Tales to Astonish! Hank Pym Appreciation 2019

[K7P5V]

I did like the Wasp costume, both in itself and for the symbolism of why he took it (not to mention he's the only male superhero who has taken on the mantle of a female hero). But I think he did have a lot of cool costumes through the years. My favorite one is his Giant-Man suit that he had from Avengers Academy on to his death, and the blue and silver Goliath one from Busiek's (I think...) era. The blue and yellow one that Wanda had designed for him back in the days was nice also, as well as the red and bule variant. I'm probably in the minority, but his YJ suit is my least favorite, probably because of the shoulder fins

OMG! Besides the radical color scheme, I thought the shoulder fins were the best part.

I didn't care for the late 90s suit with bare arms and pockets, and the head thing. It just seemed all over the place.

Agreed. I still haven't figured out what the big, letter Y on his chest stood for.

[Mary Jay]

OMG! Besides the radical color scheme, I thought the shoulder fins were the best part.

Agreed. I still haven't figured out what the big, letter Y on his chest stood for.

The shoulders fins are fine when they're not drawn too big... what kind of peripheral vision can one have with those??

And the big Y... I have no idea. It's a sort of recuring theme, he had a similar pattern back on his first Goliath costume, as well as several other Giant-Man suits. Not sure it's meant as a Y, just a pattern on his suit.

[ARkadelphia]

The shoulders fins are fine when they're not drawn too big... what kind of peripheral vision can one have with those??

And the big Y... I have no idea. It's a sort of recuring theme, he had a similar pattern back on his first Goliath costume, as well as several other Giant-Man suits. Not sure it's meant as a Y, just a pattern on his suit.

Yeah. I never saw it as a “Y”. More like suspenders.

[KurtW95]

Poor Hank Pym has been given so much crap. They ought to bring him back and get rid of the two other characters hogging the Giant-Man and Wasp names so Hank and Janet can go back to their roots and we can finally get a new good story with them.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Tales to Astonish #60 Oct 1964
"The Beasts of Berlin!"
When Henry learns that an old buddy has been captured behind the Iron Curtain,

he heads off to East Berlin to mount a rescue;

Using both the powers of Giant-Man and Ant-Man, Hank rescues Lee
and destroys the ray the reds are using to create hyper-intelligent gorillas.

Script by Stan Lee, art by Dick Ayers and Paul Reinman.

[Sutekh]

Man, that picture up there of Pym in the fugly costume (Avengers 393 cover). Dude's got some big veiny guns for someone who, to our knowledge, hasn't seen the inside of a gym *in his life.*

[Mary Jay]

Man, that picture up there of Pym in the fugly costume (Avengers 393 cover). Dude's got some big veiny guns for someone who, to our knowledge, hasn't seen the inside of a gym *in his life.*

We actually saw him train quite a bit back in Tales to Astonish, and has always been drawn as rather muscular. I guess that scientists do like to stay in shape But referring to the picture above, every male superhero was drawn like this in the 90s. I guess it was the fashion trend of the day.

[Mary Jay]

Poor Hank Pym has been given so much crap. They ought to bring him back and get rid of the two other characters hogging the Giant-Man and Wasp names so Hank and Janet can go back to their roots and we can finally get a new good story with them.

There would need to be a writer also who'd be able to write him in character, and respect canon. But of course I agree with you I wouldn't even say "get rid of" the other two characters, just give them their own identity and costume to make them unique (and see how long they last then).

[KurtW95]

There would need to be a writer also who'd be able to write him in character, and respect canon. But of course I agree with you I wouldn't even say "get rid of" the other two characters, just give them their own identity and costume to make them unique (and see how long they last then).

They would have to either retcon Nadia as not Hank’s daughter or get rid of her because she messes up the whole dynamic between the characters.

[Mary Jay]

They would have to either retcon Nadia as not Hank’s daughter or get rid of her because she messes up the whole dynamic between the characters.

I know you don't like her, and I wasn't too keen about her either at first. Now I'm pretty neutral, but she's not really present these days so that might have something to do with it. But she could actually introduce a whole new dynamic between the characters. Starting with why did Janet feel the need to take Nadia under her wing (no pun intended ) She said that she liked the girl, and that there was something about her that made her want to help her. I seem to recall on another occasion she said that Nadia reminded her of Hank on many levels. So does she see a bit of Hank in Nadia, and is that why she feels drawn to helping her? A good writer could have a field trip dwelling into these characters' relationships. I'm not even suggesting anything romantic, but there has always been since day one a bond between Hank and Jan,they were "a team within a team" and maybe Nadia could be the "tool" to make Jan realize a few things and question her true feelings.

Honestly, if a girl came around claiming to be my ex's daughter, that he had with his first wife, do you really think I would want to have anything to do with that girl? Simple answer: hell no.

Not to mention Nadia could very well be the one to succeed in bringing her father back. Meeting him was her main motivation for escaping the Red Room, and this should have been the prime reason why she was created in the first place IMO.

[Sutekh]

Marvel would likely never go there, but there's always the possibility that Nadia is playing a long con, and just a Red Room trained agent pretending to be Hank's daughter (genetically tinkered with to pass paternity tests as such, and perhaps even Manchurian candidated to totally believe the story, through conventional brainwashing, telepathy or some funky cybernetic brain partition).

That would amuse me.

[Mago dos Gatos]

After rereading Janet's first appearence,the flashback in which we see Maria,you can clealy see that police officer tells Hank that they found Maria's body a certain amount of hours after her kidnapping.
So when Marvel told that Maria gave birth to Nadia in the red room,could be seen as a continuity error,an writer could use that inconsistency to tell an story questioning Nadia's kinship to Hank(or whats up with having Maria appear in two different places at different hours).

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Tales to Astonish #61 Nov 1964
"Now Walks the Android"
Putting on a show for hospitalized children, Giant-Man and Wasp are interrupted by police sirens.
Egghead is making a daring escape from the law, escaping into the sewers and seeking refuge in his secret hideout.
He tests out a new device that allows lifeless objects to obey his commands.
He steals a store manikin and brings it back to his hideout.
He coats it in a special wax compound that will allow him to control it with his mind and makes it grow in size.
Egghead begins his plot to pit his android against Giant-Man.

The next day, Giant-Man and Wasp return home in their new Converti-Car, and check their mail.

They find an invitation from a TV studio to create a show based on their adventures.
Giant-Man wants nothing to do with it, but the Wasp talks him into going with her.
Flying to the address, Giant-Man begins to get suspicious.
However, they walk in anyway, and find themselves trapped in the building with Egghead's android.
Egghead tells the heroes that they cannot escape unless they defeat the android.

They also have under an hour to do so; otherwise, the building will run out of air and they will suffocate.

Egghead has the upper hand, until Giant-Man realizes that Egghead experiences the same sensations as the android.
He spins the android around, until Egghead grows dizzy. He forces Egghead to free them before stopping,

and after they are free, they direct the android to walk into the near-by harbor.

Script by Stan Lee. Art by Steve Ditko https://13thdimension.com/13-covers-...celebration-4/
and George Roussos (as George Bell).

[ARkadelphia]

After rereading Janet's first appearence,the flashback in which we see Maria,you can clealy see that police officer tells Hank that they found Maria's body a certain amount of hours after her kidnapping.
So when Marvel told that Maria gave birth to Nadia in the red room,could be seen as a continuity error,an writer could use that inconsistency to tell an story questioning Nadia's kinship to Hank(or whats up with having Maria appear in two different places at different hours).

I want to say that Maria showed up in an englehart WCA as some kind of mutated creature. Her death was retconned and then she died?

[Snoop Dogg]

After rereading Janet's first appearence,the flashback in which we see Maria,you can clealy see that police officer tells Hank that they found Maria's body a certain amount of hours after her kidnapping.
So when Marvel told that Maria gave birth to Nadia in the red room,could be seen as a continuity error,an writer could use that inconsistency to tell an story questioning Nadia's kinship to Hank(or whats up with having Maria appear in two different places at different hours).

The retcon is that people lied

I want to say that Maria showed up in an englehart WCA as some kind of mutated creature. Her death was retconned and then she died?

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