The Lizard and Spiderman: Always Begin together?

The Lizard is one of the earliest Spidey villains, first appearing in Amazing Spider-Man's sixth issue. From a writing standpoint, there are several advantages to using him as the first villain in a series. First of all, he is not the greatest threat to Spider-Man, yet he also is certainly not a villain to be taken lightly. He is sufficiently menacing and also quite intelligent, as his alter ego is the brilliant Dr. Curt Connors. One of the primary hooks of the best Spider-Man stories has always been the conflicts posed by the intersections of Peter's personal life and his superhero life. His run-ins with the Lizard are some of the most interesting examples of this. Spidey cannot simply beat the Lizard to a pulp and turn him over to the authorities. Yes, he is often forced to defeat him in physical confrontations, but Peter, who has always been short on friends and male role models, has a deep admiration for Dr. Connors's work and as time goes on, the two become friends. It is easy to see why. When Dr. Connors is not the Lizard, he is a devoted family man who spends much of his time working on a way to regenerate human limbs. Like Peter, his altered state is the result of a laboratory experiment gone awry. Unlike Peter, the result of his mishap is wholly negative (excepting the regeneration of his lost arm). Ironically, Dr. Connors is more heroic in his personal life than Peter is. However, Peter can be a superhero when he wants and Connors is at times forced to be a villain--all because of chance. Peter realizes the injustice of this. The Lizard is therefore compelling because Peter and audiences, while horrified by him, see him as a tragic figure, a potential hero who has been victimized by his own good intentions. However heated Spidey's battles with the Lizard get, Peter must always be careful to balance the power he exerts over the Lizard with his sense of responsibility to the man within the monster. Power and responsibility are the dual ideals upon which the persona of Spider-Man is based, so a Lizard story is a quick and easy way to remind audiences what is great about Spider-Man, his sense of moral duty and the internal struggles he faces along with all of his external ones. In addition, every Spider-Man story involving the Lizard showcases not only Peter's many superhuman abilities but also his innate scientific prowess. What has drawn so many people to Spider-Man has long been that he is equal parts brawn, brains, and heart, and since his encounters with the Lizard demand that he utilize all of these faculties, the Lizard is one of the best (if not the best) villains with which to begin a Spider-Man series. Todd MacFarlane has spoken about the daunting task of helming his own Spider-Man series when he had no previous writing experience. As we all know, it was ultimately the Lizard who became the focal point of the first issues of his Spider-Man series, inspiring him to write and illustrate one of the best Spider-Man stories ever.

Ha! Good shit @SuperBat77! You've done a little home work.. I'll add that The lizard being the main villain in Rami's (THIRD) installment would/could have been a much better turn out for the franchise. With the loads of money dumped into that piece of crap I'm sure they could have turned out a decent set of scales..