Avengers #28

Featuring: Avengers
Release: March 10, 1966
Cover: May 1966
12 cents
Brilliantly conceived by: Stan Lee, writer
Cleverly perpetrated by Don Heck, penciller
Daringly executed by: Frankie Ray, inker
Stoically buried by: Artie Simek, letterer
20 pages

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Goliath! I like the sound of that! That’s what I’ll call myself from now on– Goliath!!

Today… Hank Pym will be infamous for having taken on too many superhero identities… but this isn’t new. This was a pretty early feature of the character. In under 5 years, he’s on 3, and sort of 4, identities.

When we met him, he wasn’t a superhero at all, just a scientist named Dr. Henry Pym. A year or so later he jumped on the superhero bandwagon as Ant-Man. Another year down and Lee decided the public wanted more powerful superheroes, so Ant-Man became Giant-Man. Those changes all somewhat made sense. But now… he’s no longer Giant-Man… he’s Goliath. That change seems gratutitous.

With the new name comes a new status quo. But he’s had a lot of status quos already. We attempted to recount in the final issue of his ongoing series, Tales to Astonish #69. The rules just keep changing. He drinks a liquid or takes a pill or uses his mind. And he can only chage size every so often or hold the new size for so often or…

Anyways, now he can grow to 25 feet and only 25 feet and remain that way for exactly 15 minutes, no more, no less.

We’ve met one other Goliath, the biblical one, in Avengers #10.

How does he get the new name anyway? It’s a bit weird. We basically learn it’s happening from the cover and title.

We are getting ahead of ourselves. The story begins with Hank Pym contacting the Avengers to help him find the Wasp. We’d last seen her attempting to escape from Attuma. Of course, they don’t know who Dr. Pym is. Because of secret identites.

Now, as secret identities go… Wasp’s costume often didn’t cover her face… she often called Giant-Man Henry or Hank in the presence of others… Giant-Man’s lab was a well known location where his fan club hung out… the kids Jan read sci/stories to knew she was the Wasp… Hank sometimes did experiments in his own house and one day he accidentally turned giant and came bursting out of his house…

I feel like somebody clever could have deduced this secret. But the Avengers didn’t. Or at least say they didn’t. “I’d never have guessed he was Henry Pym!” says Cap. But Cap seems to have taken it as sensible that Wasp would have returned to Pym.

We get a cool new villain, the Collector. Turns out Beetle was working for him. His plan is to collect the Avengers. He has captured the Wasp.

His arsenal will be an assortment of legendary items, like a magic carpet, or the magic beans of Jack’s. He has some similarity to Immortus, whose power was to draw characters of legend from time to battle the Avengers. Collector has legendary items to use against the Avengers.

Beetle has not before been a henchman for another villain, and only is now because of an obedience potion.

I don’t know enough about the state of superhero fandom at the time to know if Stan was poking fun at the fans. Soon enough, it would be easy to see the Collector as a play on the obsessive comic fan trying too collect all the issues of their favorite superhero comic. Was this common enough in 1966 for Stan to be aware of it? I would guess so. But it was hard before the internet and before comic stores and comic conventions. These very comics often have ads for people looking to buy comics, and indicate comic book price guides are available. So those collectors are out there. Are they as obsessive completists as this super-villain?

Pym notes it’s been so long since he’s changed size. It really shouldn’t have been that long.

Pym had realized size-changing so often was dangerous, that the strain may prove fatal. He can now only attain one height–25 feet. He dares not vary. He must remain at 25 feet for exactly 15 minutes. He can’t change any sooner or later. But how does he know this if he hasn’t been size-changing recently?

Wanda has a new costume for him he’d made just in case he returned. We’ll let it slide that it was taken for granted the one woman on the team would sew the costumes. In fairness, Spider-Man does his own sewing.

Giant-Man’s nervous system is now so conditioned that he can execute size-change by mental command. He needs only will himself to grow. At first nothing is happening. We’ll ignore any perceived innuendos.

Captain America now dubs Pym Goliath. But he’s already been Ant-Man and Giant-Man! Why? Hopefully this will be his last identity. (It won’t be. Second to last identity? Nope.)

Captain America says, “You’re a real Goliath!” and Pym responds he likes the sound of that, that Giant-Man always sounded corny to him. So that’s his new superhero name. I guess Stan just didn’t like the name Giant-Man.

Hawkeye is displeased that Pym is back. He assumed he’d take over the Avengers when Cap retired soon, but now Goliath will likely be the leader. Why does Hawkeye think Cap is about to retire? Almost 60 years after this comic, Cap still hasn’t retired. Neither has anybody. Even if Cap hadn’t been frozen, he’d only be mid-40s now, same as Reed and Ben. Since he was frozen, he’s effectively like 27 years old.

The Collector has a castle. Is it in America? Is this another castle in America? And are they all owned by super-villains?

The Avengers end up captives of the Collector. I will note the “mighty” Avengers sure end up as captives a lot.

When Hawkeye notes how strong Goliath is, Quicksilver responds: “Why else would his name be legend?!!” What name? The one he adopted an hour ago on a whim. How can that be legend? Or do you just think it’s a cool name because of the biblical Goliath. The one famous for getting beaten by a kid with a slingshot.

Here’s that thing again. I refuse to accept a world where the Beetle is any threat to Cap. But Cap is so impressed by this foe. “He’s extending his suction-tipped fingers again!” gasps Cap.

“Size alone is useless against such an attack”, thinks Goliath when faced with Collector’s crystal ball. It’s useless against many types of attack. And against low ceilings.

Collector’s magic beans summon giants. Goliath battles them and refers to one as a skinhead. I think the phrase has a different connotation today.

Scarlet Witch is shocked to see Wasp without a mask. But her costume often didn’t include any face covering. Jan reveals her true identity to the Avengers.

Remember Hank could only be giant for 15 minutes? Well, he exceeded that time limit and has collapsed trying to change back to normal. He got down from 25 to 10 feet before collapsing.

Assuming Goliath isn’t dead, is he now an Avenger again? Is Wasp Back? There’s already a saying. “Once an Avenger…”

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Collector is played by Benicio del Toro.

Rating: ★★½, 49/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

I refuse to consider Hank getting yet another name significant. But I do consider the Collector a significant villain intro. Enough for 4 stars.

I read this story in The Avengers Epic Collection vol. 2: Once an Avenger.

Characters:

• Hawkeye
• Quicksilver/Pietro
• Scarlet Witch
• Captain America
• Henry Pym/Giant-Man/Goliath
• Wasp/Janet Van Dyne
• Collector
• Beetle

Story notes:

• Henry Pym contacts the Avengers to help him find Wasp. They don’t know who Pym is.
• Pym knows Wasp escaped Attuma.
• Giant-Man reveals identity and asks them to pick him up in rocket-jet air car and take him to Avengers HQ.
• Hawkeye remains insubordinate.
• Wasp a prisoner of the Collector!
• Collector has collected Beetle and he works for Collector now. Collector wants the Avengers; Wasp will be bait.
• Captain America refers to Pym as Goliath and Pym adopts it as his name.
• Hawkeye displeased that Giant-Man (Goliath) has returned, as he thought he would take over as leader when Cap retired, but now an actual founder is back.
• Collector has castle hidden in mountain.
• Hawkeye being particularly insubordinate.
• Hank thinks Cap has taken to leadership as though born for it.
• Collector’s gas defeats Avengers.
• Collector needs both Wasp and Giant-Man to complete his set.
• Collector’s cape made from a piece of flying carpet from Persia he collected.
• Goliath can’t follow because he’s stuck in giant form for 15 minutes and the ceilings are low.
• Goliath repeatedly comments on Cap’s leadership.
• Bettle seeks antidote for Colletor’s obedience potion.
• Cap recognizes Beetle.
• Cap and Hawkeye perform Maneuver Nine; where Hawkeye fires an arrow into a wall for Cap to latch onto while falling. Despite their bickering, they can work together as a team.
• Wanda’s hex power makes Beetle unable to drop the stone.
• Cap notes Beetle’s extendable fingers must be hydraulically operated.
• Collector has collected weapons from all the ages: acrystal ball taken from ancient Tibetan monastery that can hurl mystic rays; the beans which inspired legend of Jack and the Beanstalk, able to summon two giants.
• Collector holds Wasp shrunken in a cylinder.
• Collector has a time machine, a temporal assimilator, which till take him and Beetle to Else-Time.
• Battle took longer than 15 minutes, so Hank only shrinks to 10 feet, then passes out. It’s possible he’ll be stuck in that size… forever!

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