Customer Reviews

Essential Ant Man, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials)

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3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
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In the heirarchy of Marvel superheroes, if the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man were the fair-haired children, then Ant/Giant-Man, the Wonderful Wasp and their showcase book Tales To Astonish were the red-headed stepchildren. This book reprints the complete run of a comic and a character that was, among other things, the first comic book I ever owned and one of my favorite characters.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby originally started out scripting and drawing the adventures of Henry Pym, a scientist who developed a way to communicate telepathically with ants and subsequently used this technology to fight crime (most likely inspired by the film The Incredible Shrinking Man) but they soon moved on to other things and turned it over to Stan's brother Larry Lieber and frequent Kirby inker and western & war comic vet Dick Ayers. This was not uncommon, since as Marvel grew they just couldn't do everything. They also developed and handed off Thor, Iron Man, and others. Lieber and Ayers, while certainly accomplished pros, were not possessed of the magic synergy that Lee and Kirby had, so Ant-Man's exploits weren't quite as remarkable as the FF's or Spidey's. Eventually, it was decided to have Pym give his girlfriend, socialite Janet Van Dyne, shrinking powers, wings and "biological stingers", dub her the Wasp, and become his crime fighting partner. Soon after, he figured out how to grow ten feet tall and renamed himself Giant-Man. Other artists and writers soon followed, most notably Bob Powell, who drew a great Wasp, and the pair faced a mix of second string villians like the Human Top, the Black Knight, the Eraser, and other assorted aliens and mad scientists. In one memorable issue, Giant- Man accidentally enlarged a spider and was blocked from reaching his helmet controls to restore it to its normal size. Made for a tense situation for several pages...

A variety of powers, costumes, and situations were tried out, but Giant-Man and the Wasp never really caught on with the comic buying public. Eventually, the Powers That Be decided to divide Tales To Astonish between GM and new stories featuring the Hulk, and about a year later they dropped old High Pockets completely in favor of new Sub-Mariner stories.
Giant Man and the Wasp still appeared in the Avengers, but it was clear they had lost their opportunity to shine brightly in the Marvel firmament.

While these stories in this collection don't always feature the absolute best of 60's Marvel by any stretch, they are still fun reads, like those old drive-in movies weren't always great films but were still very entertaining. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne had a sort of Nick and Nora Charles type banter that was always a highlight, and the last two-parter in this collection emphasized their relationship in a way that was still novel to comics back then. It made them warm and real and really impressed the 6 year old boy that read them so many years ago.

Although I wish these collections were in color, I understand that it helps keep the price down, and it's probably the easiest way to read these books that are often hard to find and expensive when you do find them. These adventures of Ant/Giant Man and the Wasp aren't profound and most likely won't change your life in any way...but they are a hell of a good read for the money.

Henry Pym holds the ignominious title of being the first Silver Age Marvel Comics character who failed (actually the Hulk was the first series to end, but he has since returned in a big way). Frankly, it isn't hard to see why as Pym seemed utterly average compared to the other interesting, archetype-busting characters in the Marvel Universe. Pym was another independently wealthy super-genius in multiple scientific fields who had a state-of-the-art crime lab and a dull, square-jawed professorial personality. He lacked any of the pathos-inducing handicaps or traits that made Iron Man or Daredevil stand out. Although this is probably due to the fact that he was actually created in a pre-Silver Age, early 60's story in a Twilight Zone-esque, sci-fi anthology series (Tales to Astonish #27, also included).

As such, the early Ant-Man tales come across as an ongoing battle for writers Stan Lee and his brother Larry to make Pym more interesting. This led to the introduction of the Wasp (Janet van Dyne), joining the Avengers, constant costume changes and power additions (enter Giant-Man), and a tacked-on backstory about Pym's first wife who was murdered by communists, none of which really worked for me. The endeavour definitely was not helped by the seriously underwhelming Rogue's Gallery. There was Egghead (a totally average mad scientist), Porcupine (a disgruntled engineer in a battlesuit, kind of like the Beetle only pointy), and the Human Top (a high rpm mutant who would get a less goofy name and costume later in the Avengers as Whirlwind). Those are pretty much the only ones worth mentioning by name. There was also a cross-dressing commie spy, a guy with a magic trumpet, a South American dictator with a horned hat who liked to run into things, and a guy who could command others with his voice (just like Daredevil's Purple Man, except that he wasn't purple).

One reviewer said that he liked Hank and Janet's Nick-and-Nora style bantering, which does make for some good dialogue, but those looking for that sort of thing would be better served with the Fantastic Four. I felt that Hank was more belittling and coarse than Reed Richards and Janet acted more like a whining spoiled shrew than Sue Storm. Once again, the Ant-Man comics just seemed to be overshadowed on all sides from its other neighbors in the Marvel world.

I know I've sounded completely negative so far, but the truth is that I would still recommend The Essential Ant-Man to all fellow fans of classic Marvel comics. Ant-Man is no less a part of Marvel's storied Silver Age history and features stellar artwork by Jack "King" Kirby and Don Heck. Every issue of Tales to Astonish that Pym headlined (many of which are near impossible to find these days) is collected in one comprehensive and inexpensive Essential volume. As much as I love the Essentials, the Astonishing Ant-Man is less of a must-have than most (X-Men #1 and FF #3 are my all time favorites) but perhaps I'm being unfair. For only $15, all other true believers are free to see for themselves.

This most neglected character of Marvel's Silver Age--who initially was on a par with Thor, Iron Man, Spidey et al in that he had his own series, is finally showcased for all to see.

Giant Man is my favorite character in all of Marvel and the Wasp is right up there too. It is hard for me to describe why I like them so much; maybe its the fact that others could care less about them. But if you are at all curious about them I would encourage you to give this book and these characters a try. The stories are fun, fast-paced and a perfect example of what Marvel was putting out at the time. Take a growth capsule and enjoy!

This book is a great collection of fun, oddball, comics. Featuring a character that was obviously a creator favorite, given the many revamps. They just couldn't give up on the guy! Many of these stories have been quite hard to come by, even for hardcore fans, unlike the old FF or Spiderman or other more popular characters who have all been reprinted more frequently.

Wild, silly villains and the black & white format not only keeps the price down but gives you a great opportunity to see the quality of the cartoonists line work, apart from the primitive coloring of the time. Any work by Jack Kirby is worth Five stars!

This is a perfect collection for the Marvel collector or even just someone who wants to rekindle the old childhood memories of reading comic books. Ant-Man is my favorite super hero in the Marvel universe, learn how he becomes Ant-Man and then into Giant-Man(two completly different angles eh?). The issues go right up before his Avengers adventures. Theres about 30 comics in total wich is a bargin at this price.

Scientist Henry Pym creates a potion which can shrink any object down to microscopic size as well as a potion to reverse the effect. He decides to test the potion on himself and finds that he has shrunk to insect like size, but is unable to get the growth potion due to his size. He depends on the ants to help him get back to his lab and grow back to normal. This was a one shot feature from Tales to Astonish #27. Lee and Kirby on a roll with the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and the like returned Pym in issue 35 as an ongoing hero Ant-Man. The character went through many transformations throughout his TAS run such as acquiring a partner in Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp, but most signifigantly becoming Giant-Man in issue 49.

Obviously the Ant-Man/Giant-Man character was not one of the more successful characters from the House of Ideas in the 60's. You can continually keep on seeing Lee, Kirby, and Heck trying to make modifications on the character throughout the book. The villains here can't compare to the Doctor Dooms, Green Goblins, Leaders, and the like used in the other books. Here we are just saddles with lame adversaries such as the Egghead, Eraser, Porcupine, and in my opinion the most moronic continous villain in a book, the Human Top (whose numerous appearances told you that the bullpen was running out of ideas for this character). Granted the Black Knight looked like a good villain, but was best used later in the Avengers. The better issues in the book are the ones where he and the Wasp battle Spider-Man and the Hulk, as well as a fight with Attuma. Backing up many of the issues are tales told by the Wasp to a group of teens with some moral at the end. When the Hulk shared the book with High Pockets in issue 60, the end of those tales came and issue 69 marked the end of Giant Man in TOA as Namor took his slot the next issue. Giant-Man and the Wasp later returned to the Avengers and was best suited in that role as a team member. My opinion of reading this volume was that many early issues of the Avengers referenced battles from these tales and here was a decent way to find out what happened, but this volume is far from spectacular.

I think I can see why this feature was finally cancelled. Ant-Man/Giant-Man had just about the worst roster of villains of all the early Marvel heroes. And by "worst", I don't mean evil or malicious, I mean laughable or mediocre.

Henry Pym's "top of the line" super foes, the ones that returned for more than one fight, were third-rate bad guys like Egghead, the Porcupine, and the Human Top. And then there were the "mighty" opponents that Ant-Man/Giant-Man only fought once--Comrade X, the Unknown Protector, the Scarlet Beetle, El Toro, and others. Villains so lame even Stan Lee didn't dare to bring them back for a second go-around.

By comparison, in the same time frame, the Fantastic Four was fighting the Mole Man,, Doctor Doom, the Sub-Mariner, the Puppet Master, the Mad Thinker, and the Super-Skrull, while Spider-Man was tackling the Vulture, Dr. Octopus, the Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, and the Green Goblin. Even Iron Man, who had to contend with the "Commie villain of the month" syndrome for a while, finally found a worthy opponent in the form of the Mandarin.

Probably the best battles in this volume are the two in which Giant-Man squares off against another Marvel hero--once against Spider-Man, and once against the Hulk.

Still, the Ant-Man/Giant-Man collection offers a fun look at the dawn of the "Marvel Age of Comics", and there's good artwork by Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and others--even a fill-in story drawn by Steve Ditko!

I bought Essential Ant-Man out of nostalgia and curiosity. I was aware of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne from the Avengers and liked them immensely, but I was utterly unfamiliar with their run in Tales to Astonish. That's where the curiosity comes in. I was familiar with these covers of Tales to Astonish because, even before I could read, I'd sneak a peek at my older brother's comics, which included these issues. As a child, these covers held me entranced. That's where the nostalgia comes in. It was like meeting an old friend. As one of the other reviewers noted, getting the originals or reprints of these issues was not an easy task until this publication came out.

I thought the series reached its high point in issues 50 and 51 with the two-part introduction of the Human Top. Otherwise, the series seems to struggle. It reminded me of how the early issues of Thor and Iron Man struggled before they found their themes and their self-sustaining heartbeats.

Janet Van Dyne was and perhaps still is my favorite female character in the Marvel Universe. She liked Hank Pym and was open about it, which was a dramatic and refreshing change of pace from the usual reticent romances Marvel offered. As far as verbal word play, she ran circles around Henry Pym.

Henry Pym is brilliant but seems clumsy. Often his adventures are the result of his own carelessness. Also, Henry Pym doesn't seem like a super hero; he seems like a scientist wearing a lab coat who is too absorbed in his work to notice someone like Janet Van Dyne literally fluttering around him. Reed Richards was able to make the transition from scientist to super hero, but Henry Pym doesn't. I liked how Henry Pym showed respect and appreciation for his ants -- they weren't his nameless expendable minions, but he's a lot less sympathetic when he is sharp with or is dismissive of Janet Van Dyne.

Comics require the ability to suspend your disbelief. With Ant-Man, that was one area that failed. I couldn't suspend my disbelief that someone who shrunk down to the size of an ant nevertheless maintained all the physical strength of his normal size. I also couldn't suspend my disbelief that hardened criminals would be terrified of someone the size of an ant.

As Giant Man, it seemed like these weaknesses would be addressed, but then too, there was something missing. Super heroes have fist fights and shoot-outs. Giant Man would look like a bully punching someone half his size. If there was a shoot-out, Giant Man offered a can't-miss target. The Wasp had her stinger, but it seemed like she was stinging her opponents when they weren't looking -- because she was so small and would fly up to them and let them have it right in the face before they knew what hit them. It didn't seem very sporting.

These issues are not Marvel at its best. They are early Marvel trying to find its feet.

Ant-Man may be one of the most underrated superheroes, but this tiny dynamo can sure pack a punch. With 36 tales to astonish, there are enough episodes in Volume #1 to delight any reader who loves well-written stories penned by Stan Lee and brilliantly illustrated storyboards inked by Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Steve Ditko to name a few. Scientist, Henry Pym has discovered a serum that enables him to shrink to the size of an ant. A technical genious, Henry devises a helmet so that he may communicate with the ants, thus forming a multitude of allies. What better way to compliment a superhero than to give him a partner, Janet a.k.a. The Wasp. Later Henry discovers that his invention can also enable him to double his normal height and become twelve feet tall, and...Giant-Man is born. How's that for two superheroes wrapped into one!

This is the ideal coffee table book that can be picked up over and over again and be enjoyed.

Used to own a comic book shop. This brought back all the memories and the reason I got into comics in the first place. Poor kids today have too much with the internet/ video games etc. The black and white stories just punched that idea home. Imagination is a wonderful thing....let yours run wild...highly recomeended.