs Billy, but it's not long before Spider-Man finds them again. Spidey chases the Lizard around town, trying to reason with him and get him to release his son, but it's to no avail. When Spidey finally corners them, the Lizard tosses his son into a pile of garbage. Just as Spidey and the Lizard are about to fight, Billy regains consciousness and calls the Lizard "Dad". This seems to knock some sense into the Lizard, and he flees, leaving his son with Spider-Man.

The next day, Curt Connors is back in control, but popping sedatives and looking shaky. He walks into a bank, points a gun at a teller, and demands money, but he's immediately apprehended with no fuss by a security guard. That night, Peter comes to visit Curt in jail. Curt explains that he just wanted to get himself arrested so he'd be behind bars and away from his son. On his way out, Peter says that with Curt in jail, somebody will eventually find out that he's the Lizard. Curt replies, "Well... let's just hope they don't find out the hard way."

General Comments

I can't really say that I was disappointed with this issue, since I didn't really have high hopes for it in the first place. I had high hopes after the first issue, when it looked like somebody was setting the Lizard up, but this story basically went in the opposite direction of that. Paul Jenkins tries to put a new spin on the Lizard here, and I guess he succeeds, but it just doesn't really make the character any more interesting, and the Lizard was pretty dull in the first place. The art is a plus, as penciler Damion Scott and inker Rob Campanella do a nice job yet again.

As for Curt's plan of locking himself in jail, how exactly is that going to work? I don't imagine that prisons just hand out sedatives to any prisoners who want them, and since nobody knows about Curt's Lizard condition (although, as I explained in my last review, it was once public knowledge), I'd imagine that Curt would be cut off. So now we've got Curt Connors in a high-stress environment with nothing to keep his alter-ego under control... he'll be in there for like twenty minutes before he Lizards-up. And since regular prisons aren't equipped to handle superhumanly strong and fast lizard-people, he'll be out of there and knocking on Billy's window in no time. But oh well... continuity was thrown out the window in the previous two issues, so I imagine that common sense went with this one.

Overall Rating

Nice art, bland story. Two webs.