Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: April 2, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Brilliantly written by good ol’ Stan Lee
Bashfully drawn by loveable ol’ Dick Ayers
Boldly inked by faithful ol’ Paul Reinman
Bravely lettered by fearless ol’ S. Rosen
16 pages
We’re throwing two issues of Tales to Astonish together because the Avengers’ series only leaves so much space for Giant-Man/Wasp adventures and because Wasp’s hairdo is difficult to reconcile with Avengers continuity.
Last issue, Hank was ready to propose. He’d even bought a ring. But then he got insecure and doubted that Wasp really loved him. By the end of the issue, he seemed more confident in Jan’s love. But I still don’t see a ring on her finger and there’s no mention of it this issue.
Wasp gets a new addition to her arsenal: a stinger. It’s a compressed air gun. She’d previously had a weapon she referred to as a stinger, but it was just a pin she held. In issue 46, they refer to it as though it’s a regular part of the arsenal. She’d picked up a pin the previous issue. In the backup story of this issue, which takes place before this story, she’ll also pick up a random pin and refer to it as her sting.
This is the third appearance of Egghead as a villain. Porcupine and Human Top have been the other recurring villains in these pages so far.
Egghead thinks of Giant-Man as his enemy, but he’d only ever fought Ant-Man before. I think it’s pretty obvious Giant-Man and Ant-Man are one and the same, but it seems to be a secret anyway. Egghead seems to have sussed it out. As has Giant-Man’s fan club.
The main plot of the issue is that Spider-Man meets Giant-Man and Wasp for the first time. As heroes are wont to do, they fight. Because they’ve been manipulated by Egghead.
However, there is also animosity between Wasp and Spider-Man because wasps and spiders are “natural enemies” (a phrase they repeat twice). Everybody, including Hank, takes it for granted that there would be hostile instincts between them. This will get brought up basically every time the two meet.
Ayers and Reinman turn in a decent Spider-Man. In general, I’m suspicious of anybody but Ditko drawing him, but Ayers does all right. Better than Kirby tends to do on the character, actually.
Rating: ★★½, 46/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
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/Hank Pym
- Wasp/Jan van Dyne
- Egghead
- Spider-Man
Story notes:
- Cary Grant reference.
- Wasp gets stinger: a compressed air gun; made of unstable molecules; stinger has limited number of charges.
- Egghead can communicate with ants. Editor’s note points to issue 45, but he actually invented that back in issue 38.
- Egghead convinces ants that Spider-Man is after Giant-Man.
- Narrator notes her wings appear when she becomes wasp-size. They are also sometimes around when she is grown.
- Hank’s ring rig stretches a few blocks.
- The Spider-Man/Giant-Man battle distracts police while Egghead commits a crime.
- Egghead shocked that Giant-Man shows up.
- Wasp feels hostile toward Spider-Man because wasps and spiders are natural enemies. Spider-Man also feels hostile. Giant-Man thinks it’s obvious that would happen.
#184 story in reading order
Next: Tales to Astonish #57, Story B
Previous: Tales to Astonish #56, Story B
