12:38 PM
Brad
Cover Date: July 1963
Plot Overview: We catch up with Egghead who has taken refuge in a flop house since his last battle with the Ant-Man. We get a brief recap of Tales to Astonish #38. Egghead overhears two thugs who were foiled recently by Ant-Man. Egghead recruits them so that he can plot his revenge against Ant-Man.
Egghead decides that the easiest way to lure out Ant-Man is to trap the Wasp. To do this he takes on the identity of Professor Carl Striker. He designs a zoo exhibit for wasps to lure the Wasp in. They then steal a valuable gem so and place it so that the Wasp will decide to investigate.
Janet Van Dyne visits the exhibit and sees the gem. She decides to go it alone so that she can prove herself to Ant-Man. She returns as the Wasp and is caught in Egghead's trap. She sends a signal to Ant-Man who arrives on the scene shortly afterwards.
Egghead traps Ant-Man in a glass case and has him battle an iguana. Ant-Man makes short work of the reptile and asks the cage. Egghead then releases an ant-eater. Ant-Man uses his steel rope and tosses the ant-eater into Egghead and his men. Egghead and his men try to use gas on Ant-Man but the Wasp uses a long nail as a stinger and disarms all the men. The day is won but Egghead has managed to escape. Henry Pym scolds Janet about going off on her own. He says that they're a team and they need to work as a team. Janet of course thinks to herself about how in love with Henry she is. Egghead vows revenge as the story comes to a close.
My Take: This might be the best splash page of all time but sadly the promise of ant-eater mayhem was only a few panels worth of this comic. Really, this whole issue was kind of a plodding affair. This book was just stuffed full of text and it really felt more like reading a novel at times than it does reading a comic.
Granted, I love the Silver Age logic at work in this issue. Janet Van Dyne has the identity of the Wasp so she would obviously be interested in everything Wasp. I just love how that somehow makes sense to people in the Marvel Universe at the time.
Other than that bit of cheese the rest of the story was pretty boring. I was looking forward to Henry Pym being developed more with Janet around but they were barely in this issue. On top of that, Egghead is kind of a boring villain. His plot was kind of ridiculous but what can you really do with a superhero that shrinks as his power.
Really, this is the only title that's not working right now. The concept just doesn't work on a month to month basis. I do like Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne as characters a lot but I like them in the Avengers but as characters carrying their own book. This book just feels tedious most of the time.
I give this *1/2 out of *****
Notes: There was nothing to note about this issue. Though the super-hero stories have started expanding to 13 page stories instead of 10 page stories.
Next Issue: Tales of Suspense #43
Posted in: Egghead,Henry Pym,Tales to Astonish,Wasp
0 comments:
Post a Comment