Lost but not forgotten: Hank Pym Appreciation 2022

[Celtic1967]

Al Ewing did an interview related to his Ant-Man mini. He mentions liking the black-and-white Essentials that collected old comics, which is the same way I got into Ant-Man which I found kind of funny.

This quote stuck out to me:

I honestly don't know if it's possible to redeem Hank or if we should even want to, but I do think he's the victim of a weird kind of meta-commentary.

Hank has been "redeemed" at least half a dozen times by now. Just fucking move on.


Referring to the early Tales to Astonish Ant-Man, he also says:

If I could bring Hank Pym back into the modern Marvel Universe, that'd be the Hank I'd bring back in.

Doesn't sound like he will/has editorial permission to resurrect Hank Pym. Not optimistic this mini will bring Hank back.

[Frontier]

Al Ewing did an interview related to his Ant-Man mini. He mentions liking the black-and-white Essentials that collected old comics, which is the same way I got into Ant-Man which I found kind of funny.

This quote stuck out to me:


Hank has been "redeemed" at least half a dozen times by now. Just fucking move on.


Referring to the early Tales to Astonish Ant-Man, he also says:


Doesn't sound like he will/has editorial permission to resurrect Hank Pym. Not optimistic this mini will bring Hank back.

I feel like Ewing knows better and is just saying that because that's the company line at this point and why they won't bring Hank back.

Also I feel like his comments about Scott are maybe a little bit retroactive but I like Scott so I guess I don't mind.

Could it be an Eric story without Black Fox?

I'm glad he enjoys writing Jan though.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

“So I guess when I think of the Hank Pym Ant-Man, I'm thinking of Hank before the editorial dissatisfaction with him really started to crawl into his guts. Marvel might not have been happy, but Hank was.”

Al Ewing

This sums it up in a nutshell. I was watching a YouTube video the other day and the guy provided numbers. Hank in Tales to Astonish actually out sold Spider-Man at one point. Tales to Astonish #48 from 1963 sold 189,000 copies. Spider-Man #5 from the same month sold 175,000 copies. How accurate this is I don’t know. Hank held his own agains all of them. Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Human Torch and the Hulk. Only the Fantastic Four sold better. Ironic because by todays standards those are astronomical sales numbers.

[Mary Jay]

Al Ewing did an interview related to his Ant-Man mini. He mentions liking the black-and-white Essentials that collected old comics, which is the same way I got into Ant-Man which I found kind of funny.

This quote stuck out to me:


Hank has been "redeemed" at least half a dozen times by now. Just fucking move on.

Agreed. When I read the article, I felt like he was kind of saying what he thought people were thinking rather than his own opinion. Because if he's such a fan of the character, he would know that he HAS been redeemed, like you said. It gave me the feel of "I'm saying this only because I think this is what people's opinion is"

Referring to the early Tales to Astonish Ant-Man, he also says:


Doesn't sound like he will/has editorial permission to resurrect Hank Pym. Not optimistic this mini will bring Hank back.

I wasn't optimistic to begin with, I just was looking for a nice new Hank and Jan story. On the other hand, if he had plans to bring Hank back, I don't think he would tell us

[Mary Jay]

“So I guess when I think of the Hank Pym Ant-Man, I'm thinking of Hank before the editorial dissatisfaction with him really started to crawl into his guts. Marvel might not have been happy, but Hank was.”

Al Ewing

This sums it up in a nutshell. I was watching a YouTube video the other day and the guy provided numbers. Hank in Tales to Astonish actually out sold Spider-Man at one point. Tales to Astonish #48 from 1963 sold 189,000 copies. Spider-Man #5 from the same month sold 175,000 copies. How accurate this is I don’t know. Hank held his own agains all of them. Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, Human Torch and the Hulk. Only the Fantastic Four sold better. Ironic because by todays standards those are astronomical sales numbers.

Not to mention this fan survey made in 1996 :



And this was more than 30 years after his debut, and 15 years after The Trial of Yellowjacket. Pre-Ultimates, pre-Dissassembled, pre-Bendis.

[Ultimate Captain America]

Deathcry is also on that list

[chamber-music]

the main villain of the piece is an arch Ant-foe that we haven't seen for a little while and one that I've written before.

Any ideas on who this villain is?

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Any ideas on who this villain is?

What villain is common to Hank, Scott and Eric? I never really read irredeemable Ant-Man. I would say Ultron and Egghead are Hank’s two biggest adversaries. It looks like Hank and Jan will be battling all of Hank’s old TTA foes in the first issue. I’m going to guess an Egghead lead group featuring the Human Top (Whirlwind), Porcupine, Black Knight, Magician, Voice, Hijacker to name a few. Scott associated with all of these characters. None of them big enough to be the main villain of all four Ant-Men. Not sure if Eric ever crossed paths with any of them.

I’ll go out on a limb here. Kang the Conqueror! Since he can time travel he can be everywhere and appear in all four books.

Not to mention this fan survey made in 1996 :



And this was more than 30 years after his debut, and 15 years after The Trial of Yellowjacket. Pre-Ultimates, pre-Dissassembled, pre-Bendis.

Hank was more popular than he is given credit for. A very surprising poll. I would have never guessed he would be second. Giant-Man his most popular persona.

[Nomads1]

Not to mention this fan survey made in 1996 :

Very telling of its times this survey. With Crystal so high, above even "classic Avengers" such as Iron Man and Scarlet Witch, then with Force Works, I believe, and fan favorites like Wonder Man, then dead, and with characters such as Deathcry and Thunderstrike in the top 20's. Still, it's proof that Hank was always quite popular that he's in second.

Peace

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Very telling of its times this survey. With Crystal so high, above even "classic Avengers" such as Iron Man and Scarlet Witch, then with Force Works, I believe, and fan favorites like Wonder Man, then dead, and with characters such as Deathcry and Thunderstrike in the top 20's. Still, it's proof that Hank was always quite popular that he's in second.

Peace

Hank will step on the podium now and accept his silver medal.

[stingray]

Deathcry is also on that list

Not sure what your point is. She's #17 with less than a third of the votes Hank got.

[Chris0013]

Really just a minor quibble...but something I find annoying....When Scott first appeared and stole the Ant-Man suit Hank had an estate. Big house..maybe even considered a mansion. But when Nadia shows up it is just a house in the burbs.

[Frontier]

Really just a minor quibble...but something I find annoying....When Scott first appeared and stole the Ant-Man suit Hank had an estate. Big house..maybe even considered a mansion. But when Nadia shows up it is just a house in the burbs.

And now it's all about Pym's Lab...which never seemed to be a thing until the movies.

[chamber-music]

Pym's personal finances and career really seems to fluctuate. He had enough cash from selling patents to fund a superhero career and had a huge apartment sixties. He had his infamous downward spiral in which he blew all his money and went broke. In the years leading up to him being killed off Hank was wealthy again. Hank was dropping six figures investing on shrinking tech in Charles Soules She-Hulk.

Generally I think he is a self made millionaire but on the lower end since he seems to reinvest much of his wealth into his scientific experiments and never really seemed interested in being a businessman or corporate CEO type.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

I remember his Yellow Jacket lair up in the trees. That was a really cool pad. Looking forward to next week and Ant-Man #1.