Issue(s): Tales To Astonish #45 (Ant-Man/Wasp story only)
Cover Date: Jul 63
Title: "The terrible traps of Egghead!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Plot
Ernie Hart - Script
Don Heck - Penciler
Don Heck - Inker

Review/plot:
Nearly a year into his series, Ant-Man still doesn't have anything representing a rogues gallery. His villains to date have been an assortment of generic criminals, commies, kooks, crazies, monsters, and aliens. That changes this issue, sort of, with the return of Egghead (who i would put in the "kook" category). Pym and Egghead deserve each other; they are actually very similar. Both were rejected by their respective authorities (Pym by the Science Convention for having wacky unworkable ideas, Egghead by the government's atomic research center for suspected treason) and both, despite their supposed intellect, don't really amount to much. Granted Pym has kept the crime rate low in "Center City", but as a scientist he's no Reed Richards, who has some new gadget to show us at the beginning of each issue of the Fantastic Four. Egghead, meanwhile, has been taken in by a pair of common criminals that stumbled into his flophouse, and has grown some unfortunate thing on his face and head.

Egghead's vengeance plot involves an exhibition on wasps and hinges impossibly on the fact that the Wasp, and the Wasp alone, might look into the wasp nest and see that he's stolen a gem.

From there it's iguanas...

...and ant-eaters...

...threats that, again, they could avoid if they would just grow to a normal size. The Wasp is at least effective, grabbing a pin to use as a "stinger".

She gets a scolding for her efforts and Egghead gets back to muttering to himself, but at least he's moved into his own place.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - return of Egghead. Wasp gets a "stinger", sort of.

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Egghead first appeared in Tales To Astonish #38.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Essential Ant-Man vol. 1

Egghead here looks way too much like Burl Ives.

I like this issue.

First, Egghead decides that when you are fighting Ant-Man, an ant-eater is "the ultimate weapon." That is awesome. (If it's not on the cover, it deserves to be.) You know your career as a super hero is in trouble when a guy can go to an Exotic Pet store and find your kryptonite.

The same exotic pet store must have been having a 2-for-1 sale, because the Iguana is pretty awesome too: it really resembles a dragon, and watching Ant-Man fight it was (in spite of the absurdity) exciting.

Still: I am pretty sure Thor never spends his time worrying about Loki finally defeating him with a pair of Japanese fighting-fish. For Ant-Man, though, that's no laughing matter: dude nearly drowned in a bathtub, for goodness sake!

Also, this was the issue that really turned me on to Don Heck as a comics artist. I really dislike his art in the Avengers series, but in a couple of these Ant-Man and Iron Man stories, his individuality as an artist really shines through.

I really wish the High Evolutionary had created an Anteater-Man, who was constantly threatening Hank Pym, no matter what he calls himself this week: "To me, you're just an overgrown ant, doctor..." Sort of like Pym's version of the Man-Beast. Except, instead of a Wolf with the Power Cosmic, he's just an Ant Eater with thumbs.

This is the big problem with all "shrinking heroes" - the most obvious ways to threaten them to build tension also mock their powers and thus make them seem less heroic. Plus, there seems to be few ways that their shrinking powers allow them to do things they couldn't otherwise do. I think it's possible to write an awesome run on Ant-Man (or Atom or other solo shrinking hero), but it'd take an imaginative writer - and unfortunately there are too many hacks out there.

The Atom started off well with Gardner Fox but really nobody since has grasped the possibilities of the character except for Jan Strnad on Sword of the Atom.