The Lizard could be friend or foe to Spidey. Either way, Curt Connors usually found that it wasn't easy (wait for it) being green:
-- MSA
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The Lizard could be friend or foe to Spidey. Either way, Curt Connors usually found that it wasn't easy (wait for it) being green:
-- MSA
You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!
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Lizard was such an iconic Silver Age Spider-Man villain that I was surprised that he had shown up only once while Ditko was doing the art.
Hoy
The Lizard is my all-time favorite Spidey villain -- in large part, no doubt, because the Six-Arm Saga is the earliest Spidey story I can specifically remember owning. I can tell you exactly where 6-year-old me was when I first laid my hands on AS #101 -- my Grandma's kitchen, if you must know -- and that final panel that you reproduced for your article is burned into my memory.
Maybe for that reason, I always see Gil Kane art when I think of the Lizard (or Morbius).
I was surprised at the number of times he actually was a help, even in his Lizard form. That didn't happen too often, but The Lizard was more of a Hulk-type than a true villain (a Marvel specialty).
-- MSA
The Lizard could have been a 50s sci-fi/horror movie. He had all the right elements: brillant scientist who experiments on himself (really did these guys ever read Stevenson?), beautiful wife, moody enviroment. It was jarring to see this one-armed man who remained one-armed in a comic. Ditko drew a cool Lizard.
My strongest memories are his battle with Stegron the Dinosaur Man ("Beware, Stegron, you so-called Dinosaur Man! For the Lizard is coming to destroy you!") and, of course, his Mego action figure! Take that, Doc Ock!
I have that Mego figure sitting on the shelf right here in my office, alongside Spidey and the Green Goblin. It was later repainted brown to be Star Trek's Gorn alien. It's too bad they didn't do more Spidey villains.Heck, it's too bad they didn't do more of everything!
-- MSA
Which was weird since the Gorn was also green and they dressed him like a Klingon!
Doctor Octopus and the Vulture were probably too costly to make but Kraven, Electro, Mysterio and the Scorpion were possible. The Sandman, in human form, may have been too "dull".
The Romita villains (Rhino, Kingpin and Hammerhead) would have been good choices as well.
I recall reading at the newsstand spinner rack ("Hey kid, this ain't a library!") about the Lizard when he returned in about Spidey #43. I thought the yellow cover was so cool, that I just couldn't put it down...but I never bought it. It was several months later that I found the reprint for Spider-Man #6 and the original appearance of the Lizard. I was so surprised by the difference in artwork, and hense, the feel of the story, that I couldn't believe it.
Just forward to the return (again) of the Lizard in about Spidey #74-77 and the very out-of-character Human Torch... I really didn't like the black, dark covers to these few issues, and feel that this story marks the end of the Silver Age for Spidey.
The artwork and stories just don't measure up in my opinion...and even though I continued to monitor Spidey through #100, I didn't actually buy them.
As issue #100 with the shock end arrived (6 arms? Oh forget it!) and the subsequent evil Morbius vampire... I just lost all respect for the title and very shortly, stopped buying comics completely.
So for me, the high point of the Lizard was in that one 3-part appearance just after John Romita started drawing Spidey. The whole tone of the series shifted along with the artwork, and Peter started that simulated Archie/Veronica/Betty thing with MJ and Gwen... so recently seen again in Spider-man: Blue.
I never really thought much about the various animal totems that showed up as villains month after month, but it's true. There was a run of them there that have never been equalled!
I've heard that the Spider-Mobile was created in continuity solely because a toy company had entered into a contract with Marvel to produce Spider-man related toys, and they wanted one. Therefore, one was written into the series. When the contract expired, the Spider-mobile was wrecked in the East River (?) and has never been recovered. What was the story with it, that Johnny had created it as a gift for his friend Spidey? Where did Peter park it that was never ticketed, towed, or recognized? The baxter bldg? Just how do you legally drive a Spider-dunebuggy on the streets of NYC without getting into a traffic jam, or being pulled over? "Excuse me officer, but don't mind the fact that I'm wearing a mask and speeding... I 'm just going to intercept a super-villain robbing a bank...."
George Poague said:
"Excuse me officer, but don't mind the fact that I'm wearing a mask and speeding... I 'm just going to intercept a super-villain robbing a bank...."
That trick never works. (It doesn't work for bad tags, either.)
Philip Portelli said:
He was! The first Lizard story was likely inspired by a 1959 movie, The Alligator People.
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