*Once again, we get another issue with a fill-in artist who couldnt be more stylistically different, and as a result, they really do clash. Emma Rios is decent enough, and her two-page splash showing the police and forensic teams at the Phelcorp Industries lab is very nicely rendered, effectively showing the carnage and the wreckage of the Lizards attack without being graphic. Most of the time, however, it doesnt really grab you, although its by no means awful. Chris Bachalo on the other hand
look, I thought last issue, he really did a bang-up job. And certainly there are a couple of pages where Spidey is fighting the Lizard and the other escaped reptiles where it really looks ferocious and energetic. But the rest of the time, it just looks chaotic and confusing. Theres too much of tendency to use narrow panels and bizarre close-ups, which makes everything look cramped and smooched together, and given some heavy usage of shading, it can be confusing as to whats happening on the page. This is especially the case during the last few pages where the Lizard finds Billy.
*Story-wise from Zeb Wells, I find Im a little mixed on a few things. First, we get a prologue of sorts of the Gauntlet, with Kaine coming across Ana Kravinoff and the battle that follows. Well, battle is a very loose term since Kaine barely is able to hold his own against and runs away in terror from a twelve-year old girl--granted a psychotic, highly-trained, and a very sick and twisted twelve year-old girl, but a twelve year old girl just the same. Certainly, the irony isnt lost on anyone that, considering how Kaine built his bad-ass reputation by killing off another Kraven offspring, the Grim Hunter, but it does seem kind of silly to try and build Ana up as a threat by making Kaine out to be a chump--especially since hes supposed to be Peters suped-up clone, no less.
*I did like the role-reversal Peter went through being stood-up by Carlie due to her work as a forensic investigator, with Pete also recognizing this and thinking he deserved it, given the times hes had to blow people off because hes Spider-Man. (I was kind of expecting a scene like this to occur, just not in this story, actually.) It helps to underscore the idea Carlie is essentially Peters non-powered female equivalent. But while I certainly understand this is supposed to make her more of an ideal love-interest for Peter, its actually where we see her and Spidey interact at the crime scene at Phelcorp, with her acting as an informant along the lines of Jean DeWolfe and Detective LaMont, that it comes off the best. This seems to be a case where their working relationship is actually better than any romantic relationship the writers are trying to instill with these two characters.
*Of course, the focus is once again on the Lizard and the internal dialogue between Dr. Connors and the Lizard, with Connors trying desperately to regain control. Its certainly an effective narrative tactic, as it emphasizes not just the idea that both Connors and the Lizard are really two separate personalities, but that Connors really is essentially a spectator to what the Lizard does, which makes his transformation all the more horrifying.
*And its certainly what the Lizard does which is certainly going to unsettle quite a few readers and probably upset quite a few long-term Spidey fans. As if the Lizard cannibalizing King last issue, and later his gruesome attack on the lab workers (much less traumatizing his lab worker, Marissia) wasnt enough, it looks as though he ends up also eating Billy Connors at the end of this issue, thus signifying that Connors, overcome with the loss of essentially murdering and devouring his own son , has succumbed completely (thanks to Ana Kravinoffs interference and thus changing Madame Webs precognitive vision from last issue). But its not just the implied cannibalism of a child which is a cause for concern, but also that this essentially removes the one element from the Lizard which made him a creature of sympathy as well as a monster. Now, with both his wife and son gone, hes just a monster. While this may have been the point Wells was striving for, by removing all the humanity left out of the character, it just turns what was a Jekyll and Hyde character into just a mindless and savage beast for Spidey to fight. This seems like it would give future Lizard stories (if he is to survive this one, that is) a disservice and make the fights between Spidey and the Lizard less engaging.
Bachalo was the perfect artist for a story featuring the Lizard. Must say however, I'm a little disappointed that Bachalo won't be drawing all of the next issue as he will be getting some help from Emma Rios (and no I have nothing against Rios, so I mean no offense), who will be drawing 8 pages. Of course if Rios is being brought on for a specific reason other than as a fill in artist than I guess I won't be disappointed. 
t: )...
