I love “Shed.” It has its detractors, but to my mind this is the best Lizard story ever.
It centers around Curt Connors’ son, Billy. Due to his past, Dr. Connors is only allowed supervised, no-contact visits with his child, who is (justifiably) terrified of him.
We rarely see long-term consequences in the lives of supervillains (and I understand that Lizard isn’t so much a villain as a monster)–so this is a great angle to start the story with.
Connors starts to develop lust for his hot lab assistant, and Sasha and Ana Kravinov manipulates the situation to bring out the Lizard–with the help of her prisoner, Madame Web.
Chris Bachalo’s art often feels too stylized for me, but in this story it works. Lizard looks monstrous.
Connors becomes Lizard because he’s horny. More specifically, his hot assistant gets his hormones going. But once transformed, the man-reptile goes right for his son, Billy. Spider-Man tries to intercept him but once at Billy’s house, he sees the child is missing.
Yes, of course, it’s those darn meddling Kravinovs. Lizard hunts them down and finds Billy in an alley. At this point, “Lizard” is fighting his “Dr. Connors” side in his head, but the beast-side wins–and eats Billy.
Killing Billy Connors is good both for this story (because it shows how far the Kravinovs will go to push Spider-Man’s villains to their edges). I also see it as solid way to develop the Curt Connors character, who has remained pretty static since he was first created. I don’t love the “Curt vs Lizard” mental battle because it feels very similar to Hulk and some other Marvel characters, but that’s a minor complaint.
As he is killing Billy, Lizard says that his Connors side is dead. We now learn why the story is called “Shed.”
Lizard transforms into a much larger and more monstrous being. After they fight, Spider-Man flees because he’s outpowered and goes to see his gal, police scientist Carlie, who helps him devise a treatment.
The weakness in this story is the final act, which is just a standard Lizard story where Spider-Man has to administer the cure before Lizard kills him. He does.
After the fight, Peter is distraught over Billy’s death and goes to see his Aunt May. She’s been exposed to Mister Negative’s powers, though, and is acting like a total dick.
A few paragraphs ago, I said that the mental fight between Lizard and Connors had been done before and here we are at the end of the same story and it’s happening again, to May. It’s just a little too much of the same thing. May shakes off the “Negative influence” and comforts Peter to end the story.
Outside of the main story, there is ongoing plot work. This is another “Gauntlet” story, and tracking that ongoing arc, the Kravinovs attempt (and fail) to capture Spidey’s clone, Kaine. Not thrilled that he will be returning.
Spider-Man and Black Cat have been “friends with benefits” for a bit now, fighting crime together and then having sex. Consistent with his nature, Spidey is having trouble with that–he’s not a “casually intimate” guy.
But Felicia lets him know that this isn’t anything serious. I dig how this relationship is giving space for parts of Peter’s personality to shine–parts we typically see explored in his “secret identity,” not while he’s in the spandex.
Meanwhile, the whole casual sex thing is preventing Peter from taking his relationship with Carlie more seriously. His friend Harry Osborn tells him this–but then Harry is living with Mary Jane (who may or may not be memory-wiped–it’s not clear), and Peter is still in love with MJ.