8:46 AM
Brad
Cover Date: August 1963
Plot Overview: Ant-Man and Wasp come back from another fruitless patrol. Wasp complains that all the crime has dried up because everyone is afraid of them. Henry suggests they take a vacation and an excited Jan says they should go to Greece. Henry and Jan travel to Greece and start hearing rumors of a monster attacking ships at sea. They eventually hire a boat to investigate.
Henry discovers a species of ant with wings and decides it will come in handy. The Cyclops appears and grabs their ship and heads to the islands. Ant-Man and the Wasp lay low to see what's going on. They discovered several captured sailors and an alien race known as the A-Chiltarians. The aliens are on Earth to test the mental power of humans and the Cyclops is actually a robot used to scare people away from the island.
The aliens have decided that humans are inferior and orders the Cyclops to kill the sailors. Ant-Man and the Wasp split up, due to the Wasp making a rash decision to help the sailors. Ant-Man gets inside of the Cyclops and messes with the internal mechanics until he gains control of the Cyclops with his helmet. This was just in the nick of time because the Cyclops was just about to crush the Wasp and the sailors.
Ant-Man uses the Cyclops to chase the aliens off the planet. Ant-Man then sends the Cyclops to sea to never be seen again. Ant-Man and Wasp return home and Jan says that she can't stand the excitement of another vacation.
The Ridiculous: Ant-Man mentions riding a winged ant like a pegasus.
My Take: This was a fun issue. It felt like they broke the formula up and it worked. I liked the interactions between Henry and Jan, they're starting to play off of each other a lot better. They overcame the challenges in this book in a reasonable manner. I didn't feel like anything really came out of left field, it was a well thought out use of their powers.
The story moved at a really good pace. It felt like the story was constantly moving forward and there weren't many moments of the characters just sitting around planning. I liked how it was kind of set up as a mystery at first with the locals being afraid of a monster. It was more of a natural storyline progression instead of a contrived super hero story. Honestly, I think this issue would hold up well as an old 50s B horror movie or sci-fi movie. It would need to be greatly fleshed out but I think the skeleton of the story for this issue works that well.
The art was really good this issue. Don Heck was the artist and he did a great job. It really felt like the art in this issue was a few steps up from other issues at the time. The characters looked really good and the level of detail to the panels was a welcome change of pace. There was barely any standing in front of nothing going on, there seemed to always be something in the background for each panel.
I'd give this *** out of *****
Notes: This is the first appearance of the A-Chiltarians, who never appear in another Marvel book ever. The Cyclops robot also never shows up again.
Next Issue: Tales of Suspense #44
Posted in: A-Chiltarians,Henry Pym,Tales to Astonish,Wasp
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