The Mac Gargan version was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Gargan first appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #19 (December 1964) and first appeared as the Scorpion in "Amazing Spider-Man" #20 (January 1965). Years later, he became the third incarnation of Venom in "Marvel Knights: Spider-Man" #10 (March 2005) and impersonated Spider-Man in "Dark Avengers" #1 (March 2009). Mac Gargan appeared in the character's first own four-issue limited series, "Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man". The comic was released in June 2009 and was written by Brian Reed, with art by Chris Bachalo. Writer Dan Slott has stated that Mac Gargan will return as the original Scorpion, in an upcoming arc of "The Amazing Spider-Man".