Where did Ant-Man Come From?

Issue: Tales to Astonish (1958) #27

Name: The Man in the Ant Hill!

Published: Marvel, Jan 1962

Blurb: From Comixology:

The origin of Ant-Man! Scientist Hank Pym has been the subject of ridicule by all his peers, but he will endure the insults no longer! Today is his day, today his Pym Particles will work!

From CMRO:

Henry Pym is mocked by the scientific community for his research on size-changing technology. In proving them wrong Pym finds himself in grave danger.

Creators:

Writer: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Letterer: Jon D'Agostino

Characters:

The Good: Henry Pym (Ant-Man)
The Bad: Ants?

Story (C)

This issue contains 4 stories in comic form and a standard short story, the primary narrative dealing with Henry Pym and a bunch of ants. Henry develops a shrinking formula that he believes will revolutionize shipping, air travel, and help mankind, but when he encounters problems when he shrinks himself, he decides the ability is too dangerous to let others know about. I thought the story was pretty good, but a bit familiar in the mad scientist type way – I'm not sure how common these types of tales were back in the early 60s. The second tale is about a husband who buys an antique mirror for his wife and it has a very Twilight Zone feel to it…she obsesses about the mirror until the demon trapped inside begins to manifest, but the day is saved… The third story is tale of revenge for a talking horse against a jockey who can't stop throwing insults at him nor gambling away all his money. The last story, Dead Planet, is pretty cool and has a neat twist ending. With the Ant-Man story and the Dead Planet stories being pretty good and the others somewhat bland, I'd have to assign this a C for story. The short story was ok as well, but nothing to write home about.

Art (B)

The art in this book was pretty enjoyable to look at. There was such a variety of locations, characters, and creatures that it really showed off the abilities of the team. I didn't have any issues with the dialog boxes and I always knew how the story flowed so I count that as a positive experience.

Characters (C)

Henry Pym seems like he could easily turn to the dark side. The panel at the bottom of page 2 certainly sounds like something a mad scientist would say…”when I've finished it, I'll show you! Then, you shall know I'm a greater scientist than any of you!” Certainly seems like he is bitter towards the other scientists who've mocked him in the past. I fear this doesn't bode well for Henry if he doesn't curb these vengeful emotions.

Enjoyment (B)

I enjoyed all of the stories in this issue. It was a definite departure from Fantastic Four issues I've been reading and I enjoyed the twist endings. I suppose the Twilight Zone was on the air around this time…it started in 1959, so I can see that these types of tales were popular – now-a-days, we tend to be more into the long story arcs so we see all the cross over events and year long epics.

Special extra (B-)

The origin of Ant-Man…that kinda says it all. Gotta give this bonus points even if I didn't really know much about Ant-Man until the movie last year – it's not like he was Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four, but here he is…before Spider-Man even. The strange thing is, I'd seen Henry Pym before when I read through some of the Avenger comics dealing with Ultron…the only thing is, he was not Ant-Man at that point.

Overall: (B)

I'd say the redeeming aspect of this issue is the fact that it's the first appearance of Ant-Man. The story wasn't that great and the fact that I could easily see it as the origin of a villain lower the marks. The other stories seem to follow standard tropes – at least for today's standards – not sure about how they were received in the 60s, but I'm reading it now.

A Rookie Perspective

I never heard of Ant-Man before the movie, but I did know about Henry Pym. It's interesting to see that he started so early in the Marvel Universe. And it's also interesting to see that characters who started out in little short comics graduated to full blown members of the Avengers and to their own books and movies. I wonder who else will be coming along.

This comic can be found at Marvel Unlimited and Comixology

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