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

[Mr. Silver Age]

I'll bet it took a lot of transistors to build that helmet! He should've used a fragment of white dwarf star, possibly with the polarity reversed.

-- MSA

[Luke Blanchard]

According to Wikipedia, ants communicate using "pheromones, sounds, and touch". They smell with their antennae and use them to "detect... air currents and vibrations" and to communicate through touch.

[Richard Willis]

Looking at the Wikipedia article you mention, I see the following:

"Two antennae ('feelers') are attached to the head; these organs detect chemicals, air currents, and vibrations; they also are used to transmit and receive signals through touch."

I guess Stan jumped to the conclusion that they used radio-like signals.

[Ron M.]

Stan also admitted he had no clue what transistors actually did and described them completely wrong. When in doubt, fake it!

[Hoy Murphy]

[Randy Jackson]

I'd forgotten about that one, but it was Haney. Does a Haney story ever require a Mopee?

Mr. Silver Age said:

and for using Batman's dead body as a zombie-fighting machine.

[Randy Jackson]

I don't recall, so I have to ask: were their costumes specially treated with unstable molecules so they could shrink and expand as they did?

[Hoy Murphy]

Yes indeed! Unstable molecules were first mentioned in the first Ant-Man story in Tales to Astonish 35, which came out two weeks before they were first mentioned in Fantastic Four #6!

Hoy

[Mr. Silver Age]

Does a Haney story ever require a Mopee?

Most Haney stories were certainly in the running for Mopee Awards. But, much as with Lois and Jimmy stories, it seemed unfair to take them out of the running altogether. It'd be like not making Meryl Streep eligible for the Oscars or Michael Jordan eligible to be MVP. They don't win every year, but they probably would if we didn't want to spread the awards around.

In that case, the story won because it was one of the most ludicrous just-post-SA stories, which I teamed with the MTU story in which Hercules towed Manhattan back into place after it was "cast adrift" and got it backwards. The awards were going to groups of stories that year, and those two made a perfect match.

And yes, as Hoy's panel back on page two indicates, Hank used unstable molecules in his costume. In fact, as my Trivia Quiz this year notes, thanks to Hoy's suggestion (spoiler warning!) Hank was the first person to mention "unstable molecules" in the Marvel Universe, beating Mr. F by two weeks.

Neither Trivia Team knew that (the Fans, at least just to be sure it wasn't a trick question, answered FF), but someone in the audience knew. But let's face it, if it wasn't in FF, and it wasn't whatever Mark answered, the choices were getting really limited.

-- MSA

[Ron M.]

So Hank Pym invented unstable molecules. Reed Richards must have stolen his patent. The Official Guide to the Marvel Universe said Reed came up with them. Poor Hank. He lost credit for coming up with those things, and now he loses credit for Ultron.

It could have been Strange Tales, since the FF were making guest appearances there. Thor...probably not as likely, unless of course making molecules unstable was the new hammer of the month power.

Maybe one year you should do a Jimmy and Lois Mopee contest, see which of them had the goofiest stories and how close the other came to winning. At least one of them deserves a Lifetime Mopee Award.

[Richard Willis]

Ron M. said:

So Hank Pym invented unstable molecules. Reed Richards must have stolen his patent. The Official Guide to the Marvel Universe said Reed came up with them. Poor Hank. He lost credit for coming up with those things, and now he loses credit for Ultron.

Would somebody really want to take credit for Ultron?

[Ron M.]

This suggests a scene of Iron Man and Ant-Man pointing fingers at each other, both yelling "He did it!"