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Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #76

on-sale: Jun 17, 1969
Stan Lee | Jim Mooney

Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #76 cover

Story Name:

The Lizard Lives!


Synopsis

Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #76 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 3.5 stars
Image from Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #76

The Lizard makes his way through the city, the thoughts of Connors’ wife and son nagging at him until they disappear completely. Remembering how their previous encounter went, the Lizard swears his vengeance on Spider-Man! Meanwhile, Spider-Man stashes Martha and Billy Connors away in a hotel, somewhere that the Lizard won’t be able to easily find them. Spidey promises Martha that he won’t harm the Lizard and that he’ll get her husband back safe. Pete heads back home and calls Aunt May to check up on her. He then heads out just as Harry is getting home, making Peter realize how bad of a friend he’s been to Harry, always running out on him.

Peter goes to see Gwen, who asks if all of his unexplained disappearances are due to having found another girl. Peter swears that isn’t the case and admits he wishes he could tell her what his secret is. In the next room, Captain Stacy meets with Robbie regarding Spider-Man, both of them feeling he’s misunderstood. When they see Peter is there, Captain Stacy asks Peter to swing by sometime, thinking Peter may know something about Spider-Man! The next morning, Peter hears on the radio about the Lizard rampaging through the city and heads out to stop him. Spidey follows the trail of destruction and quickly finds the Lizard, or rather, the Lizard finds him!

The two engage in a battle, and Spidey quickly realizes that his promise not to hurt the Lizard may have been moot! Spidey realizes he can’t really hurt the Lizard even if he tried, with the Lizard having the clear upper hand. Lizard slams Spidey into a chimney, stunning him, and the Lizard presses his attack. The Lizard decides not to finish off the barely conscious Spider-Man and makes to leave. Spidey goads the Lizard back, to keep him focused on himself, and intentionally lets the Lizard drop him off the roof, to make Lizard think he’s beaten him. Spidey plans to swing into the building to recuperate and let the Lizard come to him, when his plans are dashed by the sudden arrival of the Human Torch! The Torch catches Spidey and places him back on the roof, and Spidey realizes that Torch won’t hold back against the Lizard, and there’s nothing Spidey can do about it! To be continued!


Characters
Good (or All)
CAPSTACY
GSTACY
HARRYOS
TORCH2
AUNTMAY
ROBBIEROBERTSON
SPIDERMAN
Plus: Billy Connors, Martha Connors.

Enemies
LIZARD

> Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) comic book info and issue index



This comic is in the following collection:
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Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #68-85 and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL (1964) #5.
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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Jim Mooney
Jim Mooney
Unknown
John Romita (Cover Penciler)
John Romita (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Plot: . Layouts: John Buscema. Letterer: Sam Rosen.



Review / Commentaries


Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #76 Review by (March 19, 2025)

Review: The Lizard returns, and Spidey faces the usual problem of trying to stop him without really hurting him, knowing there’s a good man inside there. Spidey even promises Connors’ wife as much after dropping her and Billy off at a hotel (in a cab, no less! That would have made an amusing visual, too bad we only saw the aftermath!) Most of the issue involves a fight between Spidey and Lizard that feels less dynamic than usual. That could be due to John Buscema providing the layouts. While they’re definitely not bad (he was the “standard Marvel artist” at one time), they don’t feel as crisp as Romita’s and they don’t compliment Jim Mooney’s art quite as well either.

The rest of the issue involves the usual worries Peter seems to go through every issue, mostly regarding his relationships, making this issue feel rather generic. There is a weird writing tidbit when Lizard decides not to finish off Spider-Man for some reason. So…Lizard essentially beats Spidey, so Spidey goads him back to make Lizard think he’s beaten Spidey, again, so that Spidey can slip away and surprise the Lizard when he comes looking for him. What? Why not just let him go in the first place and surprise him when Spidey’s gotten his second wind? Especially as there’s no guarantee Lizard would come look for him anyway and there wouldn’t be much time for any actual recuperation. I can understand what they were going for, but it still doesn’t make much sense. Human Torch also randomly shows up at the end, meaning Spidey may have to end up protecting Lizard from Human Torch!

Comments: At one point, Spidey compares his popularity to that of Mao T’se-Tung, who was the head of the Chinese Communist Party at the time.





Thor

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