Featuring: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release: July 2, 1963
Cover: October 1963
12 cents
Story plot: Stan Lee
Script: H.E. Huntley
Art: Don Heck
13 pages
Something of an odd cover. It makes no attempt to showcase the Porcupine’s powers. Instead, it just has Porcupine standing in his own panel while the main cover focuses on Ant-Man drowning in a bath tub. Drowning in a bathtub is indeed a scene from this issue. Were it not, I would wonder if they just took any old Ant-Man cover they had and inserted that image of the Porcupine. Either way, spectacularly unimpressive work by Jack Kirby.
This issue has two “weird tale” backups. Grayson’s Gorilla by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. And “The Little Green Man” by Lee and Ditko. The era of these little sci/fi shorts is fast coming to an end.
In her very first issue, they tried to motivate Wasp’s character around her father’s death and a passion for justice. We’ve seen no real hints of that since. Her character has since been dominated entirely by swooning over random men, when not trying to convince Hank Pym to settle down with her.
As a side note, she does call Ant-Man “Hank” in both this issue and the last one. I think she’s the only one to call him that. He’d always been “Henry” before.
This issue features one of my least favorite superhero story tropes: the hero in their secret identity happens to be where the villain strikes. It’s so overused for such an unlikely occurrence. I realize there’s only so many ways to bring the hero and villain into contact. One is to have the hero actively patrol for trouble; Spider-Man swings around the city and Ant-Man’s ants patrol it for him. Another is to hear about a crime on the news and decide to investigate. They could also get a call from authorities requesting help. The villain could track down or lure the hero. Or, the hero stumbles upon the crime. This stumbling happening on occasion is fine. But it’s overdone.
I think this is only the third such incident in our reading. Johnny had also been at a bank when Paste-Pot Pete attacked. And Sandman showed up at Spider-Man’s high school. But there have been many more and will be many more in other superhero comics.
Here, Porcupine attacks a bank when Ant-Man and Wasp are attending the grand opening ceremony. Dr. Pym had developed the security system, despite being a biologist. Another example of a Marvel scientist.
The Porcupine is a cool villain design and concept. He kind of looks like a porcupine, but each of his quills has a different ability. Liquid cement, tear gas, etc. He’ll become a moderately significant villain in the years to come, also battling the X-Men and Iron Man. I actually mostly think of him as a Captain America foe, as that will become his most common nemesis.
Ant-Man is almost defeated by a bathtub. We add this to the list of things that almost defeated Ant-Man, alongside a vacuum cleaner and sticky paper. This is also an example of the trope that would be popularized by the 1966 Batman TV series, where the villain leaves the hero in a death trap, without sticking around to make sure he doesn’t escape. In this case, Porcupine also left Ant-Man’s equipment nearby.
Let’s talk about the shared universe for a moment. It’s an odd beast. It opens up possibilities for incredible stories, but can complicate simpler stories that would prefer to ignore it. This issue ignores the wider universe. Ant-Man and Wasp just joined the Avengers. You would think that would be a big subject of conversation, or that they’d at least mention it when they encountered Porcupine. It’s fine that they didn’t, but it’s noticeable. What is odd is that Porcupine comments that Ant-Man and Wasp are likely to pursue him. He says this before encountering them. It’s as though he knows what series he is in. He not only expects a superhero to come after him, but he guesses which one. And guesses correctly. He describes it as “certain” it will be Ant-Man and Wasp, and not Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, or Hulk. Admittedly, some of those heroes are less likely than others.
Rating: ★★½, 47/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 1. You can also find it in Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection vol. 1: The Man in the Ant Hill. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Dr. Henry Pym/Ant-Man
- Janet van Dyne/Wasp
- Alex Gentry/Porcupine
- Alf (the dog)
Story notes:
- Porcupine costume includes gas mask; quills loaded with gas, stun-pellets, ammonia, liquid fire, fog pellets, tear gas, liquid cement, hypnotic wheels, phosphorescent pellets and some detector mine tubes.
- Dr. Pym invented anti-burglar devices for a new bank.
- Wasp gets sick.
#101 story in reading order
Next: Tales of Suspense #46
Previous: Avengers #1
