The Ant-Man: Hank Pym Returns
The last time we met the cast of Ant-Man and The Wasp, we saw Henry Pym in his origin. As one of the last Twilight Zone styled stories in Tales to Astonish, Henry Pym seemed to be a one-in-done with his shrinking potion and a lesson learned at the end of his story. However, with Marvel Comics now making serious bank on superhero comics, Stan Lee was looking for new heroes to fill comics. And sometimes, maybe he could use a popular old story to bring back a one-shot character.
This brings us to Tales to Astonish #35, “The Return of the Ant-Man.” Our creative crew returns from last time, with Stan Lee and Larry Lieber writing the story. Jack Kirby heads the art team with his pencils, while Dick Ayers and Stan Goldberg add the inks and colors. It’s a solid all-star team, and the book is all the better for it.
According to legend, Tales to Astonish #27 was a huge success and Marvel received letters to see Hank Pym return somehow. So, Stan Lee figured that they could just give him Tales to Astonish and make it a full running series of Hank Pym being a tiny hero. But what could he be?
Oh. Ant-Man. Of course.
Hilariously, much like how his origin story wasn’t really a typical origin, his first outing as a hero really wasn’t your typical first adventure either. You see, we first begin with a retcon.
For those who don’t know what a “retcon” is, it’s short for “retroactive continuity.” It basically means the writer decided to change what happened before, and will now tell us what really happened. Or they forgot what happened last time, and the new telling or fact becomes the retcon once someone realizes what happened. In most early cases, it’s often a ticked-off fan writing in to complain. In this case, it’s slightly necessary, as Hank Pym threw out his formulas last time. This time, though?
You know, this is actually the least complex retcon in Marvel’s history. Maybe.
Yep, stashing them away for the future. I really can’t help but approve of this. It’s simple, and makes Henry seem more like a responsible scientist. This absolutely in no way sticks, however, and Henry Pym is going to remain the same completely irresponsible, mentally unstable idiot-genius for the rest of time.
With his world-changing science stored away, Hank Pym returns to his job at a random SCIENCE organization. While he keeps working on random SCIENCE for the government, Henry keeps studying ants. He’s utterly fascinated with them, and it's a nice touch of character development for the Silver-Age of comics. Since Hank Pym is one heck of a dedicated loon, he’s also started finding a way to communicate with the very ants who once saved his life.
Sure. Seems totally sane.
Luckily, the government keeps Henry employed, asking he work with four different assistants and make an anti-radiation gas in case of a nuclear war. But, of course, the “nation on the other side of the world” sends in local thugs to steal the soon-to-be-completed formula. Way to be specific, Stan. The thugs take over Pym’s lab in seconds, demanding to have the formula, or they start killing people. Hank refuses to give up the formula, and he claims that his assistants only have part of the formula. Rather than take all four assistants with them, the thugs have a better idea:
I wonder if these goons come in bulk.
I’m certain that no one is going to investigate this. Of course, Hank never kept any backups offsite either. Well, at least this lack of planning is in character for the guy. Thankfully, Hank Pym has a plan to take out those commie thugs!
...wouldn't they be tied, since both sides would have it?
Ah, lord. While this is truly one of Jack Kirby’s classic designs, there’s a small problem: it’s not really a great one. The red, blue, and black is a real iconic design, but it just feels like Kirby came up with it and let Goldberg come up with the colors for it. I mean, Spider-Man and so many other Marvel heroes make use of the red and blue, but the black ant outline over the chest seems like overkill. The helmet is a great design, but seems like it comes from an entirely different costume design. It also doesn’t help that Goldberg goofed up and made the outer-underwear red for this image, but I digress.
So, Hank assembles everything he needs to save his team! A bunch of string, a rubber band, and an ashtray. No, this isn’t Hank channeling the spirit of Macgyver. This is way, way weirder.
Sadly, he’s not assembling the world’s strangest Rube Goldberg machine either. Hank has the strange theory to use this rubber band as a catapult to leave the building. I don’t think physics work that way, but Hank Pym just doesn’t care. He pours the shrinking formula all over himself, jumps into the ashtray and…
Well, it works. Hank crawls under the window, skitters down the wall, and goes to save his co-workers. By heading to the anthill from last time! Hank seems to have forgotten entirely about his assistants, and instead uses this time to test out his new ant helmet with the ants. Jack Kirby, ever the clever creator of crazy Silver-Age technology, he gives us a cool cut-away of the and helmet.
Henry Pym judges all, and finds them wanting.
Luckily, the helmet works. Hank can kinda-sorta-maybe feel what the ants want, and can make the ants afraid of him. Not satisfied with just testing out his helmet, he lets one of the ants angrily charge him and the ant bites the heck out of him.
I'm fairly sure the goons have already blown up the lab by now.
Luckily, Hank Pym’s spandex-looking costume is actually made out of a fine steel mesh, that itself is made out of unstable molecules. Somehow, this means his costume will shrink and grow with him. This, of course, completely ignores the fact that his normal clothes did that in the last time Hank showed up, but whatever. Hank Pym’s existence is built on retcons and strange decisions, it seems.
After killing an ant and taking out a stink beetle, Hank Pym has convinced the ants to follow his lead. They crawl inside up the lab, and Hank sees that his friends are all tied up. The crooks also comment how they’re about to leave, so the Ant-Man attacks!
Oh, sweet Jesus. Hank Pym is ruthless, and I was genuinely not expecting this when I began the article. That’s just plain savage, and I don’t think this version of Hank ever did it again. It is just like Hank, however, to not give a crap about the people he fights. But just think about how utterly horrifying this is for a second: those crooks have no clue Hank Pym is doing this, and can’t even see or hear him. For all they know, all of nature has just risen up to completely mess their day up with a vengeance. While it’s under a superhero lens, this is easily something that could become nightmare fodder for me.
The crook reaches for his dropped gun, only for the ants to have beaten him there and filled it with…
Again with the ants and the honey, guys. Come on.
Well, as unscientifically sound as this is, it totally works. The bullet can’t fire, and the guy curses - only to be cut off by another guy’s scream.
Oh, dear sweet Christ. I don’t think I’m getting any sleep tonight at all.
So, having terrorized some communist thugs into submission and saved his co-workers, Hank returns to his lab in quiet and decides to take a bath in his enlarging serum.
Man, this seems like a really bad way to go back to normal. Imagine if someone decided to clean up his lab while he was gone, or if an ant just crawled into the serum while Hank was out and about. And, of course, the spilled formula does not enlarge his desk to ridiculous sizes. I suppose that would be asking for too much. Still, Hank goes back to visit his co-workers, who have pummeled the miserable thugs into submission, and wonders to himself if he’ll ever need to become the Ant-Man again. If he only knew.
It’s really, really weird to not have the hero take the credit for saving the day in the Silver-Age, much less one who won so brutally. However, the series of bizarre retcons surrounding Hank Pym would continue, and we’ll see that happen again when he gains a partner in crime fighting...
