The past two months of Amazing Spider-Man can be described in one word: okay. The Scorpion one-off was less than impressive, and the Juggernaut story was nothing more than a break from the Gauntlet story-line. However, ASM #632 is exactly what I was hoping would follow the story of the Rhino in ASM #625. When you put the two stories next to each other, a common theme is clear: what happens to a man when you break his heart and take away what he holds most dear? According to writers Joe Kelly and Zeb Wells, you’re left with an animal. Whether these two writers have been sharing notes, or this is simply an example of parallel thought, it doesn’t really matter when the results are this good.

With this story, Wells has surpassed the goals of the Gauntlet by not only dusting off a member of Spider-Man’s classic rogues gallery, he’s made the Lizard more fierce and well rounded than ever before. But unlike the other Gauntlet writers, Wells is working with the monster within his character rather than outside forces. A man trying to defeat his own darker nature rather than just run from it. Not only is he working with a very interesting premise, he’s allowing us to understand the Lizard as well as he does. Whether it’s in the Lizard’s own words (“Lizard raid his nest. Connors not want to hold on any more.”) or in actual biological terms described by Carlie; Wells has given the reader a front row seat for the Lizard’s conquest of Dr.Connors’ mind. Wells has even made it seem like the Lizard had a fully formed plan to crush Connors and Spider-Man. That’s right. The Lizard. With a plan. And as if that weren’t enough, Wells gives the reader not one, but two “oh, that can’t be good” moments when he shows the expansion of the Lizard’s powers.

Did I forget to mention that Spider-Man is in the middle of all of this, with even more blood on his hands and another more powerful enemy to deal with? If the goal of the Gauntlet was to push Peter Parker to the absolute breaking point, the Spider-Man stable of writers is doing one hell of a job.

And then there’s Chris Bachalo’s art, which is downright gorgeous. The contrast between the big, smooth, cartoony curves he uses for Spider-Man, and the sharp, rough lines he uses for the Lizard is absolutely fantastic. Not only that, but he seems to capture the tension of every moment perfectly. There’s no better example of this than the full page of the Lizard and Spidey standing nose to nose. The energy of that moment jumps off the page. When I showed a friend that page, his only response was a certain four letter word.

I will admit that the transition to Emma Rios’ art in the latter third of the book is a little bit of a shock. While she doesn’t quite keep pace with Bachalo’s art, it’s still pretty solid. Also, how many artists could keep up with Bachalo when he’s doing stuff like this?

Overall this was a great Spider-Man story, start to finish. Just when I think my interest in this title is starting to wane, they reel me right back in. I can’t wait to see what Wells and Bachalo have in store for the next issue, and I’m excited to see what the writers have waiting for everyone’s favorite wall-crawler when the Gauntlet ends.