JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #85: Loco Loki Hits the Big Apple

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Chrissy

Published: October, 1962

“Trapped by Loki, the God of Mischief!”
Script: Larry Lieber
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Art Simek

When it comes to Loki, I have been spoiled by Hollywood. Before I saw Thor, and The Avengers, I met Loki only briefly in these early comics. At the time, I thought he looked pretty goofy, but then a lot of Marvel villains from the 1960’s look goofy, so it didn’t bother me too much. But after I saw Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in the recent movies…well, Loki’s looking not quite so goofy anymore.

In fact, I want to go on record right now: I am exceptionally impressed by Mr. Hiddleston’s interpretation of Loki. He’s so full of himself. That smile…when he’s being thoroughly despicable. That air of regal entitlement. I can’t imagine another actor doing a better Loki. Hiddleston strikes just the right balance between mere mischief and absolute evil. And he dresses really sharp too.

Of course, all characters in Marvel movies dress really sharp, and act precisely as you would expect them to act. The die may have been cast in the early 60’s, but these recent cinematic representations of both villains and superheroes speak volumes about the logical evolution that has taken place over the last half century.

I knew what Thor looked like before I saw the movies, and even before I began reading Marvel comics. Thor’s red cape and winged helmet are iconic. We wouldn’t expect him to look any other way. But then, surprisingly, as he appears in these movies, though the cape is still there, the helmet’s gone. Yet, that’s okay. Because now he’s all in black, armored to the hilt, and lookin’ fine. Oh, yeah! (As ZZ Top once said, “Every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man.”)

However, I think because I have so little pre-conceived notion about how Loki is SUPPOSED to look, at this point, in my mind, he’s supposed to look the way he does in the movies. That’s been set as my “standard” for Loki. And the way he looks in the 1960’s comics is just…well, just plain foolish.

Sorry. Any of you old-time purists may want to hate me now, but I’m simply being honest. To me, 1962 Loki looks silly.

He strikes me as silly, in his green tights, and yellow-scaled underpants. And yes, he has the horns, but they look like his mother sewed them on by hand as she completed Simplicity pattern #288 Loki Halloween Costume. I guess that’s the problem: Loki looks like he’s wearing a costume. Remember: even Stan the Man and his cronies jokingly referred to their costumed super-beings as “long underwear characters.” So I think on some level, even the creators felt it was silly. I’m just saying that to me, Loki is currently on top of the Silly List.

The “splash” is the introductory page before the story really gets started. Very often it’s a full page, and most usually contains the story title. It sets the stage for all that is about to come.

BROTHERS?
Somehow I’ll just have to get past all that and focus on the story. But immediately, here’s another problem, at least for me. Apparently in these early comics, Loki is not Thor’s brother. In these first stories, Stan stuck much closer to the Norse mythology. Later, he will make Thor and Loki brothers, and I think that’s when things really start to heat up, because not only do we have demi-gods at odds, but also a healthy serving of sibling rivalry. And who doesn’t like a nice dollop of sibling rivalry to top off their epic battle of Good vs. Evil?

But for now, we start simply, with demi-gods.

On the splash page we learn that Loki thinks his powers are even greater than Thor’s. Full of himself? Yes. Chip on his shoulder? Probably. To be taken seriously? We’ll see.

IN THE BEGINNING…
We begin with the introduction of Asgard and the rainbow bridge, called Bifrost. The gods have condemned Loki to be entrapped in a tree. We aren’t told WHY he’s imprisoned, but…God of Mischief? Okay? Enough said?

The God of Mischief employs his trademark trickery to escape imprisonment and immediately tracks down Thor on planet Earth. He disguises himself as a normal person and causes more mischief to force Thor to reveal himself, then immediately reveals himself to Thor. Behold:

This so perfectly exemplifies something that I simply love about Marvel comics. Very often, when a new character suddenly appears, someone will shout his name, followed by double exclamation points. Here we do not have the classic double exclamation points, but note Thor’s proclamation of “LOKI!” in bold red letters. Surely red lettering trumps double exclamation points any day, don’t you think?

I so enjoy this in Marvel comics that even as I write, I’ve decided to create a page at the top of this blog called “Hey look! It’s…!” and here I shall gather examples of this amusing and effective narrative practice.

But on with our story…

MISCHIEF
Loki lures Thor into the sky, where sunlight reflecting on Thor’s hammer allows Loki to hypnotize him. Loki tries to get the hammer, but even a hypnotized Thor will not let go of Mjolnir. So once again, Loki works his mischief and tricks Thor into giving up the hammer.

Now that Thor is disarmed, Loki instructs him to set free all the beasts at the zoo. (Is that mischievous enough for you?) Of course, there’s one thing Loki doesn’t know: after 60 seconds without the hammer, Thor reverts to Blake. The hypnotic spell broken, Blake retrieves Mjolnir, reverts to the Thunder God, and pursues Loki.

A 1980’s musical montage ensues, as Thor and Loki scuffle back and forth in various locations around the city. (My preference: The Doobie Brothers’ Takin’ It to the Streets.) Finally Thor proves victorious and lugs Loki to the top of the Empire State Building, where he ties Loki to Mjolnir and flings him back to Asgard. The hammer, of course, returns to Thor, as it always does.

So! That Loki’s quite a troublemaker, hmmm?? Right now, he seems less like a serious threat, and more like a pesky little brother (“Open the cages in the zoo! Hehe hehe…”). In the future, I’m sure, he’ll cause much more trouble. Loki shows incredible potential, but he’s not there yet. He’s clever, bitter, and he’s a god, for crying out loud! At some point he may top even Doctor Doom on my Villain Valuation, but for now, I’m placing him just below. Besides, even at less than full steam, there’s no question that Loki outvillains Mole Man.

Most of all, I’m impressed with Loki’s desire to make trouble, simply because it IS trouble. In this story, at least, he’s not out for world domination, he doesn’t want empires to worship him. Sure, he has a grudge against Thor, but that’s personal, and does not necessarily make him a “bad person.” The scariest thing about Loki is that he enjoys being bad. He likes mischief and trouble. He’s bad for badness’ sake. He has no noble motivations, like Sub-Mariner, who seeks revenge for his lost kingdom. He’s not even interested in material gain, like the Ringmaster. No, he just wants to make trouble because he loves trouble. How can you placate or reason with a villain like that?

FICKLE FOSTER
Even though Jane Foster is not instrumental in this story, she does make a brief appearance. First, after Thor has restored several victims of Loki’s mischief, Jane gazes at him in adoration, proclaiming “You were WONDERFUL!!” However, on the very next page, she swoons over Loki, because he has a “lovely name,” and “seems so dashing” in his yellow-scaled underpants.

This only reinforces what I said about Jane last time. She’s a hopeless romantic who will crush on any handsome man in a costume, whether it’s Fabio working his deeply unbuttoned frilly pirate shirt, or Loki sporting scaly underpants. (Wonder how she would feel about Iron Man or Spider-Man?)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK! IT’S A WONDERFUL TOWN!
Our Marvel characters live in New York City, and it was nice to see the Empire State Building making a cameo appearance. I’ve never really been a fan of DC comics, except for the TV series Smallville, but I think many people, whether or not fans of the comics, know that Superman hangs out in Metropolis and Batman lives in Gotham City. Of course, those are both fictional locations. In some ways, it works better to have comic stories set in fictional locations. It kind of lends to that whole feeling of…y’know, FICTION. Anything can happen; the fantastic seems more at home there.

But in another way, I also like New York City as a backdrop for the Marvel action. We see and know the landmarks. I also like when we have an occasional mention or appearance by a historical figure, such as JFK or Ed Sullivan. That makes it all so much…y’know, LESS fictional. And that has its charms, as well. Know what I mean??

But if it’s fictional locations you’re craving, here in this third Thor comic we are introduced to Asgard, home of the Norse gods. The city appears to be made of gold, and we see a “rainbow bridge” that looks like something My Little Pony and the Smurfs might come skipping across at any moment. (I was so relieved with the much improved depiction of the rainbow bridge in the recent movies.)

TANGENT
Forgive my flippancy. Again, I’m not putting down these early comics. Under the circumstances of it being 1962 and having to write and illustrate numerous titles each month that would be published on newsprint for a whopping twelve cents a pop, I think Stan and company did a FABULOUS job! I sometimes wonder if the original creators in these early days of Marvel comics could have ever even dreamed that someday their little twelve cent stories might inspire something like The Avengers, where Thor and Loki battle it out in Dolby digital sound, on an IMAX 3D screen, with “special effects” way beyond split screen, blue screen or rotoscope. I wonder if back in the day, Stan and company ever imagined that people worldwide would pay over a BILLION dollars to be entertained by tales of Thor and his nemesis Loki.

The fact that people worldwide are indeed shelling out big bucks for these stories tells you one thing: they must be good stories. If the foundation is not good, the house will crumble. But in the Marvelous Zone, the foundation is good. It’s all good. The House of Marvel stands, and it appears, will continue to stand, for many ages to come.

What’s up next? I can’t tell you, because it’s a big “secret.” But join me next time, when I take a dystopian detour in the Marvelous Zone!

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MARVELOUS MOVIES: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Chrissy

It’s good, but not great.

There’s my review in a nutshell. Want more details? Go see the movie. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, of course you have to see the movie. And if you’re not a fan, this would be a good introduction. If you enjoy fun summer fantasy sci-fi action films in general, you should see this movie. But for my money, I think you’d have more fun taking in a second viewing of The Avengers.

The Avengers is fresh and full of fun. I’ve seen it three times now, and each time I discover something new and find it more enjoyable. I did enjoy The Amazing Spider-Man, but I couldn’t help thinking…haven’t we been here before?

It wasn’t that long ago that Toby Maguire portrayed Spider-Man in a trio of movies. Did we really need to reboot the series after only ten years? Did we really need to see Peter Parker getting bit by that spider…again? Did we really need to see Uncle Ben killed on the streets of New York… again? Sure, we’ve got all new actors—and by the way, the actors were all great (but more on that later). I’m just not sure why we had to go all the way back to the beginning to belabor the origin story for what seemed like at least half the movie.

It really did. It seemed like we were halfway through the movie before we even get a glimpse of the famous red and blue costume. Once we do, the action picks up as Spider-Man takes on the Lizard, which gives us plenty of good summertime action fun. But geez! What a long time it took getting there! As far as I’m concerned, this all would have worked just as well if the filmmakers had plopped us down somewhere in the middle of the Spider-Man mythos and said “Okay. Spidey… Lizard… GO!”

Of course, they would still need to introduce us to Gwen, Peter’s new love interest. We spent a good deal of time on that story, and it was time well spent. But I don’t think there’s any particular reason both these characters need to be in high school. Peter could have met Gwen in college, right? In fact, I think it would work better if they were in college, because personally I had a hard time believing that Gwen, as a high school student, is interning at Oscorp, giving tours of the facilities, and apparently knows enough about the organization to….no, wait. I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say, either she’s one damn smart high school kid, or it would have worked better to have her in college, even graduate school.

So that didn’t work for me. And the overall tone of the movie didn’t quite work either. This is no Batman, to be sure (those movies are always way too dark and ominous for me!), but I missed the usual comedic moments I’ve come to know and love in so many of these Marvel movies. The Avengers is chock full of them. Here we have a mere sprinkling of comedic moments—-and will I be spoiling anything to say keep your eye open for Stan’s cameo? It’s the best! But overall, the tone, the musical score, the melodrama, the angst…all a bit heavy-handed.

With all that drama going on, you would think it would be a sure bet that the famous Spider-Man line “With great power comes great responsibility” would somehow work its way into the movie. There was a perfect opportunity for those words at the very end which would have actually been extremely poignant, but…no. Didn’t happen. Russ remarked that having a Spider-Man origin story without that classic line is akin to having a James Bond movie without the 007 theme music (I said it would be like a Bond movie without the line “Bond…James Bond,” and some reference to how Bond likes his martinis “shaken, not stirred”). Something seems missing.

As for the actors, they rise to the task. I really liked Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker. I know there will be a tendency to compare his performance to Toby Macguire’s, but I don’t really remember the original Spider-Man movies well enough to do that right now. I will say, however, that Garfield perfectly captures that teenage awkwardness that is Peter Parker, pre-Spidey. Afterwards, once he’s put on the suit…he’s good, with all that annoying chattering at his opponents. But it’s as Peter that he really shines.

And what an inspiration to put the Gwen Stacy character in the female lead! Emma Stone is so cute. (Oh! And I love her boots!) I liked this pairing a lot better than the Peter/MaryJane story from the first set of movies. There’s a brief scene where Peter takes Gwen on a “swinging” date across the night skies of New York City. Very brief, in long shot. For a moment I was afraid we might start hearing Margot Kidder breathlessly wondering “Can you read my mind?” I think the director of The Amazing Spider-Man was wise not to belabor this moment, which would no doubt evoke and encourage comparisons to that classic Superman scene.

Martin Sheen and Sally Field portray Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Of course, in the comics (and the first set of movies) these characters are both a lot older (especially Aunt May), but as Russ points out, it never really made sense that teenaged Peter would have an octogenarian aunt and uncle. So it works to have solid, classic actors in these solid, classic roles.

Gwen’s father, Captain George Stacy, as portrayed by Denis Leary, is a somewhat one-dimensional stereotypical character, hard-nosed cop with the inevitable friction upon meeting his precious daughter’s new boyfriend. And then of course the inevitable change of heart. Rhys Ifans was outstanding as Dr. Curt Connors but I didn’t quite understand his sudden change of heart, which turns the plot on its end.

Basically this ends up being a monster movie, Spider fights Lizard, but I guess that’s all right, because after all, these are comic book characters. Personally, though, I like my villains to be a little more intellectual, conniving, evil and dangerous. Well…yes, there is danger, but thinking back to the earlier movies, it seems Dr. Octopus and Green Goblin gave Spidey a little more run for our money.

Speaking of money, we paid a little extra to see this in 3D. I’ve seen a few 3D movies now, and I’ve got to say I’m not really all that impressed. My original hope for 3D was: “Oh! I feel like I’m REALLY THERE!” But instead, I get: “Oh! I feel like I’m watching a 3D movie.” But only in certain scenes, and in most cases, the 3D effects, when they show up in full force, are so distracting, they fairly scream: “Hey! Look at what we can do because this is a 3D MOVIE!” These effects draw attention to themselves rather than to the story; they cause you to mentally jump out of the storyline momentarily, rather than draw you further in.

Perhaps the technology has not advanced far enough yet. Personally, I’m putting 3D on the back burner until I hear that improvements have been made. And even if they are never made, so what? I’ll take a good story, well told, any day, over gadgets, gizmos, effects and window dressing.

The tale of Spider-Man is always a good story, and this one was well done, but, I think, could have been better. Still, it’s summer, so get thee to a movie theater! Sit down with a giant tub of buttered popcorn and an obscene amount of candy and soda and have yourself a marvelous time!

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FANTASTIC FOUR #7: It’s a Small World, After All

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Chrissy

Published: October, 1962

“Prisoners of Kurrgo, Master of Planet X”
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Art Simek

A long time ago (Earth year: 1962) in a galaxy far, far away, Planet X is 24 hours away from certain destruction by a runaway asteroid. Kurrgo, leader of five billion, sends his mighty Robot in one of two spaceships on the planet, to kidnap a group of superheroes from the planet Earth. He kidnaps four, even though he only needs one, the Super Brain.

Upon arriving on Planet X, the other three do nothing but cause trouble, trying to fight Kurrgo’s mighty Robot, but the Super Brain creates a Reducing Gas, so that all five billion subjects can be shrunk down to manageable size and board a single spaceship, to flee certain doom. (Somehow, it never occurs to any of them, including the Super Brain, that the magical Reducing Gas ought to be aimed at the asteroid, and then there would be no need to flee.)

Super Brain also provides a canister of “anti-dote” to return the five billion subjects to regular size once they land on their new planet.

Five billion board the spaceship, but their leader Kurrgo, drunk with power, clings to the canister of “anti-dote,” dreaming of using it only on himself, so that he will not only continue to be their leader, but also hold the power of life and death over his insect-sized subjects.

Burdened by the canister, Kurrgo misses the flight from the doomed planet, and is presumably destroyed along with Planet X.

Meanwhile, as the Earthlings have commandeered the second spaceship for their return to Earth, Super Brain reveals that there is nothing in the canister of “anti-dote,” saying “Once they reach their new world, it won’t matter! They’ll all be the same size, and in this vast universe of ours, one’s size is only relative, anyway!”

The Moral of this Story is: if you greedily dream of ruling insect-sized subjects you will likely be blown up by a runaway asteroid…so DON’T DO IT!!

MORALITY TALES
This Fantastic Four story is one I probably could have easily skipped, but I think it so excellently demonstrates the occasional tendency in comics to moralize and philosophize, so I couldn’t resist saying a word or two. Yes, sometimes these morality tales can hit you over the head like a blow from Mjolnir, but …so what? Comics are not the first or only form of literature to do so. Substitute for Kurrgo the dog with a bone looking at his reflection in the lake, and you’ve got an Aesop’s Fable. The Greeks have their King Midas, Shakespeare gave us MacBeth. And American film shows us what a greedy need for money and power can lead to in movies such as Wall Street, Indecent Proposal, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and of course, Citizen Kane, to name a few.

The difference is, you can probably get a kid to read and remember a Fantastic Four comic mag a lot quicker than an Aesop’s Fable. It’s modern, it’s groovy, and it’s fun.

MISBEHAVIN’
And it allows us to see our superheroes in action. Of course some of what we see from the FF before they get kidnapped to Planet X is downright silly. Thing and Torch bicker, and Sue frets about what she’ll wear to an Award Ceremony.

None of them want to go to this Award Ceremony, even though it is in their honor. I wonder what all that was about? Was Stan shooting a raspberry at authority figures and the “establishment”? Or was he simply saying his superheroes have better things to do?

There’s a sub-plot in which the Robot floods Earth with the hum from a “Hostility Ray,” which causes everybody to turn against each other, and especially against the FF. I guess this was the best way to create the drama on the cover: “Wanted Dead or Alive!” and “Down with the Fantastic Four!”

It’s sort of a cheat. I almost feel like I’m looking at the National Enquirer, and when I open the pages, I’m going to find that somehow, this is not actually what’s going on. (Oh! You mean you BELIEVED that?) It’s a temporary plot development which helps to move the story along. I thought it odd that though everyone else on Earth is apparently affected by this Hostility Ray, the FF are not. Maybe it has something to do with their having been affected by cosmic rays? I guess we must assume they are immune.

REED RICHARDS & THE SUPER SCIENTISTS
What I most enjoy about this comic is how Reed really shines in this tale. First off, he the only one acting responsibly about having to attend the Congressional dinner in their honor (“I suppose these nerve-wracking ceremonies are the price we must pay for fame”) but more importantly, he single-handedly rescues the five billion inhabitants of Planet X. Not a bad day’s work, if you ask me. And when Thing wonders why he was willing to follow the Robot to Planet X, listen to what Reed says:

Curiosity, indeed! Spoken like a true scientist!

And speaking of scientists, didn’t you find this whole idea of pharmaceutically induced shrinking suspiciously similar to what’s going on at the same time in Tales to Astonish? In September, Henry Pym reformulates a shrinking “serum” and in October, Reed Richards concocts a “reducing gas.” You say tomato, I say tomahto…

What’s the difference? And more importantly…is Stan running out of good ideas? Did he forget that September’s Tales to Astonish starred Ant-Man, and that Henry Pym and his amazing shrinking serum will now appear in every issue? Or was this just another one of those self-promotion gigs he’s so good at? Is the concept of a shrinking formula in this month’s issue of FF meant to strengthen the public’s desire for more of the same next month?

You know, I have to say, I really dig the smart guys in these Marvel comics. Of course we must have smart guys, in order to get fantastic feats accomplished. Reed Richards, Henry Pym, Bruce Banner, and soon we’ll meet Tony Stark, who, it turns out, in addition to being a industrial pioneer, is also a genius, billionaire playboy philanthropist. These are great characters! They have skills that move the stories along, but even better, they’re downright SEXY.

For the comic buying audience of the day, however, I hope these stories and characters provided a source of encouragement and motivation. Superheroes can be inspiring, to be sure, but how about role models for real life? Not everyone can have superpowers like Mr. Fantastic or Iron Man, but nonetheless, every kid can certainly strive to do well in science class and dream of becoming a Reed Richards or Tony Stark, one day creating, discovering or inventing something to turn the world on its ear.

I know that comic book enthusiasts like to ask questions like, “If Thor and Hulk got into a fight, who would win?” and thanks to the new Avengers film…we still don’t have an answer! So the Eternal Question remains. But I like to ask questions like, “If Reed Richards, Henry Pym and Victor von Doom were boys competing in a junior high Science Fair, who would win?” I don’t know that I have an answer at the moment…but it does give one something to ponder.

Next time in the Marvelous Zone, we’ll catch up with the Thunder God, when the forecast is stormy with a chance of mischief!

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TALES TO ASTONISH #35: Small But Powerful

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Chrissy

Published: September, 1962

“Return of the Ant-Man”
Script: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: John Duffy

When we last left mad scientist Henry Pym, he was dumping his secret serums down the drain. Having been traumatized by a run-in with ants, he decides that getting really really small is really really dangerous. Now it’s “weeks later,” and we find Pym reconsidering that rash decision. I guess the trauma is wearing off. But this time, after creating the serums, he locks them up until he feels the world is ready.

A fringe benefit of Pym’s previous adventure, he is now fascinated by ants and learns everything about them, including how they communicate through their antennae. He fashions a helmet which will allow him to communicate with ants, as well as a “protective costume” against potential bites and stings. If you ask me, Pym’s going through a lot of trouble for something he never intends to happen again.

But his hand is forced when the Commies raid his office to steal the formula he and his assistants have been working on for “a gas to make people immune to radioactivity.” Yes, those pesky Commies are back. Pym suits up, downs the formula, and enlists the help of the ants in overcoming the dreaded Red Threat.

Tiny Pym loosens the ropes around his bound assistants, and the ants bite the Commies till they yell “YIIEEEE” and drop their guns. Without their weapons, “those murderous Reds” are a pushover, easily captured by the now-freed assistants.

Pym takes a bath in the growth serum, joins his fellow scientists, and the entire free world is once again safe.

For now, anyway. But in the last panel, Pym muses “I wonder—will I ever be forced to become the Ant-Man again?”

Well, we know he will. In fact, at the bottom of the last panel, Stan tells us he will, in the very next issue of Tales to Astonish. Seems this pseudo-scientific superhero proved popular on his first outing, so a decision was made to focus this comic mag on the further adventures of Ant-Man.

IRONY AND IMPROVEMENTS
I think I’ve mentioned before that Ant-Man is one of my favorite Marvel superheroes. I’ve always been a bit of a non-conformist, and I enjoy the irony inherent in Ant-Man. Not only is the idea of a diminutive superhero highly ironic, but this situation demands a series of unusual and inventive circumstances, with fabulous visuals you’re not likely to see anywhere else. We also get to see Henry Pym use his scientific mind to find new uses for common household items. For instance, as Ant-Man he catapults himself to the windowsill by stretching a rubber band around two corners of an ashtray, releasing the tension, and then…WHOOSHH! My favorite, however, is how he he’ll utilize an ant as a horse or helicopter, traveling on ground or by air (if it’s a flying ant) in order to cover “large” distances.

I like these early stories where we see Stan refining the attributes of his heroes. The helmet and the protective suit are a given. Pym is not going to be able to proceed without them.

And in this second outing, Pym discovers an added benefit to his reconstituted formula. This time, it seems, even though he shrinks to the size of an ant, he maintains the strength of a full-grown man. Essentially, he has super-strength for his size. Super strength always looks good on any superhero’s résumé.

I guess if Pym had not been frightened enough to dump the first batch of serum, he may have never discovered whatever it is that now causes him to keep his full strength. It’s uncertain how or why the new serum has these qualities that were lacking in the first. Pym apparently didn’t plan on it. Did he make a serendipitous “error” while creating the second batch? Does it make sense? Or perhaps there is no real reason for this development beyond Stan realizing that it would work well in future stories if Ant-Man could have super strength. When we’re talking about people shrinking to the size of an ant, “making sense” doesn’t really need to be one of our top priorities.

So, improvement is born out of adversity. And also born out of knowledge. Because Pym has taken the time to study the ants, he discovers how they live and communicate. Now he is able to make the ants his allies. Ah, the power of communication! It also helps that, with his super strength, he is able to beat the living tar out of the resident bully. He vanquishes a beetle “the size of a dinosaur,” which no doubt gains him even further respect in the ant community.

PLAN AHEAD?
Now as smart and resourceful as Henry Pym appears in this second outing, I do have one criticism. Once the Commies are captured and Pym needs to return to normal size, he has an ant carry him to the table, where he spills the test tube of growth serum.

Pym’s comment that it’s “lucky” he retained his full strength shows a remarkable lack of planning on his part. Remember in the last story, it was only because one exceptionally friendly ant was willing to carry him up the side of the building to the serum waiting on the window sill that he was able to return to normal size. You think he would remember that experience and have left the anti-dote in a readily accessible location for this adventure. But no. It’s on a table, in an upright test tube, that he is only able to push over because–surprise, surprise!!–he has retained his full strength. If not for that happy accident, Pym might have to remain ant-sized forever!

And that would not be a good thing, because as much as I enjoy the adventures of Ant-Man, I also like the stuff that’s coming up for our mad scientist Henry Pym. Next time I travel into the Marvelous Zone to visit with Pym, we’re going to meet the beautiful Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp! And that’s when the fun really begins!

But before we go there, we check in again with our old friends the Fantastic Four! You’d think they would’ve learned by now to avoid extra-terrestrials, but no! That’s where we’re going! So…small as ants, or big as all outer space, the Marvelous Zone is a marvelous place for exploration and adventure!

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Posted in Ant-Man, Tales to Astonish | 2 Comments