Tales To Astonish #43, May 1963, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Don Heck, Larry Lieber (backup) and Steve Ditko (backup)
MISSION: MARVEL ENTRY #45
Tales To Astonish #42, April 1963, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Don Heck (lead), Joe Sinnott (backup) and Steve Ditko (backup)
Ant-Man fights Jason Cragg, a former radio DJ with a radiated hypnotic voice who turns all the citizens of Ant-Man’s town (New York, right? Isn’t it?) against him. Ant-Man, in true kooky fashion, gives Cragg laryngitis by covering a microphone with germs. Cragg just assumes that his voice, once rid of sickness, will be powerless. And he leaves town.
Yep. Oddly enough, this was enjoyable and…kinda…fun. The origin story for Cragg involves him announcing a dog food commercial over the radio, and listeners going to buy dog food; if they don’t have a dog, they declare they will eat the dog food themselves! It’s silly but fun. Don Heck returns on art, giving us a much more handsome Dr. Pym.
1st Appearance:
- Jason Cragg (later known as, of course, Voice; he goes from wearing a top hat and suit in this issue to looking like this in issues of West Coast Avengers and Captain America in the late ’80s/early ’90s)
My Score: 6.8
MISSION: MARVEL ENTRY #37
Tales To Astonish #41, March 1963, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Don Heck (lead), Joe Sinnott (back-up) and Steve Ditko (back-up)
The plot is basically the exact same as Journey Into Mystery #87: foreign menace captures scientists to build weapon, hero gets caught and usurps from within. Yep. That’s it. Oh, except instead of Russians, it’s aliens from another planet. They are treated with the same amount of menace.
The BIG deal is that this is the first artist switch Marvel Comics has gone through. After 36 issues of Marvel Comics, Jack Kirby is replaced by Don Heck (who also gets his first shot at a lead feature) with this issue. Don Heck will go on to pencil other Marvel titles, notably X-Men. With Heck’s promotion to the minor leagues, Joe Sinnott makes his debut as a back-up penciler. He will go on to work on a ton of Marvel Comics over the next few decades, including Thor. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the back-up artists to get some spotlight time, and I’m surprised that Don Heck is the first. Well, he’s the first to replace Jack Kirby (something that’s going to start happening a lot I imagine; dude draws everything). Steve Ditko already drew the lead in Amazing Fantasy #15, and I think he has some big work ahead…
My Score: 5.3
MISSION: MARVEL ENTRY #34
Tales To Astonish #40, February 1963, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby (lead), Don Heck (back-up) and Steve Ditko (back-up)
Surely you know to follow Mission: Marvel for more.
MISSION: MARVEL ENTRY #28
Tales To Astonish #39, January 1963, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby (lead), Don Heck (back-up) and Steve Ditko (back-up)
The goofiness of Ant-Man continues when the teeny tiny hero encounters an irradiated (and thus sentient) beetle who unites the entire insect world in a bid to overthrow the human race. The insects make a good go at it too, knocking down power lines and stinging world leaders and whatnot. The BEST, absolute BEST, is a panel showing a bunch of insects carrying big cases of dynamite out of a storage facility behind a guard’s back. Turn around dude! Them bugs are jacking your boom boom! Aw man.
Ridiculous.
1st Appearance:
- Scarlet Beetle (even though he loses his intelligence and is just a beetle, the Marvel Universe somehow found a place for him; Scarlet Beetle will show up again Iron Man #44 a decade later, and then again in West Coast Avengers and an Amazing Spider-Man Annual)
My Score: 5.2
Tales to Astonish #38, December 1962, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, Don Heck and Steve Ditko
The introduction of Egghead, a man with a plan as lame as his name. Click on the picture to journey through a tumblr portal to the magical land of Mission: Marvel.
Tales to Astonish #37, November 1962, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, Don Heck and Steve Ditko
Hop on over to Mission: Marvel to read this issue’s review. Come on, it’s just a hop!
Tales to Astonish #36, October 1962, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, Paul Reinman and Steve Ditko
Mission: Marvel is back with new entries about Silver Age Marvel Comics. Go check it out for the review and score. Oh man so much is happening!
MISSION: MARVEL ENTRY #14
1085. Tales To Astonish #35, September 1962, written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck
Another anthology series slowly morphs into a superhero title.
1st Appearances:
- Dr. Henry Pym as Ant-Man
My Score: 5.1
MISSION: MARVEL ENTRY #3
0791. Tales To Astonish #27, January 1962, written by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Joe Maneely, penciled by Jack Kirby, Don Heck, Bob Forgione and Steve Ditko
Henry Pym makes his debut in a rather odd fashion. He stars in a 7 page sci-fi story by Lee and Kirby as a scientist who discovers a shrinking potion (later called Pym Particles) and then gets into a whole lotta trouble with some ants. One ant somehow befriends Pym and helps him reach his enlarging formula. Pym is actually portrayed as insecure yet egotistical, two traits he definitely has currently (especially in the Ultimate universe). Still, it’s odd that this is how he gets his start, especially because the last page says that he gives up on his shrinking formula. I guess that’s the case until Lee realizes that shrinking makes a fun super power and decides to turn this title into a Henry Pym/Ant-Man ongoing with #35. The story itself isn’t anything special, which leads me to think that Pym was lucky to be an already existing character with a power that lent itself to heroics. Otherwise he could have gone the way of the Talking Horse (a star of another short in this issue, who would have made a terrible founding Avenger in Pym’s stead).
The rest of the issue is painfully dull, in a charming 1960s way. The only other cool thing in this issue (which has 4 short comic stories and one text story) is the Lee and Ditko “Dead Planet” short about a conquering alien who lands on a planet that seemingly has no life. He then has to battle his loneliness, which eventually takes him. This is a cool idea and the limited page count only hurts it. I could have done without “Trouble Bubble” and had this instead.
1st Appearance:
- Henry Pym (later known as Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket and Wasp)
My Score: 4.8
