Comics The Lizard returns to SM comics in February! ("Gauntlet" related)

[Doc Ock]

Well The Lizard is my favorite Spidey Villain, but it will take a while for me to get caught up as I don't buy comics monthly. Will have to wait for a TPB.

 

[NickerNacker]

Damn, that's one impressive list there. Thanks for posting it. Going to go over it now.

 

[The Lizard]

dupe post

 

[The Lizard]

The Lizard gets no respect, I tell ya!

Let's look at a few examples of what would make me say such a thing. For the first couple decades after Lizzy was introduced, he was presented with a decent amount of respect becoming one of Spidey's founding villains. He didn't appear as often as Doc Ock or Green Goblin, but he got some good storylines and always gave Spidey a challenging fight.

Then, Secret Wars came along. It was quite frankly an honor for the Lizard to even be included in the list of villains in this all-star crossover event, particularly since the Spidey villain Doc Ock was already part of the villain team too. But once the story got going, the Lizard was left out of almost all the epic battles as he ran off to hide in a nearby swamp until he reluctantly befriended the Wasp (and why did he do this anyway? Did Janet Pym remind him of his wife Martha?). But the worst was yet to come..

Secret Wars # 8 - The Lizard takes part in a game of patty-cake with Ben Grimm, Hawkeye, and Klaw:

This is just adding grievous insult to injury. Apparently the effects of being transported to Battleworld rendered the Lizard temporarily ******ed throughout the Secret Wars.

BTW, back in the '80s, the Lizard was never included in the Secret Wars action figure series, and has yet to be included in the new Marvel Universe Secret Wars subset either.

 

[Doc Ock]

The Lizard definitely is under appreciated and gets little respect. Then again he seems to be growing in popularity.....IMO.

 

[Donald Thomas]

Those are all the comic book format appearances, so they don't include newspaper comic strips or any kids' magazine format stories. Hope that helps the Lizard fans out there!

Aloha,
You are an example of why I love the Hype. Excellent research,my man.If you're going to be a fanatic, be a well researched fanatic. You rule.
Spidey rules with great fans

 

[NickerNacker]

But the worst was yet to come..

Oh no, I have a feeling your next few posts are going to be painful for me to read.

BTW, back in the '80s, the Lizard was never included in the Secret Wars action figure series, and has yet to be included in the new Marvel Universe Secret Wars subset either.

This baffled me as both Electro and Hobgoblin got figures in this toy line and they weren't in Secret Wars. Maybe they were in Secret Wars II?

 

[Themanofbat]

Secret Wars # 8 - The Lizard takes part in a game of patty-cake with Ben Grimm, Hawkeye, and Klaw:

Gawd... I remember that... it's really embarrassing...

Poor Lizzie...

 

[The Lizard]

The Lizard Gets No Respect -- part 2...

A little bit of background first - I apologize in advance.
The late 1980s saw the rise of the "Dark Age of Comics", where a large portion of superhero series were made more angry, bloody and angst-ridden to try and drive home the fact that "Comics aren't just for kids anymore, bub." Into this mix came artist Todd McFarlane, bringing a bold and dynamic (if inconsistent) new art style to Spider-Man comics.

McFarlane's love of the dark and twisted first came into contact with the Lizard character in ASM #313, a 1989 David Michelinie-written "Inferno" crossover story where a demonic invasion of New York affects the Lizard, making him more savage and violent than before. This set the stage for McFarlane's own "Torment" storyline in the premiere issues of Spider-Man in 1990 that featured a totally mindless rampaging Lizard under the control of voodoo priestess Calypso.

The Lizard didn't have any dialog in this storyline, but that didn't stop McFarlane from going overboard with awkward, unnecessary exposition to show off his "writing skills".

After the "Torment" storyline ended, the Lizard went back to normal for a few years, but the geniuses at Marvel apparently thought that the savage Lizard was better suited to the darker, bloodier tastes of 1990s comic buyers. Thus in 1995 was introduced the NEW, IMPROVED, SUPER-SAVAGE (and NAKED!) LIZARD II...

This mute, mindless killing machine (later revealed to be a clone of the real Lizard - surprise!) didn't have much to offer within the main Spidey titles, but he was used in some typically lame crossovers of the mid-90's comics scene. Lizard II appeared briefly in the Marvel vs DC crossover, but his worst appearance by far was in an ill-advised Marvel/Malibu comics crossover...

Prime # 2 - The Lizard-clone has a bonding moment with a naked 13 year-old boy.

Long, stupid story short: The bestial Lizard II is transported to the Malibu Comics universe, where the 13 year-old alter-ego of the superhero Prime tries to stop his rampage in the jungle. Here we see teenaged Kevin, butt-naked due to his super Prime-form dripping away, trying to get the Lizard-clone to grab hold of a magical spider-rod. Homoeroticism anybody?

 

[The Lizard]

The Lizard Gets No Respect -- part the third...


Spider-Man: Quality of Life 4-issue mini-series (2002) - The Lizard gets shot, bleeds green blood, gets almost strangled to death by the uninspired newbie villain 'Yith'....oh, and did I mention he's naked and looks like a puppetoon character?

This is what happens when mini-series writers and artists are unsupervised by any editors that give a crap about the material. Poor Lizzy gets used and abused quite badly in this story, with writer Greg Rucka apparently choosing to ignore the Lizard's past bullet resistance and regenerative powers to excuse a beating at the hands of a Dungeons & Dragons reject villain named Yith.

The sad thing is that the character of Martha Connors was actually killed off via cancer in this mini, so it will have to continue to be acknowledged in future stories. -Because a mini-series with experimental sub-par CG art and no legitimate continuity ties is a great place to kill off a supporting character that's been around for 40 years, right?

 

[Themanofbat]

I still think the ultimate "no respect" award goes to the patty-cake panel...

 

[The Lizard]

The Lizard Gets No Respect -- the ongoing saga...

Spectacular Spider-Man vol 2, # 13 (2004) - Dr. Curt Connors is apparently a big lying, psychotic bastard.

Here writer Paul Jenkins decides that 40 years of continuity needs to go out the window because it would be dramatic to reveal that Curt Connors has consciously been in control of the Lizard's villainous personality from day one. Never mind all the past stories that have made it clear that Connors hates becoming the Lizard and is horrified that he has this Lizard personality buried within him.
Fortunately, this story has pretty much been retconned by virtue of being ignored by all future writers.

 

[mre]

I hated that storyline.

 

[C. Pumpkins]

Yeah, good thing they ignore the Jenkins storyline.

I always thought the Spideyverse could of done more with Connors. I really liked the idea in the old Lee story when the Lizard was bit by Morbius and consequently Connors was suspended between the human and lizard states. Do you know if someone worked with that more? What if Connors had more control over the Lizard, like Banner sometimes does with Hulk? I know, I know, doesn't appear to be an original idea at first, but it could work due to Parker and Connors both being scientists in the chemistry field. There's just something there, me thinks.

Anywayz, thanks for these synopses and panels of these bad Lizard ideas, and hopefully the new story does your favorite character some justice.

 

[The Lizard]

The Lizard Gets No Respect ... continued ad nauseum...

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #11 (2005) - The Lizard joins the "Sinister Twelve" for some ridiculous reason.

Never mind that the very concept of taking the 12 most famous Spidey villains and putting them on a big team together reeks of fanboy silliness -- but what exactly is supposed to be the Lizard's motivation here? Lizzy hates all humans, not just Spider-Man, so he's not going to team up with a bunch of them just because Norman Osborn says so.
Note the kick in the chops that the Black Cat is somehow able to give the Lizard on this page...a sad omen of things to come later.

 

[Themanofbat]

Methinks that "Feral" storyline is coming up next...

 

[mre]

Was't Osborn doping them up with something to make them want to attack him? Who drugged Doc Ock?


TMOB, I just noticed you live in New Brunswick. That's awesome.

 

[The Lizard]

Was't Osborn doping them up with something to make them want to attack him? Who drugged Doc Ock?

It was indeed made clear at the end of that first year's story arc in Marvel Knights Spider Man that Norman Osborn was responsible for "upgrading" the various villains' powers (sound familiar, "Gauntlet" readers?), so he presumably was responsible for slipping Curt Connors the Lizard formula while he (Connors) was in prison, as well as giving Lizzy the upgraded pheromone powers that made humans react violently towards each other.

However, the villains that were part of the "Sinister Twelve" were there of their own choice as I recall (except for Ock, who had been drugged). One could easily assume that Osborn had included a mind-control drug as part of the Lizard formula to make Lizzy more controllable, but it was never directly stated in that storyline.

 

[Vile]

The Lizard Gets No Respect -- the ongoing saga...

Spectacular Spider-Man vol 2, # 13 (2004) - Dr. Curt Connors is apparently a big lying, psychotic bastard.

Here writer Paul Jenkins decides that 40 years of continuity needs to go out the window because it would be dramatic to reveal that Curt Connors has consciously been in control of the Lizard's villainous personality from day one. Never mind all the past stories that have made it clear that Connors hates becoming the Lizard and is horrified that he has this Lizard personality buried within him.
Fortunately, this story has pretty much been retconned by virtue of being ignored by all future writers.

I really liked this story line and was looking forward to them exploring it. The old "CURT'S MY FRIEND AND I DONT WANNA HURT HIM WAAAAGH' bit got old fast.

 

[The Lizard]

Methinks that "Feral" storyline is coming up next...

You thought correctly, good sir.

The Lizard Gets No Respect ... the shameful climax...

Sensational Spider-Man # 24 and #27 (2006) - The Lizard gets his ass handed to him by the Black Cat. Twice.

Sure, the excuse was that there was a weird meteorite that made all the animal-villains go crazy in this story, but is that valid reason to have a Catwoman-wannabe with no super strength tear up a monster villain who's stronger than Spider-Man? Well, story writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacsa said in a prior interview that Black Cat was his favorite Spidey character, so I guess that's all the excuse that's needed.

I'm eagerly awaiting an upcoming Spidey story to be written by a big fan of the Grizzly, so we can see the Grizzly put the smackdown on Venom.

Oh, for shame.

 

[NickerNacker]

The Lizard,

I'm wondering are you going to be listing what your favorite or what you think are the best Lizard moments in comics are? I'm also curious to know what is your favorite Lizard story is.

 

[The Lizard]

The Lizard Gets No Respect... final bonus grab-bag of various indignities:

I'm wondering are you going to be listing what your favorite or what you think are the best Lizard moments in comics are? I'm also curious to know what is your favorite Lizard story is.

Hmmm...not a bad idea, since I've spent the last several posts complaining.

 

[NickerNacker]

Hey The Lizard,

Here are some comics with the Lizard in them that I didn’t see on your list and there are also two corrections.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #59, October 1981

What If…Vol. 1 #46, August 1984

What If…Vol.2 # 58, February 1994

Spider-Man #51, October 1994

Amazing Spider-man Ashcan Edition 1994 (Canada)

Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1, September 1995

She-Hulk (2004) #10, February 2005

Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift Free Comic Book Day June 2007/ Director’s Cut February 2008

Amazing Spider-Man #554 has a Lizard cameo and not just a Curt Connors Cameo

Amazing Spider-Man #613 should be #614

(Not sure if you would include the following saga books)
Spider-Man Saga #1, November 1991

Spider-Man Saga #2, December 1991

Spider-Man Saga #3, January 1992

 

[C. Pumpkins]

story writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacsa said in a prior interview that Black Cat was his favorite Spidey character, so I guess that's all the excuse that's needed.

I'm eagerly awaiting an upcoming Spidey story to be written by a big fan of the Grizzly, so we can see the Grizzly put the smackdown on Venom.

Oh, for shame.

Well! Black Cat did knock Spidey out during her debut in ASM. (I would rather have the Lizard be more formidable, however.)

 

[The Lizard]

Amazing Spider-Man #554 has a Lizard cameo and not just a Curt Connors Cameo

Amazing Spider-Man #613 should be #614

Fixed!

(Not sure if you would include the following saga books)
Spider-Man Saga #1, November 1991

Spider-Man Saga #2, December 1991

Spider-Man Saga #3, January 1992

I do remember these, but I think I passed on them because they only featured reprinted art. If there are any Saga issues with Lizzy featured in original art on the cover or elsewhere, let me know.

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #59, October 1981

What If…Vol. 1 #46, August 1984 (I could have sworn I scrutinized this one for Lizzy years ago, but I guess I missed something. )

What If…Vol.2 # 58, February 1994

Spider-Man #51, October 1994

Amazing Spider-man Ashcan Edition 1994 (Canada)

Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1, September 1995

She-Hulk (2004) #10, February 2005

Amazing Spider-Man Swing Shift Free Comic Book Day June 2007/ Director’s Cut February 2008

YAY! Some new Lizard comics to go hunting for at the comic shop and/or eBay! t: