Tales to Astonish #54

Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: January 3, 1964
Cover: April 1964
12 cents
Daringly written by: Stan Lee
Dramatically drawn by: Don Heck
Deftly lettered by: Art Simek
13 pages

The placement of this story is tricky. Where we have it, Hulk and Namor are still on the loose, so this is no time for Wasp to be talking about a vacation. Doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be. Hank does note they don’t have time for a vacation. I choose to treat this as a veiled reference to the whole Hulk/Namor situation, whether intended or not.

On the subject of chronological concerns, notice Giant-Man is in his older outfit, last seen in issue 51. This indicates to me that he alternates between the outfits. In reality, the outfit seems to correspond to the artist. Ayers drew the issues with the thick suspenders. Kirby and Heck seem to be drawing Giant-Man with the lighter stripes. They will all eventually converge on thicker suspenders.

We see some pretty rough play between Giant-Man and Wasp. It seems to be all in good fun, but may be early warnings of an abusive relationship forming.

The Giant-Man fan club visits. Not sure how Wasp should feel about that.

Santo Rico is a Democratic Republic who elected a Communist-supported candidate. Giant-Man seems concerned by this, and he talks a lot about why Santo Rico decided to stop being democratic.

But if they elected this individual, they are democratic. Unless the elections were somehow rigged of course. Which turns out to be the case. But Giant-Man seems pretty opposed to the new president before knowing this with any certainty. Which makes one wonder exactly what these superheroes stand for.

Those evil Soviets. The United States would certainly never prop up a puppet government in a foreign country.

Once proof of Russian interference is discovered by the citizens of Santo Rico, they immediately call for the removal of the president. What an idealized world this is.

Giant-Man is asked to act as a spy for the U.S. government. Giant-Man seems a poor choice for a spy, but as Ant-Man he could be ideal. However, he is in the country all of 2 minutes before changing to Giant-Man.

Wait. What just happened? Why is it okay to give Jan his contraband? Probably the same mentality that makes her the guinea pig for his experiments. He’d rather risk her life than his own.

Bull horns really not a practical weapon for a man. El Toro is a pretty lame super-villain. He lands all of one blow on Giant-Man over the course of the issue. A single stab to the buttocks.

“How can a 12-foot man hide himself?” Good question. Why send Giant-Man on an intelligence gathering mission?

Giant-Man is a clumsy oaf. He’s basically a buffoon.

Apparently, Hank’s plan to put all the contraband in Jan’s purse was solid. Even after being taken prisoner, Jan’s bag wasn’t confiscated or even searched. She still has all their pills.

An era is coming to an end. For the beginning of its run, Tales to Astonish was devoted to weird tales. Horror, fantasy, science fiction. Then Ant-Man came along with issue 35 and started hogging the main feature, still leaving room for weird tale backups. Lately, they’ve started packaging some of those weird tales within Wasp’s stories, allowing her to narrate them.

So the format of the series for a few issues has been the main Giant-Man/Wasp story, a weird tale, a weird prose story reprinted from an older prose story, and a story of Wasp telling a weird tale.

This is the final issue with a standalone weird tale. Wasp’s weird tales will continue for 2 more issues, before transitioning into actual adventures for the Wasp (which last 2 issues). The reprinted prose stories will continue for 3 more issues. We also get 2 more months of weird tales in Journey Into Mystery and Tales of Suspense. And then that’s it. Science fiction and fantasy stories will be replaced completely by superhero stories within Marvel Comics.

Also: Math.

Rating: ★½, 26/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆

Lame villain. Clutzy hero. Dumb plot contrivances. Uninspired anticommunist propaganda.

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man vol. 2.

You can find the story in Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection vol. 1: The Man in the Ant Hill. Or on Kindle.

Characters:

• Giant-Man/Ant-Man/Hank Pym
• Wasp
• El Toro

Story notes:

• Hank listens to Huntley-Brinkley Report.
• Giant-Man wonders why Santo Rico would elect a red.
• Wasp wants to plan a vacation with Hank.
• Giant-Man and Wasp called to Washington.
• US government suspects Santo Rico election somehow rigged.
• Hank and Jan leave the same day they receive the summons.
• A woman hates El Toro and calls him a tyrant, but she is too afraid of him to not report Giant-Man.
• Issue takes place over course of 2 days.

#162 story in reading order
Next: Tales to Astonish #54, Story C
Previous: Sgt. Fury #6