janet van dyne – Coke & Comics

Avengers #26

The Voice of the Wasp!

Featuring: Avengers
Release: January 11, 1966
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Incredible script by: Stan Lee
Inconceivable art by: Don Heck
Indescribable inking by: Frank Ray
Indelible lettering by: Artie Simek
20 pages

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Tales to Astonish #80	Reading order	Avengers #27
Avengers #25	Avengers	Avengers #27

He endures so much– to hold the Avengers together! And yet– none can help him! He walks– alone!

A recap. Giant-Man and the Wasp left the Avengers in Avengers #16. Then in Tales to Astonish #69, they agreed it was time to retire from superheroing and work on their relationship. And presumably on Pym’s scientific interests as well. Flash forward to Tales to Astonish #77 and Hank’s experiments involve drilling into the ocean to learn the secrets of life. These experiments are wreaking havoc on Namor’s domain. This leads to conflict. Namor breaks their equipment and then decides to head to New York. In a nonsensical plot decision, Jan decides to become the Wasp once more to race Namor across the ocean to New York. But she’s the size of a wasp, and can presumably fly at about the speed of a wasp. She obviously can’t cross an ocean. But she tries anyway.

Unsurprisingly, we haven’t heard from her since. Surprisingly, we will hear from her again.

I’d like to start thinking about something as we read the next several Avengers comics. At some point very soon, the Fantastic Four are going to fight a massive global threat, one the Avengers probably should have helped them with. The Avengers do not show up to help, which implies the Avengers are busy. So let’s be on the lookout for where the Avengers might be at the time that they don’t notice a very noticeable world-ending threat.

Tales to Astonish #78

The Prince and the Puppet!

Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner
Release: January 4, 1966
Cover: April 1966
12 cents
Blue ribbon story by: Stan Lee
Prize winning pencilling by: Adam Austin
Academy Award winning inking by: Vince Colletta
Booby prize lettering by: Artie Simek
12 pages

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Tales to Astonish #77, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #78, Story B
Tales to Astonish #77, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #78, Story B

Fire! The one element which is alien to me! The one element I fear!

Austin had unmasked as Gene Colan last issue. Not sure why were are back to the pseudonym.

We are into Namor’s second story arc in his new series. Though it will turn out to be less of an arc than a bunch of loose threads. Surface experimentation is threatening Atlantis; Namor resolves to go to the surface to stop it; the earthquakes created unleash the Behemoth; Namor finds Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne–formerly Giant-Man and Goliath–responsible for the testing.

Tales to Astonish #77

To Walk Amongst Men!

Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner
Release: December 2, 1965
Cover: March 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee, writer
Gene Colan, penciller
Vince Colletta, inker
Sam Rosen, letterer
12 pages

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Tales to Astonish #76, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #77, Story B
Tales to Astonish #76, Story B	Tales to Astonish	Tales to Astonish #77, Story B

Supreme is the head that wears the crown! The decision must be Namor’s alone to make! Imperius Rex!

A secret has been revealed! Not to us, because I spoiled it when he first showed up. But this is the first time Gene Colan’s name has shown up in the credits. Yet it’s clearly the same artist as last issue, drawn by “Adam Austin”. So Adam Austin must be Gene Colan!

Just like superheroes have secret identities, artists do too. In this case, it was likely to disguise the fact that he was moonlighting for both DC and Marvel. Some comic artists used pen names so that their lesser comic work wouldn’t get conflated with the great novels or works or art they were one day to create. For many, it may have been to make their names sound less Jewish.

Since Namor got his own series back in issue 70, he’d been on a continuous quest to retake his kingdom from Krang. Last issue was almost a clean ending to that quest, save for the final pages. Namor was now the ruler again, with Lord Vashti his Grand Vizier. But then an earthquake strikes, and Namor suspects atomic tests of the surface world are responsible. He resolves to go to the surface world to sort this.

If Namor is the ruler of Atlantis, why is he Prince Namor? Why not King Namor? The Atlanteans must do it differently.

Vashti sits on Namor’s council and offers the wisdom that the choice of action is Namor’s, as the absolute monarch. Then why even be on the council, Vashti? Namor knows it’s his decision. Advise him!

This next story arc is going to get quite convoluted. The last one was relatively clean. Krang had taken the throne. Namor needed to recover some ancient artifact to reclaim it and followed a series of clues. This story begins with an earthquake and Namor’s plan to go to the surface world to get them to stop the tests. Let’s see where it goes from there.

Tales to Astonish #45

The Terrible Traps of Egghead!

Featuring: Ant-Man and Wasp
Release: April 2, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Don Heck
13 pages

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1.

With the return of Egghead, Ant-Man gets his first recurring villain. We’ve only seen so many recurring villains, with many new (but often forgettable) ones cropping up. Fantastic Four recurring villains so far are: Namor, Dr. Doom and Puppet Master. Thor of course keeps fighting Loki. Human Torch has now fought Paste-Pot Pete twice and Wizard thrice. And I think that’s it. So far, no recurring foes for Spider-Man, Iron Man, or Hulk (unless you count the US military).

They dedicate 2 pages the recapping the last battle with Egghead. At this point, the writers have mostly seemed to pay little attention to details, continuity, or consistency. Yet here they stick pretty close to the actual story in the recap, including some dialogue. Mostly new art and script, but a very close retelling.

Remember that in the 1960s, comics weren’t yet published online. You had to find them at a local vendor, so it was possible to miss an issue. This recap would help keep readers of that era up to speed if this happened.

We now have a new status quo. Ant-Man and Wasp are teammates. She thinks they should date. He is stuffy. They are both eager to battle evil and such. Wasp is sometimes overeager to prove herself. Even though she’s the one who can fly. While he… catapults.

Tales to Astonish #44

The Creature from Kosmos!

Featuring: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release: March 5, 1963
Cover: June 1963
12 cents
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Don Heck
18 pages

This is the first we have seen of H.E. Huntley. It is a pen name for Ernest Huntley Hart, known as Ernie Hart. He is freelancing at this point, and will do only occasional Marvel work in the 1960s, but he was an active Marvel writer and artist going back to the 1940s, perhaps most famous for his funny animal comics. He created Super Rabbit in 1943.

In this issue, meet our next Marvel superhero star, the Wasp. In yet another moment of serendipity, she was introduced the same day as Sgt. Fury!

But we already know why he became Ant-Man…

For the last 7 issues, Ant-Man has starred in solo adventures in the pages of Tales to Astonish. Going forward, he will now have a partner. Wasp will be the second female star added to our cast, after Invisible Girl. Most women we’ve met are relatives or romantic interests. No females are yet lead characters, as Wasp seems to get second billing to Ant-Man. And Invisible Girl is the member of the Fantastic Four given the least focus and respect.