That's Just Dumb

Doug: Some things, in the hands of the ignorant, are dangerous. As this is the endless season of elections here in the States, we are inundated with poll after poll. But it's a poll I saw on Twitter a couple of days ago (and actually voted in) that has drawn my ire. Have a look for yourself:

Doug: Really? Now you all could guess that I voted for Goliath. Yup -- finished dead last. Check out the number of voters. Over 13K... and over 8100 of those nitwits chose Ant-Man as their favorite alias of Hank Pym? Clearly, these weren't Bronze Age Babies voting in this poll.

This Cover Made Me Buy This Book runs head-on into That's Just Dumb

Doug: Occasionally a comic book cover would be so freaking awesome that 10-year old me could not avert mine eyes. Morbius going at the throat of Bashful Benjy? What the heck is not to love? That is, until adult you ponders the physical, nay the universal order, ramifications of the power of the Living Eraser. Then I'm left with "that's just dumb".

Doug: If you didn't know, the Living Swipe-meister has been around for awhile:

Discuss: The Big Guys (and Gal)

 

Project Pegasus: Just Because You're a Regular-Sized Genius Doesn't Mean You Aren't a Big Dope

Marvel Two-In-One #55 (September 1979)
"Giants In the Earth!"
Mark Gruenwald/Ralph Macchio-John Byrne/Joe Sinnott

Doug: Hey, hey -- Project Pegasus, part three lands today! So far we've seen Ben established as a security honcho at PP, a budding friendship between he and Quasar, Wundarr in a coma-like state, Thundra rasslin', a strange version of Deathlok, and a mole named Lightner who is trying to throw a big monkey wrench into our heroes' lives. So let's hit the ground running with this one, as we open with a super-hero poker game!

Karen: Ben and poker games would become synonymous after this. There were a number of times in later stories where he and his super-hero friends would play cards together.

Doug: As fate would have it, the cards are interrupted by a security alert. At the conclusion of issue #54, bad boy Lightner had unleashed Nuklo, the radioactive mutant son of the Whizzer and Miss America. Nuklo is a glowing giant but with an infant's mind. Now he's on the loose, wandering about like any confused child lost in a department store would. As Ben, Quasar, and the other operatives make their move, Ben falls in with resident big brain Bill Foster.

Karen: What is it with Ben and super-nerds? Just as an aside, I really liked the map of Project Pegasus in issue 53, and we get another look at it, on a monitor, in this story. It was just a little something extra that was fun.

Doug: I recall Foster from his days in the pages of the Avengers, working alongside Hank Pym. I enjoyed the brief time Foster had his own mag as Black Goliath, and felt his guest-appearance in the Champions was all too short. But I have to tell you -- in this book he is anything but a hero. Here's why: Foster and the Thing are on an elevator, when (unbeknownst to them) Nuklo stops it from moving, and then begins to drive the car upward to the ceiling. Ben tries to stop it, but with a wounded wing (from Deathlok in the last ish) he proves ineffective. To his shock, Foster suddenly bursts out of his civvies and emerges from the rags a Black Goliath!

Karen: You think it was unheroic because Foster didn't grow immediately? I don't know, I never thought of it that way. I just assumed it took him a few moments to do it. That's funny how we interpreted this scene so differently!

Doug: Oh, no -- I'm sorry. My "hero" comment is really directed at Foster's overall activity in this story. I'm going to be a little hard on him here in a couple of minutes. And as to Bill's delay in dealing with the elevator problem -- I'd just write that off to being a neophyte in the super-hero business. But if he'd really wanted to make an impression on Ben...

Karen: I see. I agree with you regarding his Champions appearances -I'd have liked to see him become a regular. Of course the title itself didn't last very long. Now his claim to fame is being killed by that odious Thor-clone in Civil War. The guy really got a raw deal pretty much his entire career!

Doug: Nuklo tires of the game and wanders away, as Foster recounts his origin to Ben. Ben suggests that Foster, who's expressed a lack of confidence in the hero game, make a clean break with the Black Goliath identity and rechristen himself Giant-Man. He does, and off they go. Meanwhile, Quasar has figured that it's Nuklo on the loose and attempts to channel the radioactivity through his wristbands and out of the facility. Then we cut to Thundra, wrestling at Madison Square Garden. Only this time she loses, by dishonorable means.

Karen: Foster's new costume has a little more pizazz than the previous one. I liked Ben's suggestion to Foster to rename himself Giant-Man, because we finally moved away from that silly Black Whatever that all African American heroes from this time period seemed stuck with. As Ben said, "It's pretty obvious you're black."

Doug: Ben also remarked on the "bare belly" aspect of that former suit... Remember when they tried that with Ms. Marvel as well? It was, after all, the Swingin' '70's!!

Karen: The fight between Thundra and the cheating Titania was well-drawn but seemed a little long. I'm surprised a needle could easily penetrate Thundra's skin, but then, I don't know if she was ever considered to be all that invulnerable, despite her strength.

Doug: As Ben and Giant-Man round a corner, they see one of the Project's doctors seemingly being menaced by Nuklo. Foster wants to charge headlong into a fight, but Ben stops him. Ripping open a lead door, Ben molds the metal into "gloves" and affixes them to Giant-Man's hands. Now the battle is joined. And it's really sort of sickening. Authors Gruenwald and Macchio had played up Nuklo's mental level, and Foster's brutal onslaught (all the while rationalizing to himself that he's just gotta make an impression as a hero) just gave me a sense of child abuse.

Karen: I understand what you're saying. Seen from that angle, it does look pretty ugly. However, I was never sure if either Ben or Giant-Man really knew that Nuklo was mentally handicapped. I liked the fact that Ben was canny enough to make the lead gloves for Foster. He's an old vet and should know stuff like that. Foster's eagerness to make his mark seems excessive, but makes more sense by next issue. I actually felt a little sorry for him when Ben sends Nuklo flying. Compared to the power Ben possesses, Giant-Man is strictly minor leagues.

Doug: Yep, it's actually Ben who ends the fight, with one punch. And it's a lucky one, as Nuklo ends up in a sort of anti-grav stasis ring. Giant-Man gets introspective in a self-pity-party, and then the boys get their butts chewed by Nuklo's scientist-guardian. Lastly, we get a recap of Wundarr's origin and backstory, and then the mystery really deepens as Wundarr suddenly snaps awake to the sound of voices in his head, telling him that when he awakens for good -- nothing will stop him!

Part Eleven: The Debonair Looks of Hank Pym

Doug: It's time to put Dr. Henry Pym under the microscope. That's an Ant-Man joke... Get it? OK, yeah -- so I knew it wasn't funny when I wrote it. Anyway, today we're going to take a look at the super-suits of ol' Hank, a fella who's had about as many outfits as his lovely wife, the Winsome Wasp. So, to begin, let's go ahead and hearken back to the Ant-Man days and the beginnings of the Marvel Age of Comics!

Doug: When Hank first appeared way back in January 1962 in the pages of Tales to Astonish #27, he was just a guy in civvies. Nothing to speak of, but given the fact that he looked like Wally Cleaver, I'm going to vote "fashion disaster"! Hey, you dress like that and then shrink yourself, you deserve to get chomped on by green ants (where the heck had Kirby seen green ants??)!

Karen: Just an aside here: I actually used to have Tales to Astonish 27. I inherited it from my uncle. I wound up selling it on eBay about ten years ago. I really wish I hadn't, but que sera, sera. And yes, Doug, I think green ants are pretty weird.

Doug: In the fall of that same year, the Ant-Man was brought back, but this time as a superhero. Hank now sported some longjohns (complete with the standard superhero jockey shorts worn on the outside of the pants!), and I'll say that this is a good look. I always liked the red/blue combination, and I've always liked Hank's cybernetic helmet. I'm not sure exactly what Kirby was going for with the design on the chest, though. Oh, and the vials on the belt are sort of cool, too (although not pictured here). Good-looking Silver Age suit!

Karen: You know, I've always liked it too, although there's precious little here that says "ant". Sure, the helmet is vaguely ant-like, although as a kid it always made me think more of astronauts. But I dig the red and blue color scheme. Is the dot on his chest supposed to symbolize the ant's thorax? I dunno, I would say that's reaching but I'll throw it out there.

Doug: Of course Hank couldn't sit still -- must be the scientist in him, always greedy for more information, the successful completion of new experiments. By Tales to Astonish #49 (November 1963) he had changed not only his name, but his powers as well. Now calling himself Giant-Man (and interestingly not reverting to the Ant-Man identity for many years -- Hank did not grow/shrink as one might have expected), Hank's costume was inspired by his former Ant-Man duds. He could still control ants, but the cybernetic helmet was now built into his mask. I'm sure some of Tony Stark's transistors helped in that innovation! Love this suit, too, in all it's variations. My favorite, though, and perhaps it's because it's so darned ugly, is the G-M outfit with the huge blue helmet that he wore c. Avengers #16. Wow -- nice chapeau, dude! Oh, and regarding the cover to TTA #49... Is this a refugee from Silver Age DC, or what?

Karen: He was already sort of schizoid even way back when, as he couldn't entirely ditch his Ant-Man persona, keeping the ant design even when he became Giant Man. He might not have had the helmet -which was the coolest thing about his original costume -but he did put little antenna-like deals on his mask! That other outfit though -holy cow, that's a pretty ugly one!

Doug: My personal fave was designed by Dandy Don Heck and debuted in Avengers #28, one of the first issues of that mag that I ever laid eyes on (albeit in the reprinted version in Marvel Triple Action). Man, I still love that story! The first Goliath outfit is a classic with the blue and yellow, the visor (that Hank would sport really for the rest of his career, or at least until pretty recently), the lines running up the arms and legs that accentuate his height... It's just a very well-thought design, and one that really wouldn't look too bad by today's standards. Even though Hank switched out the blue/yellow for red/blue later and added antennae to the mask, this is still the costume I see in my mind whenever I hear or think of "Goliath". And the name's great as well -- I'd assume the kudos for that are headed for Stan, Marvel's great wordsmith. Color scheme, design, mask -- all combine to make either version of the Goliath costume a success.

Karen: I have to say I miss the red and blue, but it's not a bad outfit. Though he still retains some of the ant elements - I always thought the goggles had a sort of iridescent, insect eye look.

Doug: Lastly, we come to Hank's Yellowjacket look. A departure from the growth powers led Dr. Pym to reinvent himself as a companion hero to his wife's Wasp. Never mind that this also began the downfall of Hank Pym to anti-hero, wife-slapper, and general whipping boy of the Marvel Universe. Let's stick to the clothes. The Yellowjacket costume is quite inspired. First drawn by John Buscema and debuting in Avengers #59, the yellow and black color scheme is very eye-catching. The focal point of the outfit, though, are the wings. While very cool-looking, I have to question the functionality of the design. My biggest question, and this varies greatly depending on the artist of the given story, is how does he have any peripheral vision? If the artist draws the wings too much to the fore of the suit, then there is no way that Hank could see beyond them. If, however, the wings are drawn as primarily to the rear of the suit, that vision would be restored. It would just be sitting down without leaning forward that would be a problem. So because of this slight design flaw, I'm going to have to say that this is a great-looking outfit, but withhold my utmost praise on questions of outcomes.
Karen: I was never sure how those "wings" even functioned. They're just big shoulder pieces! But it's a pretty decent look, especially when the dark portions are colored as black or a deep purple.

Doug: Oh, I suppose we should mention one more set of clothes, since said look did fall into our Bronze Age timeframe, and that would be Hank's appearance while simply known as "Dr. Pym". Yeah... Well if you thought he was lame in his first appearance, I think he's broken the lame-o-meter with this exit. And he should exit the look as quickly as possible!

Karen: Well, he really didn't wear a costume during the "Dr. Pym" years, just some funky coveralls. I don't know which was less inspiring, that or Wonder Man's 'safari jacket' look. I'm not even going to bring up his latest outfit, the one he's worn as "The Wasp". I'm not reading Avengers Academy so I don't know if he's keeping that name. Ugh.

Karen: All in all, I'd give Hank the thumbs up, particularly for his Ant-Man look, which is such a classic.