So it isn't too bulky to read in bed? This is important information!

Having worked at Charlton, I suspect Ditko had plenty of experience in a printing room, since Charlton had everything under one roof.

Beaky Buzzard also apepared in 1942...somehow I have a feeling that Ditko might have been more likely to have seen him than Adventures Comics.



Maybe Ditko was "swiping" from Bob Clampett and not Jack Kirby.




They should have at least done one of those Marvel cinematic shorts with Michael Keaton doing The Vulture like Beaky and Spidey acting like Bugs.

OK, I thought you meant the idea of a fat crimelord rather than the bird-based theme of the Vulture and the Owl. I was trying to remember what the Owl looked like apart from the costume - I think he was on the heavyset side wasnt he? Not really fat, though, I suppose.

I agree. The colouring on the cover of Marvel Tales #143 is much better than the original cover…




As you point out, a big difference is that the Lizard's lab coat is the right colour on the Marvel Tales reprint. I also prefer the darker background, which serves to make the figures of Spider-Man and the Lizard jump out from the cover a bit more.





I agree with kirby101 that the Everglades in this comic look much more like the Louisiana bayou. I remember Googling Spanish forts in Florida once in relation to this comic and, sure enough, there are some, but none of them are crumbling ruins, lost in the Everglade swamp wilderness, as the one depicted here is.

Mind you, it's not really any different from Stan/Jack/Steve clearly thinking that plenty of British people lived in castles during the Silver Age.





Ha! Yeah, I hadn't thought about the parallel with the Hulk, but you're right. Good catch.





Peter's confidence with girls – particularly in his civilian guise – is something that will continue to change and improve as the Lee/Ditko run goes on, with our hero finally blossoming into a handsome, confident young man during the Lee/Romita era.

I've said it many times before in the forum, but I've always attributed Peter's transition from an angry, bitter, scrawny 15 and 16-year-old to a more assured, handsome guy of 18 or 19 to the process of growing up. Plenty of guys (myself included) go from being gangly, rake-thin teenagers, who suck with the ladies, to relatively more handsome and confident 18 or 19 year olds with hot girlfriends. I think Peter's change represents a fairly typical male transition from high school teenager to early adulthood.

As for Peter's enhanced confidence when he's wearing the Spider-Man mask, that's simply a byproduct of him taking on another persona (his true persona, perhaps?). Wearing the Spider-Man mask and not having to hide his amazing powers is understandably liberating for him. Peter is finally allowed to be his best self, without being encumbered by any of the insecurities that plague him in his everyday life. It's very much like the cliché of the shy, introverted actor, who suddenly becomes a dramatic powerhouse on stage once the houselights dim and the spotlight hits him.





I'm gonna have to disagree with the above a little bit, I'm afraid. I think this is anything but a typical Spider-Man story of the period.

What makes this issue different to the ones that came before it is that this is very much a tragic tale. I agree that it has the slightly Amazing Fantasy-esque trope of a scientist messing with nature with tragic results, but the difference here is that Curt Connors' motives are mostly altruistic. I mean, sure, the poor guy wants his arm back, of course! But he's very much thinking about the bigger picture and how much he can help mankind if he is able to pull off his experiment with the Lizard serum – and bless him, he nearly does it too (he's already made it work in lower lifeforms like rabbits).

It's doubly cruel that the longer that Connors stays as the Lizard, the less of his human/scientist brain is present: he becomes more savage and animalistic as time goes on. To the point where his brilliant scientific mind is dulled, and he can't gather his thoughts enough to concoct an antidote to change him back into a human. Luckily, Peter easily has the science-smarts to do it for him (another illustration of just what a scientific wunderkind Peter is).

In addition, the dual nature of Curt/the Lizard makes for some great conflict for Spidey, as he tries to defeat the monster, while also trying to protect Connors' family and not harm Connors himself.

So yeah, the combination of Connor's hubris, philanthropy, and tragedy means that this issue is absolutely NOT the usual Spider-Man vs. a superpowered villain fare.


As an aside, something I picked up on when re-reading this comic for this thread is that Connors was a surgeon prior to losing his arm, not a scientist. I can't say I'd ever really noticed that before and had always regarded him as someone who had always been a scientist of some description.





Cool info. I didn't know that.


Overall, this is another really good Spider-Man comic, but it's maybe just a step down from the six issues that have preceded it (including Amazing Fantasy #15).

The story moves briskly along and the scenes set in the Florida swamp are really nicely drawn by Steve Ditko. The tense build-up to the climactic battle with the Lizard in the abandoned Spanish fort, as alligators menacingly crawl around Spidey's feet, is brilliantly handled. Also, the sequence with J. Jonah Jameson hanging from the ceiling of his office, having been webbed up there by Spidey, only to fall before Betty Brant can grab some cushions to put below him is very amusing.