Cry...Lizard!

Now

Battling the Lizard, Spider-Man is pushed through a window by his foe. As the pair begin to fall down to the street below, Spider-Man wonders how he gets himself into these messes. He thinks about how his day started off so normal...

Earlier

Peter Parker arrives just in time to gree his Aunt May at Grand Central Station. She has just returned to New York City after a vacation in Florida.[1] After a warm reunion, the pair head for home. Along the way, Peter spots Curt Connors among the crowd. This compels Spider-Man to pay a visit to Connors to ask for a favor. Curt is more than happy to help since Spider-Man helped cure him of being the Lizard.[2] Later, the wall-crawler tracks down the creature known as Batwing go give him food. He tries to convince the young creature to allow Curt Connors to examine him and find a cure. The creature is afraid, but ultimately, Spider-Man convinces Batwing to come with him to Connor's lab.

There, Spider-Man and Connors work on a potential cure for Batwing. When they achieve a possible cure, Batwing becomes so excited that his flailing arms accidentally smashes the beaker containing the antidote in Curt Connor's hands. To make matters worse, an open cut on Curt's hand allows the serum to enter his bloodstream triggering a transformation into the Lizard. Upon seeing Spider-Man, the Lizard attacks him, leading to the moment where the pair went smashing out the window.

Now

Spider-Man manages to break free from the Lizard's grasp and avoid a fatal fall. Batwing swoops down and tries to assist the wall-crawler, but the Lizard easily overpowers his new opponent. When Spider-Man tries to save Batwing, the Lizard tosses a car at him. As the web-slinger dodges this projectile, the Lizard manages to getaway. With no trail to follow, Spider-Man returns home, blaming himself for what happened. The next morning, Peter Parker has grown bitter, particularly when seeing how his Aunt May goes about her day without worry over how they are struggling to get by. Walking to school, Peter's temper gets the better of him and he lashes out, knocking over a lamp post with a single blow. Realizing what he has done, Peter sets the post upright, thankful that nobody saw him. He is still in a sour mood when he arrives at Midtown High, which is made worse when Flash Thompson begins teasing him. Peter is about ready to start a fight but the pair stops dead in their tracks when they see Tiny McKeever arrive for class with his arm in a sling. When Flash tries to find out what happened, Tiny is in no mood to talk about it. When Thompson tries to push this issue, Tiny lifts Flash off the ground with his good hand and tells him to drop the subject. Surprised by Tiny's strength, Flash agrees to stop prying. Knowing that Tiny is regularly abused by his father, he wonders what he can do about it.[3] That's when Sally Avril and Jason Ionello arrive at school, talking about their latest scheme. That's when Sally asks Peter how Spider-Man could get famous enough to be in the newspapers all the time. Peter suggests that it was because Spider-Man was in show business before he became a crime fighter and the Bugle continues to keep him in the public eye. This gets Peter to think about how his photos to the Bugle reflect negatively for his alter ego. He decides that he has to so something in order to make that change.[4]

Later, Peter goes to the Daily Bugle where he learns that Betty is still on a leave of absence. He recalls how Miss Brant abruptly left town after she was hassled by the Enforcers, but now that they are in jail he worries why she isn't back yet.[5] When J. Jonah Jameson leaves his office, Peter asks if the publisher can give him an advance. As usual, Jonah refuses to give the boy money without first getting pictures. That's when Peter offers to provide pictures of the Lizard. However, Jonah still believes that the Lizard is a myth, but tells Parker that he would pay top dollar for them, but still dismisses the creature as nothing more than a fairy tale.[6] Later that evening, Spider-Man goes looking for the Lizard with help from Batwing. The pair fund nothing until the wall-crawler overhears a police report about a break-in at the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo.

When they arrive, the suspect has fled but they find some reptiles near a storm drain and realize the Lizard has gone into the sewers. There, Spider-Man and Batwing are ambushed by reptiles that are under the control of the Lizard. Easily fighting through these attackers, Spider-Man finds the Lizard. Setting his camera, the wall-crawler then leaps into battle against the Lizard. At first, Spider-Man has the edge in battle. As they fight, he tries to reach Curt Connor's mind by reminding the Lizard about his son, Billy. However, things begin to turn when Batwing is cornered by some crocodiles. When Spider-Man rushes to Batwing's aid, he is then overpowered by the Lizard who prepares to throw him to his death. However, Batwing begins to plead to the Lizard not to hurt Spider-Man. When Batwing refers to the Lizard as "daddy", this gets through to Curt Connors who begins fighting to take back control of his body. This causes the Lizard to pause long enough for Spider-Man to pour an antidote down the Lizard's throat. Sure enough, the antidote works and Curt Connors is restored to human form. Later, Connors decides to take Batwing with him back to Florida so he can work on curing the youth. Returning home, Peter has a change of heart about the photos. When Jonah calls to see if Peter managed to get any photos of the lizard creature that was spotted in the area, Peter tells him that it was all a hoax. He decides to destroy the photos he took as both Batwing and the Curt Connors desert a chance of living normal lives.

Meanwhile, at Place Pigalle in Paris, a woman named Commanda has easily incapacitated the security guards in order to steal some diamonds. However, she finds this whole exercise incredibly boring. Escaping on a flying device, she decides that it is time for a real challenge and decides to make a trip to New York.

Continuity Notes

1. Aunt May went on vacation in Amazing Spider-Man #10.

2. Spider-Man helped cure Connors in Amazing Spider-Man #6.

3. Peter discovered that Tiny is being abused by his father in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #2.

4. When he first got his powers in Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter Parker attempted to get into show business until the murder of Uncle Ben. He later got a job as a photographer for the Daily Bugle in Amazing Spider-Man #2 in order to earn income by providing exclusive photos of Spider-Man.

5. Betty's encounter with the Enforcers and her abrupt departure from town as in Amazing Spider-Man #10. In Amazing Spider-Man #11 it is revealed that she left in order to help her brother Bennett get out of his gambling debts. The Enforcers ended up incarcerated after a battle with Spider-Man last issue.

6. When the Lizard first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #6, J. Jonah Jameson personally went down to Florida with Peter Parker to get photos of the creature. When Spider-Man secretly cured Curt Connors of his condition, Jonah dismissed the existence of the Lizard as nothing more than a hoax.