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

[Ron M.]

His heroes might have been Jimmy Durante and Cyrano de Bergerac.

[Hoy Murphy]

[Captain Comics]

That's ... astonishing.

Hoy Murphy said:

[Ron M.]

Was this a bet to find a way to use a power in a way it had never been used before? What was in the water cooler at comic book companies back then?

Note the end of the lightning bolt doesn't actually touch his nose.

[Mr. Silver Age]

I like that he explains what we're seeing, in case we're blind. Although I guess we might think the bolts were hitting him in the nose (or just short of his nose).

I'm surprised there isn't a caption, saying "Just then, lightning bolts shoot out of his nostrils!"

-- MSA

[Ron M.]

This is why comics need captions. Because some things are just too goofy for characters to actually say.

[Luke Blanchard]

The writer was Jerry Siegel. I think he's indulging in parody here. His work was often humorous.

[Peter Wrexham]

While we're discussing (or do I mean dissing?) Big Cheese, Big Wig and the rest, notice that the cover of that issue gives the story title as Little man, you've had a busy day. I was never much of a fan of the Atom, but I remember thinking that this was a great title when I saw it on the racks.  In fact, I liked the title so much that, most unusually, I actually bought the issue.  I was really disappointed to find that the title inside the issue was Little man, you've had a Big Gang day.  I felt this change was almost more of a let-down than the Big Gang themselves!

[Peter Wrexham]

Hoy Murphy said:

"Behold --- Lightning-bolts --- crashing out of my nostrils!"

Argh!  I'm sure I've seen that panel somewhere before!  Where's it from?

Lightning Nostril Man is very reminiscent of the sort of character who would make a one-off appearance being rejected for membership of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

 

[Ron M.]

"Little man, you've had a busy day," must have come from something. I remember several Warner Brothers cartoons using the phase.

[Mr. Silver Age]

It's a song standard. Google it, and you can find versions by Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Paul Robeson, Eddy Arnold and others.

That's the kind of references DC made--1940s songs, show tunes unknown to its readers, etc. Whereas Stan and Roy made literary references (often Shakespeare) that readers might have at least run into, especially if they were in college.

-- MSA

[Ron M.]

Like the Ozymandias quote while the kid was kicking Ultron's head around.

My dad had a lot of Eddy Arnold records, never saw that song. All the albums kept using the same songs. They must have put Cattle Call and Turn the World Around the Other Way on half the records of his they released.