Featuring: Giant-Man and Wasp
Release: November 3, 1964
Cover: February 1965
12 cents
Edited by smilin’ Stan Lee
Written by laughin’ Leon Lazarus
Pencilled by capricious Carl Burgos
Inked by peerless Paul Reinman
Lettered by sparkling Sam Rosen
12 pages
| Previous | #296 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #9 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #14 |
| Tales to Astonish #63, Story B | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #64, Story B |
You’re correct, reader, that we have not finished Tales to Astonish #63 yet. We will get there. Hulk is involved in one big story, while Giant-Man and Wasp have shorter adventures which take place weaved around their Avengers adventures. It’s a tricky thing to negotiate. We’re not going to finish this comic right now either. We’ll come back to the Hulk story another day.
We get something new here. Leon Lazarus is not a name we’ve seen before. It honestly sounds a little made up. An alliterative name like that often turns out to be an alias in these stories. Especially with a biblical last name like Lazarus, a word common in superhero stories to describe effects that raise the dead (e.g. the Lazarus Pit used by Batman’s foe Ra’s Al Ghul).
And Stan Lee claims no writing credit. He’s been the sole credited writer on everything for the last year or so. And even when there were other credited scripters, Stan Lee claimed credit for the “story” or “plot” or such. This is the very first time in any Marvel Age story that Stan did not claim story credit.
Of course, Stan’s name still goes first in the credits, as the editor.
So who is Leon Lazarus? What is his real name? Why did he decide to start writing for Marvel now?
The first question is easy to answer. His real name is Leon Lazarus, born in 1919. His brothers, Sid and Harry Lazarus, were also comic creators.
1919? He’s already 45 years old when beginning his career at Marvel? Of course not. He has been working for Marvel since before Marvel was Marvel, working as letterer, editor, and writer since 1946. He’s been with the company since then, but has been working on the magazine side of the house for the past 7 years. This will be his only superhero story.
Brian Cronin writes here about how people assumed Leon Lazarus was not real. Not just me.
Leon Lazarus passed away in 2008, at the age of 89.
It should probably not be inferred from the credits that Stan Lee somehow had less to do with writing this book than an average Giant-Man/Wasp story. He just arranged the credits differently this time.
Hank Pym is working on his giant robot ant, and, as usual, ignoring Jan. He is often focused on his science and his superheroing and rarely focused on her. He almost proposed once, but backed out.
Now Jan has had enough. He’s too hot and cold. She’s not going to wait around for him to decide to treat her right. She’s leaving.
Until her plane is hijacked by Attuma.
We met Attuma in Fantastic Four #33 when he was leading armies against Atlantis to usurp Namor’s throne. It’s clear from this issue that Attuma is himself a king, but of what? The “murky depths” apparently. Presumably there is more than one kingdom of Sub-Mariners. Namor rules one and Attuma another. Attuma has decided he will also rule the surface world.
This may be the first comic to feature Sub-Mariners without Namor.
Wasp has some shrinking formula residue in her purse. Not enough to shrink, but enough to get a message to ants. Of course, the formula that helps them grow and shrink has nothing to do with talking to ants. They usually use their cybenetic helmets–which Wasp does not have–to do that.
I find it a little incredible that an ant would make it from an island in the ocean to New York. I thought to prove this impossible by checking flying speeds and lifespans. But ants fly pretty fast and can live long enough for the trip; it still seems pretty unlikely, but proving that would require digging deeper into ant physiology than I care to at the moment. I will note it will take the ant at least 4 days to get that message to Hank.
I don’t know why Attuma captured the plane. I definitely don’t know why he let it go. I guess he just needed one human prisoner and the Wasp would do. Quite the coincidence that of the billions of people on Earth, the one Attuma tried to capture was one of 20 superheroes.
Despite how emotionally abusive he is, Jan decides she does love Hank after all and they reunite.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 50/100
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/Henry “Hank” Pym
- Wasp/Jan Van Dyne
- Attuma
Story notes:
- Pym experimenting with giant robot ant.
- Instructions for cleaning Wasp outfit.
- Wasp uses a tiny bit of shrinking formula to communicate with ants.
| Previous | #296 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| X-Men #9 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #14 |
| Tales to Astonish #63, Story B | Tales to Astonish | Tales to Astonish #64, Story B |
