The Lizard Gets No Respect -- part 2...
A little bit of background first - I apologize in advance.
The late 1980s saw the rise of the "Dark Age of Comics", where a large portion of superhero series were made more angry, bloody and angst-ridden to try and drive home the fact that "Comics aren't just for kids anymore, bub." Into this mix came artist Todd McFarlane, bringing a bold and dynamic (if inconsistent) new art style to Spider-Man comics.
McFarlane's love of the dark and twisted first came into contact with the Lizard character in ASM #313, a 1989 David Michelinie-written "Inferno" crossover story where a demonic invasion of New York affects the Lizard, making him more savage and violent than before. This set the stage for McFarlane's own "Torment" storyline in the premiere issues of
Spider-Man in 1990 that featured a totally mindless rampaging Lizard under the control of voodoo priestess Calypso.
The Lizard didn't have any dialog in this storyline, but that didn't stop McFarlane from going overboard with awkward, unnecessary exposition to show off his "writing skills".
After the "Torment" storyline ended, the Lizard went back to normal for a few years, but the geniuses at Marvel apparently thought that the savage Lizard was better suited to the darker, bloodier tastes of 1990s comic buyers. Thus in 1995 was introduced the NEW, IMPROVED, SUPER-SAVAGE (and NAKED!) LIZARD II...
This mute, mindless killing machine (later revealed to be a clone of the real Lizard - surprise!) didn't have much to offer within the main Spidey titles, but he was used in some typically lame crossovers of the mid-90's comics scene. Lizard II appeared briefly in the
Marvel vs DC crossover, but his worst appearance by far was in an ill-advised Marvel/Malibu comics crossover...
Prime # 2 - The Lizard-clone has a bonding moment with a naked 13 year-old boy.
Long, stupid story short: The bestial Lizard II is transported to the Malibu Comics universe, where the 13 year-old alter-ego of the superhero Prime tries to stop his rampage in the jungle. Here we see teenaged Kevin, butt-naked due to his super Prime-form dripping away, trying to get the Lizard-clone to grab hold of a magical spider-rod. Homoeroticism anybody?