Trapped by the Protecter!/Face-to-face with the Protecter!
Release: August 2, 1962
Cover: November 1962
12 cents
Writers: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Penciler: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
13 pages
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1. I took the credits above from the collection. I see no credits within the story itself.
In his first outing, a difficulty Ant-Man had was that nobody could hear him in ant-size. They haven’t specifically addressed how he overcame that, but he clearly has. Perhaps speakers are built into his helmet.
Again, we see Ant-Man as the most active superhero, using his ants to patrol so he can find his way to crime scenes and help investigate. This will become an increasingly common practice for people in this world, but nobody else is really doing it yet.
As part of a trap, Henry Pym rents a jewelry store. That doesn’t sound cheap, suggesting a certain affluence on Dr. Pym’s part. It seems like it would have been easier to have his ants stake out other jewelry stores.
This story introduces the evil Protecter, who is extorting jewelers by threatening to destroy their merchandise with a disintegrating ray. The story has a lot of beat similarity to the Human Torch tale we recently read. There is a villain, and it ends with an unmasking of the villain, who turns out to be the only other character the story bothered to name. We also learn other secrets of the villain, like in this case he didn’t really have a disintegrating ray. He just created a flash and quickly (and entirely implausibly) gathered up gems and sprinkled sand. (How long is that flash? This is a guy in a big mechanized suit– how fast is he?)
Again, the story struggles with the fact that Ant-Man’s powers are a bit lame. Everybody talks about what a great hero he is and villains seem to fear him. But he is again nearly defeated by very simple things– in this case, a vacuum cleaner. And, again, they need to be clever to have him defeat anybody. Last story, he tied up the villain’s shoes. Now, he uses a fan to blow dust in their face. This just isn’t quite Superman they’re up against.
By far, the most exciting thing for me in this issue is the ad on the final page. We’re 24 stories into what I’ve been describing as a shared universe. But there’s no real evidence of that shared universe, as none of the titles have had any crossover. So why am I picking out the titles I’m picking? I’m not reading all Marvel comics. I’m ignoring western comics like Kid Colt, Outlaw and Two-Gun Kid. I’m ignoring the “girl” comics like Kathy, Millie the Model, Linda Carter Student Nurse, and Patsy Walker. (Side note: Two-Gun Kid, Linda Carter and Patsy Walker will all end up interacting with our superheroes… so perhaps I should be reading their stories). I’ve also been ignoring the other anthology stories in these titles. So this little ad describing their super hero titles is the first tangible connection between this subgroup of Marvel characters: Ant-Man, Thor, Human Torch, Fantastic Four, and Incredible Hulk. I think they’d have put Spider-Man there had his comic not been cancelled.
Excitingly, this story also concludes our first year. We’ve been at this blog almost 2 months and covered a year of Marvel stories over 24 issues, meeting a lot of characters along the way. (Check out: Our Cast So Far) But they are just getting warmed up. The next year of Marvel stories will introduce even more of our favorite heroes and villains.
Rating: ★★½, 42/100
Significance: ★☆☆☆☆
Generally good art and generally engaging, but can’t escape the feeling that the villain is lame, and that the hero may be as well.
Characters:
- Gerald Marsh/Protecter
- Henry Pym/Ant-Man
Story notes:
- First robbery at 523 Elm Street; next at 600 Harley Avenue; neither of these are real streets in Manhattan. The comic hasn’t made it clear where Ant-Man is based. Always refers to “the city”.
- Ant-Man uses his headquarters set-up we saw last issue. The catapult that hurls him to crime scenes and the tiny elevator which gets him inside.
- Marsh recognizes Ant-Man immediately; Ant-Man is quite famous
- Has ants listen for key words: “Protecter” and “disintegrating ray”
- Ants able to assemble words
- Ads for other heroes, “Amazing super heroes”
#24 story in reading order
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