I figured since the Amazing Spider-Man movie is coming out on July 3, 2012, I would talk today about the Lizard, who will be the featured villain in the movie. The movie trailer says that we will get the "untold" story of Spider-Mans's parents. While this comic doesn't speak to Peter's parents, it does give the origin of the Lizard in a short story that begins and concludes in the issue.
As an aside, in the early days of Spider-Man, as with other super hero books in the early 1960's, Stan Lee and the gang at Marvel were just trying to figure out what worked! The fist fourteen issues of the Amazing Spider-Man feature no less than eleven different villains. Some are well known like Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin, and Doctor Doom (of Fantastic Four fame). Others are not so well known...Big Man & the Enforcers (?!?), Kraven the Hunter, and The Vulture.
Anyway...the Lizard appears for the first time in the panels shown above . We learn later in the book that he is a scientist who makes small boo-boo in the lab, things go wrong, and he turns into a giant lizard! Frankly, this is a story arc that has been told many a time in 1950's sci-fi (think The Fly), but it actually works pretty well!
The issue is full of classic Stan Lee scripting...not the least of which is the line n the third story panel above..."FLEE PUNY HUMANS!" Hilarious! The Lizard does not show up again until issue numbers 44 and 45. As part of my Spider-Man lead up, I will look into these issues and let you know what I find. And while the movie will undoubtedly be very different from these books, I am sure all the basic elements will be there for the fans to enjoy.
Until next time...
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