Kind of shockingly, issue 44 is just the 2nd appearance of The Lizard. We catch up with Peter Parker taking Aunt May to the train station to go on vacation. Her doctor’s told her some time “by the seashore” will improve her condition. But nearby, Dr. Curt Connors is waiting for his family to come in on the train from Florida, when his hand suddenly turns green and scaly.
Aww. Martha & Billy Connors get off their train, wondering where Curt is, but he’s trying really hard not to turn into The Lizard. Way back in ASM 6, Curt Connors developed a formula to regrow his lost arm based on the way way lizards regrow lost limbs, but in the process, it turned him into a lizard man. Lucky for him, Spider-Man developed an antidote from his notes and forced him to drink it (If he’d been fighting a less science-minded hero, things would’ve gone really bad). Now he’s having a flare up. He sees his family, and Billy sees him, so he rushes off to try to make sure no one gets hurt…
(Claims not verified by the Handbook To The Marvel Universe. Blog not liable for incorrect power information made by giant raving man-lizard) 38 issues between appearances is just kind of crazy for what wound up being one of Spidey’s most famous foes. The Lizard makes a hole in the wall of the tunnel, exposing “a maze of sewer tunnels” and just decides to set up shop in there. Back at the station, Peter sees Aunt May off, and then sees The Connors family, and seeing how distraught Martha is, decides he better switch to Spidey and go see what’s up.
Spidey swings off to find him, flashing back to their first encounter at The Connors’ home in Florida, and how hard he was to beat. Spidey finds the tunnel, but there’s no sign of The Lizard. He goes back and suggests Martha & Billy go wait at Curt’s lab, then starts searching for him, but after an hour, he has no luck. He decides to switch to Peter and go drop by The Bugle to try to get some money to pay for Aunt May’s trip. He runs into Betty Brant, congratulating her on her engagement.
Frederick Foswell is a crafty reporter and former mob boss (No, really), so this could be trouble for Peter. But not yet, because right now he’s meeting Harry, Gwen & Flash at a diner. There’s the usual banter as everyone talks about Flash getting ready to go to Vietnam, but here comes a new challenger…
MJ’s here to blow up the dynamic in the college cast. But this is a superhero comic, so it’s back to The Lizard. He’s ready to return to Florida to continue his plan to “populate the Earth with giant lizards” (I mean, go for broke), but first he’s gonna frame Spider-Man to get him off his, er, tail. He scales a building and smashes into a jewelry showroom, stealing some stuff and crawling back out as people think only Spider-Man could. And the cops rushing to the scene think that’s just who it was. How The Lizard knew about this place is… not explained… but however he did…
That insane plan actually worked. Peter sees the news and just knows it was The Lizard (somehow), and is distracted about it all day, ignoring his classes. Flash defends his idol, Spider-Man, to various dudes, and later we see Peter really is repainting his motorcycle to impress MJ, but he’s too eager to go find The Lizard, so he suits up. And after swinging around all night, he finally spots him.
As they throw down, Spidey tries to convince The Lizard he has a family he cares about, but he doesn’t believe in Curt Connors (I don’t think even Curt would’ve known about that jewelry showroom, but how did The Lizard, then? I am having trouble moving on here). Spidey takes a big hit and tries to play dead to lure The Lizard in for a finishing move, but Lizard just walks away, leaving Spidey to the police as he drops into the sewer, so Spider-Man has to jump up and follow him.
Now that people have seen The Lizard scale the building, Spidey’s ready to wrap this up. But The Lizard is still a dangerous enemy, and he almost knocks Spider-Man to his death off the top of a building.
Well, that’s awfully convenient. Spidey swings off to tell Martha her husband is a lizard again, and she takes that about as well as you’d expect. He gets home just in time for Aunt May to call from her vacation.
And so another issue ends with Peter feeling sorry for himself. Gotta get that attitude together, buddy. Next month, The Lizard makes up for his long absence by menacing a 2nd issue in a row.
Guys, old comics can be a very weird place. See, for example, this ad…
There were a whole lot of scams in ads like this, but what if that’s real? Just unleashing monkeys on households across the US. Live delivery guaranteed! Wild.