Henry Pym, one of the oldest denizens of the Marvel Universe, has undergone yet another costumed metamorphosis...his new identity is The Wasp (woo, hoo).
My good friend Siskoid notes that, in the latest effort to re-invent Pym, they've essentially made him into Doctor Who. Which is well and good, because ever since Jim Shooter made him a neurotic wife beater, nobody has had the least idea of what to do with him. (Although I should note--adopting the super-hero identity of the dead ex-wife you smacked around sure isn't a sign of stability, at least in my eyes)
But, and I don't say this lightly, Hank Pym was always a bit of a nutbar, even from the early days. After all, Roy Thomas had him creating the Avengers' greatest enemy, having psychotic breaks with reality, and marrying Janet while believing he was someone else, well over a decade before Shooter's demolition of Pym.
And even earlier...well, maybe it was all the size changing, but even under Stan's hands, Pym was a bit off. Note, for example, how he reacts to his fan club (yes, Giant-Man had a fan club):
Sadly, that was the last time Giant-Man would have to worry about having too many fans pestering him...
And if he's such a smart guy, how do you explain his brilliant disguise for sneaking around East Berlin?
Yup, no one would notice him at all...
So anyway, why exactly is Pym so cranky? Why is he sneaking into East Berlin?? That's a story for tomorrow. One hint: DC wasn't the only ones putting gorillas into their comics in the 60s...
Hank Pym, Unstable Super Spy is from Tales To Astonish #60 (1964)
My good friend Siskoid notes that, in the latest effort to re-invent Pym, they've essentially made him into Doctor Who. Which is well and good, because ever since Jim Shooter made him a neurotic wife beater, nobody has had the least idea of what to do with him. (Although I should note--adopting the super-hero identity of the dead ex-wife you smacked around sure isn't a sign of stability, at least in my eyes)
But, and I don't say this lightly, Hank Pym was always a bit of a nutbar, even from the early days. After all, Roy Thomas had him creating the Avengers' greatest enemy, having psychotic breaks with reality, and marrying Janet while believing he was someone else, well over a decade before Shooter's demolition of Pym.
And even earlier...well, maybe it was all the size changing, but even under Stan's hands, Pym was a bit off. Note, for example, how he reacts to his fan club (yes, Giant-Man had a fan club):
Sadly, that was the last time Giant-Man would have to worry about having too many fans pestering him...And if he's such a smart guy, how do you explain his brilliant disguise for sneaking around East Berlin?
Yup, no one would notice him at all...So anyway, why exactly is Pym so cranky? Why is he sneaking into East Berlin?? That's a story for tomorrow. One hint: DC wasn't the only ones putting gorillas into their comics in the 60s...
Hank Pym, Unstable Super Spy is from Tales To Astonish #60 (1964)
This is back when he was Colin Baker, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteHeh -- Colin Baker. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt always used to bug me (Ha! "Bug" me!) that as Giant Man, Hank had insect antenna. What the heck was up with that? Did he forget he wasn't supposed to be a "bug" guy anymore? Yet another sign of his mental instability, I suppose.
In fairness, Sea, he was still doing plenty of shrinkage to Ant-Man in those days. And, at the time, his "cybernetic antennae" were what actually triggered his size changes, according to the story...
ReplyDeleteI love that disguise, but it's still topped in my mind by a classic early Iron Man incident that I call "Iron Man Flies Coach Class."
ReplyDeleteIt's during his first encounter with the Mandarin, and Iron Man has to travel to China to check him out. This is before the days of Iron Man zipping around the world effortlessly in his own armor, which presumably has a significant range limitation. And for some reason, Tony Stark either doesn't have a plane of his own to take or won't use it for secrecy's sake.
So he boards a commercial airliner (and, mind you, a flight or flights going from New York to the vicinity of China, so it's like, 18 hours in the air or something!)
He travels, in coach, wearing his full, bulky, early-days armor. But it's OK, because he's disguised with a (probably borrowed from Ben Grimm) overcoat and hat!
Actually Giant Man's hat works for me! Gives him kind of a pulpy look like the Green Hornet, The Spirit, the Shadow, the Masked Marvel...y'know?
ReplyDelete