The Amazing Spider-Man#6

The Amazing Spider-Man #6

Nov 1963 · Marvel

📊 ~93,564 copies sold its debut month

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★ 1st appearance — Lizard

About this Issue

The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963) is the debut of Dr. Curt Connors, the Lizard — one of the most enduring and emotionally resonant villains in Spider-Man's rogues' gallery, and the sixth issue of the series had already introduced a major new antagonist in five consecutive prior issues, signaling an extraordinary creative streak by the Lee-Ditko partnership. What distinguishes the Lizard from earlier Spider-Man foes is the deliberate tragic dimension baked into his origin: Connors is a fundamentally decent man, a one-armed veteran who only transforms himself into a reptilian monster while trying to help others regrow lost limbs. That sympathy gap between the man and the creature gave Spider-Man a recurring foil who doubled as a supporting ally, an unusual duality that writers have returned to across sixty-plus years of publication. The issue also deepened the Daily Bugle's narrative role, with J. Jonah Jameson exploiting the Lizard crisis as a circulation stunt — a story beat that cemented the paper and its editor as structural fixtures of Peter Parker's world.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $528

CGC 9.8 $88,182*

CGC 9.6 $22,200

CGC 9.4 $12,417

CGC 9.2 $8,602

CGC 9.0 $6,200

CGC 8.5 $3,645

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 $3,066

CGC 7.5 $2,357

CGC 7.0 $2,008

CGC 6.5 $1,690

CGC 6.0 $1,492

CGC 5.5 $1,163

CGC 5.0 $1,053

CGC 4.5 $819

CGC 4.0 $784

CGC 3.5 $661

CGC 3.0 $597

CGC 2.5 $524*

CGC 2.0 $443

CGC 1.5 $313

CGC 1.0 $274

CGC 0.5 $245*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The issue was produced under the Marvel Method, meaning Stan Lee provided a loose plot outline and Steve Ditko — who handled both pencils and inks — broke down and drew the story before Lee scripted dialogue over the finished pages; lettering was by Art Simek and colors by Stan Goldberg. It arrived on newsstands with a cover date of November 1963, part of the same fertile early run in which Lee and Ditko were simultaneously co-creating Doctor Strange and building virtually the entire Spider-Man supporting cast from scratch. Ditko himself later recalled that the ongoing Amazing Spider-Man title had no master blueprint and that new characters and concepts were introduced in a 'free-wheeling' manner as the two collaborators felt their way toward what the series could become — making the Lizard's confident, fully-formed origin story all the more remarkable as an improvisational achievement.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance and full origin of the Lizard (Dr. Curtis 'Curt' Connors), who lost his right arm in military service and used experimental reptilian-DNA serum to regrow it, transforming himself into a humanoid monster in the process.
First appearance of Martha Connors (Curt's wife) and Billy Connors (Curt's son), both of whom became recurring supporting characters in the Spider-Man mythos.
Written by Stan Lee, penciled and inked by Steve Ditko, lettered by Art Simek, colored by Stan Goldberg; Ditko also drew the cover.
Published with a cover date of November 1963 and a cover price of 12 cents; the story's title is 'Face-to-Face With...the Lizard!'
The issue is the sixth in a consecutive streak in which every new villain introduced — Vulture, Chameleon, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Doctor Doom (as a crossover), and now the Lizard — went on to become a mainstay of Spider-Man's world.
The Lizard's in-story origin established that Connors lost his arm in wartime combat; later editors have treated this as a topical, sliding-timescale reference to be updated for contemporary readers.
The story was reprinted as early as Marvel Tales #3 (July 1966) and again in Marvel Tales #143 (September 1982), as well as in the first Marvel Masterworks Spider-Man volume (1987), Essential Spider-Man Vol. 1 (1996, black-and-white), The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 (2007), and the Taschen Marvel Comics Library: Spider-Man 1962–1964 (2021), among numerous international editions.
The character debuted on film as Dr. Curt Connors (without transforming) in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 (2004, portrayed by Dylan Baker), and fully as the Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012, portrayed by Rhys Ifans), with Ifans reprising the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).