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The Lizard Collection contains 56 issues of The Avengers, going all the way back to #2. Here’s one of the earliest issues, #10, published in November 1964, with a cover by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.

Super-hero groups like the Avengers were always arguing and bickering and fighting among themselves, and in issue #10 it got so bad they broke up — but of course, they got over it in time for issue #11.

Our copy’s in good condition; not mint, unfortunately, but even with a little wear and tear this is still a pretty valuable book — worth a lot more than the 12 cents I paid for it in 1964.

Tonight’s cover image from the Lizard Collection is a pretty rare issue, in excellent condition with white pages and bright inks: the Amazing Spider-Man #36, published in May 1966. This was the first appearance of the recurring mad scientist character called “The Looter” (aka “Meteor Man”), and has a great abstract cover illustration by Steve Ditko.

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And here’s a bonus; I gingerly opened the front cover without stressing or folding it, to get a shot of this fantastic old advertisement for novelty gags, featuring the infamous X-Ray Spex and the ever-popular Whoopee Cushion (“It’s a roar!”).

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The Whoopee Cushion deserves a closeup:

Tonight’s classic cover image from the Silver Age of Marvel Comics: issue #68 of The Amazing Spider-Man, published in January 1969. Among collectors this is considered an important issue, because it marked the beginning of the complex, long-running storyline of the “Petrified Tablet,” an ancient stone tablet that grants its owner superhuman powers.

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The Green Lantern movie is coming out next year, and that’s all the excuse I need to post another comic book cover from the Lizard Collection: Green Lantern #55, published in September 1967. Our copy is in excellent condition with minor spine stresses, sharp corners, and bright inks; it isn’t the most valuable book in the collection, but it’s worth a lot more than the original 12 cents.

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The back cover’s pretty cool too; I actually built this model kit, once upon a time in a land far, far away.

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And here’s the trailer for the film:

The Amazing Spider-Man #64 was published in September 1968, and featured a beautifully detailed cover illustration by John Romita. (Is that a Volkswagen just behind Spidey’s right foot?)

The Lizard Collection’s copy is in near-mint (to mint) condition; the paper is so bright and the ink so unfaded, it looks and feels almost like a brand new comic book.

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Published in December 1966, tonight’s cover image from the Lizard Collection is issue #57 of Fantastic Four, another classic Stan Lee-Jack Kirby work from the Silver Age of Marvel.

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Here’s another amazingly well-preserved comic book from the Lizard Collection: Spider-Man #62, published in July 1968. Our copy is in near mint condition, with unfaded inks and white pages, and a beautiful cover by the great John Romita Sr.

(I guess Aunt May never told Spidey he shouldn’t get a redhead mad at him.)

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(Camera: Nikon D90 with 18-105mm Nikkor zoom lens and polarizing filter.)

Tonight’s cover image from the Lizard Collection: a “very fine” to “near mint” copy of Captain Marvel #1, originally published in May 1968. Wikipedia has some interesting details on the unique history of this book: Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics).

Following a trial in which DC Comics sued Fawcett Comics for breach of copyright, the latter stopped publishing Captain Marvel. In the late sixties Marvel gained the trademark “Captain Marvel” with their first series, forcing DC to call their Captain Marvel comic book Shazam!, but to retain the trademark Marvel had to publish a Captain Marvel title every year or two since leading to a number of ongoing series, limited series and one-shots featuring a range of characters using the Captain Marvel alias.

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Tonight’s near-mint condition cover from the Lizard Collection: issue #102 of the new Captain America series, which began with issue #100. It’s especially relevant in light of the many sleepers we have seen awaken at LGF since the “Ground Zero Mosque” nontroversy began.

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Tonight’s action-packed cover from the Lizard Collection: issue #2 of Jim Steranko’s Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., published in July 1968 with the low-key title “So Shall Ye Reap Death!” Steranko wrote the script, drew the pencil artwork, and according to some sources did much of the inking as well.

There’s a synopsis of the story at the Marvel Comics Database.

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The back cover is another classic: an advertisement for 132 Roman soldiers for only a buck ninety-eight. 2 Complete Roman Armies!

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