Ant-Man/Atom

[Hoy Murphy]

Word is that Mr. Silver age will be hosting a Trivia panel at C2E2 this weekend and because of the movie this summer, some of the questions will feature my favorite Marvel super-hero, Ant-Man. By coincidence, I just finished reading DC's Atom archives. Here are some similar covers featuring the two characters.

Some of these are a stretch, but close enough. And good luck at the trivia panel, Craig!

--your pal, Hoy

[Hoy Murphy]

[Captain Comics]

That last one seems a little gross. Wouldn't some of those ants get squooshed? Then he'd have ant-goo on his uniform.

[Philip Portelli]

Collective Ant-Mind: "This is getting ridiculous! Like we have nothing else better to do! The Aphids aren't going to enslave themselves! We would've introduced him to the Grasshoppers a long time ago but he does leave us sugar every day!"
 
Hoy Murphy said:

[Hoy Murphy]

[Hoy Murphy]

[Hoy Murphy]

[Andrew Horn]

No one said this yet but did anyone notice that the top two covers are both Gil Kane?

Andy

[Luke Blanchard]

That's an interesting observation!

I like the Don Heck Hank and Jan panel. I shows why Heck had a reputation for drawing attractive women.

[Ron M.]

Was that a test to see if Ant-Man would work in a team book? Notice how the Wasp was not invited to "The Micro-World of Dr. Doom!" He says bye to her and takes off. Was Stan uncertain whether she was going to stay in the series or not at that point?

There are rumors that Tales of Suspense didn't have a superhero for so long because they were considering Bee-Man. But with an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man, that would have made Marvel too full of bugs. Although a Bug Team might have been interesting. But then the Avengers would have just had three members. Unless they brought back and tossed in Dr. Droom.

[Mr. Silver Age]

Was Stan uncertain whether she was going to stay in the series or not at that point?

I think Hank was just being protective of the little lady. There was a lot of that going around in the early days. Or maybe the thinking was that Hank, as the leader of the team, was their representative to the adventure so things didn't get too crowded. Kind of the way only Hawkman could join the JLA and Hawkgirl had to stay home.

It could be that Stan didn't want to divide the fans' attention when he was still establishing Hank. Or, possibly, he feared Jan would overshadow Hank by being more quippy (ie, more Stan-like) and make Hank look bland.

Or maybe he figured that a team of Ant-Man AND the Wasp would be too much for Doctor Doom to handle and he couldn't plausibly make the battle last very long. Yeah, that's the ticket.

-- MSA

[Hoy Murphy]

[Richard Willis]

Mr. Silver Age said:

I think Hank was just being protective of the little lady. There was a lot of that going around in the early days. Or maybe the thinking was that Hank, as the leader of the team, was their representative to the adventure so things didn't get too crowded. Kind of the way only Hawkman could join the JLA and Hawkgirl had to stay home. It could be that Stan didn't want to divide the fans' attention when he was still establishing Hank. Or, possibly, he feared Jan would overshadow Hank by being more quippy (ie, more Stan-like) and make Hank look bland.

Based upon all of the other books in those days, I don't think they wanted (knew what to do with) more than one woman in an adventure.Also, this was back when Sue had a very passive power. Jan would have made her look weak.