Just in case you’ve spent the last 5000 years in suspended animation in a cave on Neptune and don’t know the original secret origin of The Lizard, here’s the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko version from the 1960s.
Collector’s Guide:
- From Spider-man Classics #7.
- Reprints Amazing Spider-man #6.
- Reprinted in Marvel Tales #143
- Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks Amazing Spider-man #1.
If you ever want to pick up early Amazing Spider-man for cheap, try the 16-issue reprint series Spider-man Classics. It reprints the most classic Lee/Ditko tales of all: the first 16 appearances of Spider-man – and the Lizard, Electro, Kraven, Doc Ock, the Vulture – need we say more? You would need thousands of dollars to collect the originals, but you can get the whole Spider-man Classics run for less than 20 bucks!
January 31st, 2012 at 12:34 pm
I’m so mad on behalf of the actor that portrayed Curt Connors in the Raimi Spider-Man flicks. He was set up so well to eventually become the Lizard. Now they’re using a different guy for this Amazing Spider-Man movie.
It’s like Billy Dee as Harvey Dent all over again.
Thanks for sharing the origin. I’ve never seen the original telling by Ditko and Lee. The inker looks different than usual(other issues I have in reprint form of that era.)
January 31st, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Thank you for dropping by again, Chuck! Raimi’s Curt Connors was a good pick. Hopefully they get our favorite rampaging reptile right. They did a good job with the other villains so far, even though we’re not crazy about the first 2 films. Yes, we’re in the dissenting minority that the third was the best, mostly for Peter acting like a bad-ass while under symbiote power. What was your favorite?
We’ll have more Lizard madness coming up for you next month, from the classic John Romita days through McFarlane and some more modern takes.
January 31st, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I liked the second Spidey the most. Alfred Molina owned the Doc Ock role. The train seen was weird though. New Yorkers would have at least snapped a picture of an unmasked Spidey with their cell phones.
April 13th, 2012 at 11:29 am
[...] storyline. The Lizard at last commits the unspeakable crime Spider-man has tried to prevent since 1963. In doing so, he triggers a transformation to the next level of evil and looking awesome. Check out [...]
July 8th, 2012 at 1:10 am
[...] this is your lucky day. Let’s rock a scene from Exiles that re-imagines The Lizard’s origin – only without Spider-man to stop his evil [...]