In the November 1971 issues of all Marvel Comics, prices went from $.15 an issue all the way to $.25 an issue, a 67% raise in cover price. For this extra dime, readers received a 35 page story, rather than the 20 or so page story in their favorite mag. The very next month, Marvel "lowered" the cover price to $.20 an issue, but at the smaller sized page count. There was, and still is, much speculation as to why Marvel made these moves many years ago. In the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins Page of November 1971, an "Item" lists that Marvel decided to give the readers an anniversary "surprise" for the ten year anniversary of Fantastic Four #1. Many plans that never took place were planned as well for the following months: Daredevil and Iron Man were to be combined, Astonishing Tales was to feature an Inhumans Tale, a couple of newly planned titles such as Tomb Of Dracula #1, and Marvel Premiere #1, are to have their debuts pushed back. Most importantly was the fact that the switch-over was to the larger quarter issues was to be permanent. Who really knows why the change only lasted one month? DC Comics continued to publish larger and more expensive titles, so maybe that had some influence in the decision. Anyway, these 25 cent issues are lovingly looked back on by many collectors, but they are much more difficult to find in higher grades due to the staple and glue process that bound the comics. Oh yeah, there was also a monumental ending to the classic three-part story began a couple of issues ago!

- Eric

We open this issue with the Lizard and Morbius lunging at Spider-Man who is regaining consciousness. They are both arguing over who will be the one to slay him. Perhaps a recap is in order before I go any further? Roy Thomas thought so too and if it is good enough for Roy than it is good enough for me! After the opening page we are brought up to speed with a flashback of the last two issues. Spider-Man wanted to lose his powers so he drank a serum he had been working on for years. The serum gave him four extra arms instead. He fled to Dr. Connors vacation home to work on another serum to counter act his previous one. Morbius is a human turned vampire who sought refuge in this house. It wasn't long before these two characters discovered each other and began to duke it out. Once good old Curt Connors shows up to see what is going on he is scared and the reaction turns him into the Lizard.

This brings us up to speed and the Lizard lunges onto Morbius who quickly swings him by his tail. Spider-Man is still recovering and notices that Curt is not doing any better as the Lizard than he would as a human himself. Lizard is able to swat Morbius aside however and once again states that Spider-Man is his enemy to kill. Morbius informs the Lizard that he could care less about Spider-Man living or dying and he only desires his blood and perhaps the Lizard's blood as well. Spider-Man is watching the fight and realizing that he is merely a prize for the winner. He wonders who he should help until concluding that he should just let thing be so they can tire themselves out. No sooner is this thought ended than Morbius kicks the Lizard into one of his own frammistats which electrocutes him and puts him out cold. Morbius than proceeds to suck his blood and Spider-Man decides its time to cut in. He kicks Morbius who than flies to a window. Spider-Man tries to stall him so he can regain his strength. He asks about his origin but Morbius sees through this and flies out the window.

Little does Morbius suspect, that Spidey had placed a spider-tracer on his collar before he was completely out of reach. The Lizard regains consciousness but it is the consciousness of Curt Connors. Although he is still in Lizard form he has the mind of Connors now. He notices Spider-Man's six arms and good old Spidey tells him that is why he borrowed the place from him. Suddenly Connors goes through a slight transformation much to the amazement of our hero. He is mostly human and has lost his arm again but he is covered in reptile scales. They conclude that this must have been caused when Morbius took some of his blood. No sooner is the conclusion made when he turns back into the Lizard again. He still has Curt Connors mind however but little hints of the Lizard in his personality and voice. Spider-Man wants to go out looking for Morbius but realizes that it is best to stay with the Lizard in case he turns back into his monster consciousness. Together the two begin working on a cure for both of them. Spider-Man is getting the hang of his new arms which are now becoming an asset but adds that it doesn't mean he is becoming attached to them. Connors is helpless to do anything but give orders because he can't handle machinery or test tubes in Lizard form. After a while the Lizard comes to a conclusion: It wasn't the loss of blood that caused him change but rather whatever Morbius put into his body. Some sort of enzyme acted as a catalyst after entering the Lizards body through the fangs of Morbius.

The two decide they must get this enzyme and mix it with serum which they have already developed. Spider-Man decides its necessary to take the Lizard along in his search for Morbius but reminds himself that the Lizard is like a loaded gun that can fire at any given moment. Meanwhile Morbius is flying through Manhattan and notices the oncoming sunrise. He realizes that he will lose his strength and begin to feel remorse over his actions. He finds shelter in a cellar and begins to sleep hoping he won't have nightmares about his victims. Sleep he does but the dreams don't look like they will be pleasant.

"The Way It Began" is the second chapter that begins with Morbius sleeping, but is haunted with flashbacks of his of origin. His thoughts are of regret of killing a man named Nikos and he wants forgiveness. Finally things begin to clear up and we see the story behind this living vampire. He has not been this way for very long. It was only a few weeks ago that he was a simple scientist named Michael Morbius and his assistant Nikos was telling him that he was wasting his time with the experiments on vampire bats. Mikey won't hear any of this and is convinced that this may even win him the Nobel prize.
Then, a lovely woman named Martine enters the room, Morbius reminds Nikos that not even Martine will hear about the details of these secret experiments. She goes to her boyfriend Michael and moans about being lonely and he informs her that the next phase out the experiment needs to be out at sea. Martine insists that she come too and like most men do, Morbius eventually agrees to the terms of his girlfriend.

At sea Martine is still kept in the dark about the mysterious experiments. Michael has used the last of us Nobel Prize winning money to get a yacht and the best equipment. As Martine leaves Michael and Nikos alone we learn the truth. Michael's experiments are to help him live. His cells are being harmed by a rare disease. One night after leaving Martine, the experiment which will forever change his life takes place. They are going to try and do an electrical shock treatment to create new blood cells. Morbius senses he may only have hours left. Since they were studying vampire bats before, we can assume that is what they are modeling this after. The experiment begins and Nikos is concerned about the side effects. Michael is not looking too good so Nikos aborts this. Morbius is not feeling well and the lights are not helping him. Nikos moves him into a dark room to recuperate. When it appears he is better Nikos lets him out. Nikos notices that Morbius is very white. Before he can complete voicing this observation, Morbius pounces on him and kills him. He realizes what he has done and what he has become. He hopes Martine will comfort him so he looks for her. His thoughts of her soon crossover with his thoughts of hunger. He curses himself for even suggesting a thought. He jumps overboard in a suicide attempt. As he is drowning his animal instincts kick in and encourage him to survive. He comes up for air. Morbius now believes it is silly to end his life instead of feeding on those who are worthless. His next meal comes in the form of an oncoming ship. He swims towards it. We are to assume this is the same ship he jumped last issue. We are now brought up to date so the flashback ends.

We are now brought back to New York. It is not easy to be a bum in the hippey era. An unnamed bum complains that he can't get a nickel with all these hippies begging for quarters. He finds a nice open door in an alley to sleep in not realizing Morbius called it first. He thinks the sleeping vampire is merely a stiff but the bum becomes just that when Morbius wakes up. Our next scene takes us to a news station where employees are answering some crazy calls. People are calling in about a some prowler with extra arms and a phantom with a tail. The station workers dismiss these calls as a bunch of crackpots. We of coarse know what is really going on and it leads us to the stories next chapter.

"The Curse And The Cure!", the third chapter opens with the six armed web slinger looking for Morbius while the Lizard (with Curt Connors brain) is holding onto him as they soar through the air. Spider-Man is worried about the loose cannon on his back and pretty soon the worries justify themselves. The Lizard takes over fully and would rather die than let Spider-Man saves him. Letting go, the Lizard falls through the air until Spider-Man's web saves him. As he is caught the mind of Dr. Connors takes over once again. They realize they better get the enzyme from Morbius before Curt tries to kill Spider-Man. At the same time, Gwen Stacy is at her apartment and finally seems to be coming to her senses. She realizes Peter's behavior does not mean he no longer loves her. Gwen decides to call Aunt May to get details about Peter's "out of town" alibi. When Aunt May know nothing of what Gwen is talking about, she hangs up. There seems to be alot of hanging up in this story arc. Allot of rude phone people. It looked life Gwen was coming to her senses but after he conversation with Aunt May, she goes back to what she does best: crying.

Meanwhile at the offices of the Daily Bugle, Robbie reports to Jonah about the mysterious phantom who is draining blood near the docks. Jameson is a little too distracted to care. Jameson tells Robbie that due to circulation drops, raises and advertisers switching to television, the Daily Bugle may not last much longer. This little subplot is resolved rather quickly and a little too easily next story arc. However this is not the next story arc so that scene ends right there. Morbius is flying through the city and talking to himself. Spider-Man compliments his speech and proceeds to fight Morbius. The extra arms are really an advantage. Spidey begins to realize that perhaps Morbius needs help. As Morbius tries to escape, Spidey calls after him saying he wants to help him. Morbius does not care for there help, especially after the beating they just gave him. Spider-Man catches him with his web as he is flying away. He is whammed against a wall and knocked out cold. They extract the blood from Morbius and put it into the enzyme. It appears to mix properly and the Lizard takes it. He changes back to Dr. Connors. Before Spider-Man can take it, Morbius reveals he is not unconscious, merely regaining his strength. He kicks Spidey and takes the serum from Curt. He flies away Curt recognizes him as Michael Morbius. Spider-Man chases after him saying he knows who he is and only wants to help. He also ponders how he identifies with Morbius.

Morbius is now over the river and Spider-Man has no hopes of following him now. He webs Morbius though and underestimates him momentum. They fight takes to the air as Morbius can't support stay in the air much longer now. Spidey hopes that in the water the advantage will be his. A bridge goes unnoticed by both of them and Morbius collides into it. Spidey lands safely into a garbage scow. He tries to catch Morbius with his web but gets only the enzyme. He figures Morbius is dead. Silly Spider-Man, always check for a corspe! Spider-Man is reunited with Doctor Connors and takes the enzyme. His arms, save his original two, disappear. Spider-Man and Dr. Connors ponder Morbius and the monster in them. They talk about how all men try to conquer inner demons. They theorize that perhaps death is all Morbius really wanted.

I loved the twist on the Lizard story. It was interesting and tense to know that any minute Curt could just turn on Peter. As we all know Morbius did not die at the end of this issue. He would pop his head up a few months later in Marvel Team-Up #3 & # 4 along with his estranged fiancé Martine. Roy is still filling in for Stan and doing quite a good job of it. This is a different kind of Spider-Man story and breaks away from the usual formula. He does it again during the next issue where he takes the Daily Bugle staff to the Savage Land.

Gwen once again is acting quite strangely this issue. Why couldn't the writers figure out how to portray her? Aren't she and Peter supposed to be close? She doesn't appear to trust him too much. Then again, anyone who knows Peter knows that there will always be a secret about him that he can never reveal. Betty Brant explained it best in Amazing Spider-Man #9. Curt Connors precence was nice and he is always a welcome supporting character. We haven't seen him in the mainstream titles (excluding mini-series) since the re-launch. It is nice that Spider-Man has somebody to run to when he needs help. Perhaps one day Petey should reveal his true identity to him. However, too many people know who he is. The Lizard is next seen in Marvel Team-Up #19 & #20, but Connors is seen a couple of issues later in Amazing Spider-Man #106.

The art in this issue is pretty good. As much as I love John Romita, this type of story was more suited for Gil Kane. He draws Aunt May like a corpse though. Kane's darker and gritty style reminds me of when Ditko was on the strip. His style comes in handy next issue where Peter and Gwen go to the Savage Land. Intrigued?

by Julio Barone

Reprinted In:
Marvel Tales #253
Marvel Treasury Edition #14
Marvel Selects #3