Tales to Astonish! Hank Pym Appreciation 2019

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Tales to Astonish #53 Mar 1964
"Trapped by the Porcupine!"
While putting on a show outside for children at a local orphanage, Giant-Man and the Wasp
are unaware that they are being secretly watched by their foe the Porcupine.
Porcupine uses his armor to cause Giant-Man and Wasp's stunt having Wasp cross between two buildings on Giant-Man's body to fail,

and the two heroes have to prevent falling to their deaths, but Giant-Man hurts his ankle in the fall.

His initial attempt at revenge a failure, Porcupine makes his escape unnoticed.
On his way back to his lab he recounts his first encounter with Giant-Man and Wasp in Tales to Astonish #48.
Back in his lab and in his civilian guise, Porcupine develops a powerful sleeping gas that would even affect Giant-Man's over-sized lungs.

The Porcupine then decides to use the Giant-Man and Wasp fan club as a method to get revenge on the two heroes.
Showing up at a local chapter's club house, he convinces the members to dress up as Giant-Man villains and visit the injured hero to cheer him up.
The fans hardly suspect that they are being duped by the real Porcupine and agree to organize the event.
Upon arriving at Giant-Man's headquarters to visit the injured hero,

Porcupine asks the Wasp who thinks he is just a fan in a very convincing costume
to retrieve a "present" that he had purchased for Giant-Man but forgot in his car.
The Wasp complies and once she is out of the room, the Porcupine strikes, unleashing his gas on everyone.
Giant-Man however shoots up to full size and uses one of his gym rings to spin really fast and disperse the gas.
Giant-Man battles the Porcupine until the villain gets loose and informs the hero that he has captured the Wasp and escapes.

Realizing that the Wasp is heading into a trap, Giant-Man races to her rescue, but cannot prevent
her capture by the Porcupine, and cannot chase after his escape vehicle because of his injured leg.
With the Wasp a prisoner, Giant-Man resolves to find a way to save his partner, in spite of his injuries.

Meanwhile, the Porcupine allows the Wasp to escape, sending a remote control quill to follow her so that
he may find the location of Giant-Man's home and find out the hero's true identity. When the Wasp arrives home,

Giant-Man deduces the Porcupine's plan and destroys the quill, but not before the Porcupine
finds his way to Giant-Man's New Jersey home, and traps the Wasp via sticky paper from his quills.

The two battle inside Giant-Man's home until the Porcupine grabs a number of Giant-Man's
capsules from his belt, thinking they are growing capsules, the Porcupine takes them all.
However, the Porcupine realizes he's made a grave error when he begins to shrink.
Giant-Man cannot stop the process and soon loses the Porcupine, once the villain has shrunk to microscopic size.
After watching the Porcupine shrink down to a single microbe, he frees Jan from the paper, and the two talk about the battle as the story ends.

Script by Stan Lee, art by Dick Ayers.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

I have stopped following Marvel Comics. My best boi still dead?

Do you think he will be in the upcoming Nintendo game?

[maklelin highbain]

I have stopped following Marvel Comics. My best boi still dead?

Do you think he will be in the upcoming Nintendo game?

dead and even his soul has been consumed. So possibly double dead

[Sutekh]

[CENTER]Tales to Astonish #53 Mar 1964
"Trapped by the Porcupine!"

I love the 'science' of the day. 'He's twice as tall, he must weigh twice as much!' The writers didn't even know about the
Square-cube law yet, and that he'd weigh *eight* times as much.

And, thanks to the square-cube law (short-short version; when you square the height, cube the weight. 2x ht? 8x wt. 3x ht? 27x wt. 10x ht? (60 ft). 1000x wt! (90 tons!)), a size changers strength and structural toughness have to increase proportionally, or they'd collapse horribly under their own massive weight, and instead of turning 'sixty foot tall' become a puddle of gore and torn tissue and shattered bones. So yeah, a sixty foot tall Pym should be able to lift a hundred tons or more, and have bones and skin and muscles stronger than titanium, just to support his new weight!

I'm prepared to give the writers a pass, since they didn't have an internet to go look up the square cube law back in the fifties.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

dead and even his soul has been consumed. So possibly double dead

Yes I dropped comics after that came out.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Tales to Astonish #54 Apr 1964
"No Place to Hide!"
Santo Rico has elected a communist president, El Toro. Giant-Man and the Wasp are sent to prove that the election was tampered with.



Script by Stan Lee, art by Don Heck.

[itspopularnowitsucks]

Compared to his current status in comics, I am pleasantly surprised after watching spoilers:

THE newest movie.

end of spoilers

[chamber-music]

Compared to his current status in comics, I am pleasantly surprised after watching spoilers:

THE newest movie.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Perhaps Marvel will bring him back after five years j/k They have a way to de-age Hank and Janet if they want now if they want to do Disney plus show with them. It was cool to see seventies Pym. I would of thought he would of better secured his Pym particles in his lab given how paranoid he is about them being stolen in the MCU. I guess he thought no one would try to steal them off a Shield/military base. It was a shame we never got to see him interact with Tony. We could still see more of his interaction with Howard in flashbacks in any possible movies though

end of spoilers

[Godlike13]

End Game Spoilers.

spoilers:

Hank’s discovery and work saved the universe. So I’m cool with that.

end of spoilers

[chamber-music]

spoilers:

We also got to see Hank's classic helmet design from the comic which was a nice little easter egg

end of spoilers

[itspopularnowitsucks]

End Game Spoilers.

spoilers:

Hank’s discovery and work saved the universe. So I’m cool with that.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I can't believe Pym Particles ends up as important as the Infinity Gems when you consider its role in both the schemes of heroes and villains. Also everyone gets the modern Ant-Man helmets lol.

end of spoilers

[Mary Jay]

It's taking me a lot of will power not to go and read those spoils for the movie, especially since it seems to concern my fav... but I did resist! It's kind of spoiler-y anyway just to know that there's something in the movie concerning Pym, but I would never go and get mad at people for commenting on it Just looking forward to having the opportunity to go and watch the movie myself, which won't be for another week at least After that, I'll be able to join in on the conversation!

And just to be on the safe side, please don't add comments like "oh, bring tissues" or "you'll probably be very sad/happy/pissed/whatever"... cause it's kind of a spoiler in itself.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Thanks One above all for posting TTA #53. The Porcupine rocks! Wish Roger the new Porcupine would turn up somewhere.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Yes, the character is to turn up somewhere since to me it is a shame to let such a long standing super-villain character go to waste.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Tales to Astonish #55 May 1964
"On the Trail of the Human Top!"
The Human Top breaks out of prison;

Giant-Man and the Wasp have to get him back.


Script by Stan Lee, art by Dick Ayers.