Reading The Amazing Spider-Man: Issue Number Six

Here we are back again Reading "The Amazing Spider-Man," where we take a critical look at the first five hundred issues of the classic comicbook series. There are lessons here on building a storyworld and an enduring story franchise, and we're going to flush them out! This time, we're reading issue number six, a return to animal-inspired villains with… "Face To Face With… The Lizard!"


The splash page, other than three different blurbs of meta-promotional copy, is straight-up creepy action: the amazing Spider-Man is visibly cringing as the lab-coat sporting anthropomorphic Lizard urges his small army of vicious alligators to attack. The color composition is noticeable: four different shades of green dominate the borders of the scene and create a sense that things are closing in on the red and blue figure of Spider-Man. It's much more evocative than most of the "movie poster" style splash pages we've seen so far.


Synopsis

The action begins immediately! In the Florida Everglades, four men encounter a giant talking lizard that "walks like a man!" It also wears a spotless white lab coat, stylish black tee shirt and purple slacks… but I guess those are the kinds of things you'd notice after you got over that whole business of it walking and talking like a man. This creature refers to itself repeatedly in the third person, so we know that it calls itself (conveniently) the Lizard and that "this swamp is mine!"


Word of this frightful creature spreads up the eastern seaboard, until the publisher of The Daily Bugle sees an opportunity to both sell newspapers and humiliate the amazing Spider-Man with a headline:


The Bugle Challenges Spider-Man To Defeat The Lizard!


Spider-Man finds it a little laughable, but he changes to Peter Parker and hits up J. Jonah Jameson to send him to Florida to try and take some pictures of the Lizard for the paper. Jonah scoffs — he doesn't even think the Lizard exists; it was pure and simple a publicity grab. Never mind the fact that Peter Parker is a minor and there are probably laws against sending him out of state and deliberately into harm's way… aren't there?


J. Jonah Jameson's secretary, Betty Brant, who has a little thing for the younger, bookish Peter, thinks it was a great idea. Peter, who is learning to be something of flirt, tells Betty "I sure wish you were the publisher, instead of just being his secretary!" as he makes his rakish exit. These two kids are dancing closer and closer!


Next day, Peter heads down to the Natural History Museum to learn a little about lizards, starting with the dinosaur exhibit. Oddly, Flash Thompson is there with Liz Allen. Flash is irritated to see Peter, but Liz, who has in previous issues shown herself to be interested in learning, hushes him so she can hear the lecture.


While the lecturer gives us a little exposition about dinosaurs (hides so thick "no gun smaller than a cannon could stop them" and strong enough to "crush a present-day tank") Peter's spider-sense alerts him to a couple of thieves making their way through the dinosaur exhibit on their way out of the museum. He ducks away to change into Spider-Man, but before he can intervene, a security guard scares the thieves into pulling a gun… and taking Liz Allen hostage!


This is no big deal for Spider-Man. He drops down from the ceiling, separates the bad guys from Liz, and knocks them both out cold with one punch. Done and done. In the mood to show off a little, he helps Liz to her feet and when she thanks him, he tells her it was his pleasure and calls her "blue eyes" before swinging out of site.


When he reappears as Peter Parker, Liz is in a lovesick daze and, much to Peter's delight, Flash Thompson is at a loss.


Nuts! Competition like you I can handle, Parker! But what can I do about Spider-Man?


Peter grins knowingly and advises Flash to worry. His amusement is short-lived, though, when he overhears on a nearby radio that the "nation wonders why Spider-Man has avoided going after the Lizard…" This is apparently too much for Peter's pride. A short time later, he pays a visit — as Spider-Man — to J. Jonah Jameson.


Spider-Man webs Jonah to the ceiling — evidently to keep him in the room but also just to irritate him — and informs him that he's accepting the challenge. He'll go to Florida to fight the Lizard… so Jameson better send a photographer down there to cover it!


Spider-Man swings away and Jameson, still suspended from the ceiling by a rapidly dissolving web, calls Betty Brant in to call Peter Parker and to gather some soft cushions for his inevitable landing. Betty doesn't get the cushions to Jonah in time and he lands with a "whump!"


Peter shows up on cue — it's not a school day, apparently, since for once he's not in his blue suit and red tie. He's sporting a casual tan suitjacket over a black tee shirt (just like the Lizard's!) and brown slacks. It's practically jeans and a sweatshirt for someone like Peter.


He and Betty engage in some casual banter and Peter's just about to ask her out when Jonah bursts in. He's sending Peter to Florida after all… but this is such a big story Jonah's coming too!


After his aunt is convinced that it will be all right for a sixteen year old boy to travel to Florida to deliberately put himself in close contact with a monstrous reptile-man because "that nice man" J. Jonah Jameson will be with him, Peter hops on a plane. On the flight down, he studies a mess of clippings and other research he's gathered on the case, and decides that Dr. Curtis Connors, a reptile expert who lives near the Everglades area, would be the perfect contact to help find the Lizard.


In Florida, Peter makes an excuse to ditch Jonah and takes off as Spider-Man. He swings past the police cordon of "the Lizard area" and starts slinking around in the swamp. It's not long before the Lizard ambushes him, dragging him down into the water. Spider-Man shoves a glob of mud in the Lizard's face and they both climb ashore.


The Lizard is fixated on controlling the swamp. He tells Spider-Man "…you dared to invade my domain! And so… you are doomed!" He swipes at Spider-Man with his thick tail, shocking our hero with the realization that the Lizard isn't a dude in a costume but an actual, human / reptile hybrid. Spider-Man tries to grab his tail, and the Lizard take advantage of that by flinging Spider-Man a full half-mile away.


Spider-Man lands in a tree and notices a nearby house that he presumes must belong to Dr. Curtis Connors, the reptile expert he wanted to see. Coming closer to the house, he notices a woman crying inside. Concerned that the Lizard is too close for comfort, Spider-Man gently introduces himself and tells her that she and her husband must get away. The woman won't leave, though. In fact, she blows Spider-Man's mind when she tells him (are you ready for this???) …


My husband, Dr. Curtis Connors — is the Lizard!


We get a page and a half of origin story from Mrs. Connors: Curtis was a surgeon who lost his right arm in the war. Since then, his fascination with some lizards' ability to regrow severed limbs led him to become one of the world's leading experts on reptiles. Imagine how this issue might have gone if he'd become obsessed with how starfish can do the same thing…?


He develops a serum "extracted from experimental lizards" (whatever those might be) that works — he uses it to successfully regrow a rabbit's missing limb. Flush with that success and apparently unfamiliar with the scientific method or standard precautionary measures, he immediately gulps down the rest of the serum himself. His wife protests, but in minutes, he's re-grown his missing arm! It's "the greatest medical feat of all time!"


Guess what happens next? His new arm is suddenly covered with thick, heavy lizard scales… and the rest of him quickly transforms as well. Trapped in his lizard form, he tries to reverse the effects of the serum, but "his brain had been too dulled — too changed!" Tragically, he leaves his wife a note, urging her to leave with their young son, Billy, and never come back.


Speaking of Billy… apparently it's cool for him to play in their back yard even though is Lizard-dad is running around loose, for he comes running back, pursued by an oddly subdued Lizard. Spider-Man swoops down and drops Billy in the high, safe branches of a tree before he attempts to confront his foe. Fighting's not going to be easy, though. The Lizard's skin is as thick and hard as the dinosaur we conveniently learned about earlier, and his tail is strong enough to snap Spider-Man's web. He's a handful!


Fortunately, something of Curtis Connors' shame remains in the Lizard's brain. When Mrs. Connors cries out, he slinks away and disappears into the swamp.


Spider-Man has a reprieve. He decides to try his brains on this problem, since he's pretty well out-classed in the strength and speed department. He pours over Curtis Connors' notes, and, hours later, Spider-Man successfully creates an antidote to the Lizard serum. Once again, we see that Peter Parker has an almost super-human intellect… one that he only seems to call upon in moments of extreme stress. Either that's due to it being most convenient to the plot or, perhaps, the very nature of his genius is that it only works when it's a life-and-death situation. It's hard to reconcile… I mean, this kid is Dougie Houser smart, y'know? Why is he even still in high school?


Spider-Man has no time to celebrate his brilliance. The Lizard breaks into the house! His humanity is slipping away, as he no longer seems to recognize his wife. He still has his pride, though. He says to the amazing Spider-Man:


You are the only one who does not fear me! Once I destroy you, all mankind will tremble before the Lizard!!


Spider-Man hastily passes the antidote to Mrs. Connors, who beats the retreat. Spider-Man hopes to reason with the Lizard, but it's no good. The faster, stronger man-monster tosses a "huge oak desk" onto Spider-Man, and for good measure bashes it into kindling while Spider-Man is underneath. The battle is over in seconds, and the Lizard heads back to the swamp. He's got a dastardly plan, though — he's going to feed his serum to other reptiles to build a "mighty lizard army."


That's a good name for a band, maybe. Take note, hipsters.


Spider-Man wakes up, learns of the Lizard's plans from Mrs. Connors, and decides it's now or never — he's got to figure out a way to get the Lizard to drink the antidote before he creates a potentially devastating army of lizards. To make matters worse, little Billy Connors begs Spider-Man to not hurt his father. But how can Spider-Man do what must be done without harming the the man that the Lizard once was?


Rather cleverly, Spider-Man uses his web to sport a pair of "web swamp shoes" for himself — kind of pontoons — and poles through the swamp, letting his spider-sense guide him to the Lizard. He catches up with him at an abandoned Spanish fort deep in the Everglades. The Lizard is in the middle of giving a little pre-victory speech to a trio of alligators, but has not yet administered his serum. Spider-Man takes the opportunity to snap a few photographs, but the old stone beneath him crumbles and he's forced to fight.


The alligators, under the Lizard's control, press the attack. Spider-Man climbs up the fort's tower, but the Lizard — who we learn has the powers of every lizard on Earth — climbs, gecko-like, even faster. Spider-Man finds himself pinned between the battering tails of the Lizard above him and the alligators below. He gets away by swinging through a window into the fort, but the Lizard follows. They spar a little, Spider-Man staying just out of the Lizard's way and keeping up a steady flow of confidence-boosting wisecracks and bon mots, but Spider-Man has got to find a way to get that antidote into the Lizard before the stronger and faster villain wears him down.


They climb up the interior walls of the tower, Spider-Man just barely free of the Lizard's clutches all the while, until Spider-Man can take the initiative. He grabs the Lizard's tail and yanks him off the wall to fall back to the floor. Before the Lizard can gather himself, Spider-Man — antidote at the ready — drops on top of him and shoves the liquid down the Lizard's throat.


The Lizard recovers quickly and stuns Spider-Man with a powerful slap of his thick tail. Spider-Man is helpless, determined not to give up but badly battered. Just as the Lizard is about to land a killing blow… the serum does its job. Rapidly, the beast is replaced by the man (minus his right arm) and Dr. Curtis Connors is back.


The Amazing Spider-Man Number SixSpider-Man leads Connors back to his wife and sleeping child, where the good doctor burns all of his research, vows never again to "tamper with forces of nature which must not be tampered with," and three of them vow to keep it a secret between them. How well do you think all of that's going to work out? In any event, Spider-Man has made loyal friends in the Connors family.


The next day, Peter Parker meets up with J. Jonah Jameson and shows him his pictures of the Lizard. Jameson tears them up — he's decided for sure that the Lizard is truly nothing but a fake — and the two of them go back to New York. There's no rest for Peter Parker — Aunt May has lots of chores waiting for him — and no luck, either, as Liz Allen won't give him the time of day now that she thinks Spider-Man is the cat's meow. Peter gets a little fun in, though — he sends J. Jonah Jameson a letter from Spider-Man reading:


Roses are red, violets are blue… I'm still at large, so phooey to you!


Okay, so the boy genius isn't much of a poet. It's enough to raise Jonah's blood pressure, and that's good enough to mark this issue as a win for the amazing Spider-Man.


Thoughts On Issue Five Of The Amazing Spider-Man

This issue sees Peter Parker — and Spider-Man — literally out of their comfort zone, traveling out of New York City and facing a foe that can't be beaten without the unique combination of power and brains that our hero is capable of delivering when he's firing on all cylinders. A little of the old Parker pride is there, too — he can't stand the idea that the world thinks he's not willing to challenge the Lizard — but Peter primarily shows all the great responsibility he's dedicated himself to display.


Peter Parker is getting comfortable with the fact that he's Spider-Man — he's willing to show off a little and sweep a girl off her feet — and he's really stepping up as a hero. He finds a way to defeat the Lizard without harming Dr. Curtis Connors, and, recognizing that the doctor wasn't acting out of malice, opts to respect the family's privacy. Perhaps he understands that they will have to live with the horror Connors has brought upon them, and that's punishment enough? He knows a little something about bringing tragedy into his own home, after all.


Peter Parker is allowing some of his confidence as the amazing Spider-Man seep into his ordinary life, too. He's flirting with the older Betty Brant, and calling on Liz Allen in a way the Peter Parker of three or four issues ago wouldn't have dreamed of doing. Sure, he's not without his problems, but the kid is growing into his own.


This issue reminds us that, despite the fact that it's a good idea to put your lead character through the ringer on a regular basis, it's also important to show him growing and changing as a result of his experiences. Remember the whiny, complaining, tantrum-prone Peter Parker of the first few issues? That guy, for the moment, at least, is no more… and that's a good thing. As your character learns and evolves, so do the nature of the challenges you can throw at him… and that keeps your story franchise interesting.


Let's talk about this issue, and the importance of continuing to allow our characters to grow and change in an ongoing serial fiction environment… in the comments!


The Amazing Spider-Man number five

"Face To Face With… The Lizard!"

Cover Date: November, 1963

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Steve Ditko

Letters: Artie Simek



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Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.



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Published on October 04, 2011 22:53
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