Tales to Astonish #40

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Cover Date: February 1963

Plot Overview: The Ant-Man is called in by a man named Howard Mitchell. Someone has been hijacking his armored truck shipments of money and he wants it to stop. Ant-Man tells him to announce another shipment. Ant-Man will go along with the shipment and catch the hijacker.

The day arrives but Ant-Man suddenly becomes ill. He leaves the scene to find a doctor so the truck goes on without him. They come across a broken down truck along their path when suddenly a giant magnet pulls them into the truck. Gas knocks them out and a man called the Hijacker appears.

Just then Ant-Man pops out and reveals he was faking the sickness. The Hijacker chases Ant-Man into the engine of the truck. Ant-Man manages to pull the mask off of the Hijacker and he falls victim to his own gas. The police arrive to find that Howard Mitchell is the Hijacker. He reveals that his company was losing money and that he came up with this scam to make it back. The issue ends with the police saying that even when the Ant-Man fails he still wins.

My Take: This was a pretty ridiculous issue and further showed why Ant-Man doesn't work by himself. The battle with the bad guy just felt contrived and I didn't realize the gas was still in play when Ant-Man pulled his mask off. I just did not care for this issue at all. The Hijacker as the name was silly. It wasn't original and reeked of one shot.

The art was really good for this issue though. That was the one redeeming quality to the whole thing. It was top notch for what I've seen in these issues so far. The amount of detail to the characters was really good. Kirby did a really great job on this issue.

I'd give this issue *1/2 out of *****

Notes: There was nothing of note with this issue.

Next Issue: Journey Into Mystery #89

Posted in: Henry Pym,Tales to Astonish