Tales to Astonish 38

Betrayed by the Ants!

by

Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

The New York criminal underworld is in disarray. Since the Ant-Man has begun his fight against crime, their numbers have dwindled significantly. A trio of crooks have come to the conclusion that they need somebody smarter than them to take on the Ant-Man himself. In Washington D.C. scientist Elihas Starr, nicknamed "Egghead", is on trial by the U.S. Atomic Energy Board for selling information to foreign interests. After arguing that they have no proof of his misconduct, the senators promptly fire the scientist. Having read about this incident in the papers, the three gangsters decide this is just the man they need.

After being hired for $10,000 by the gangsters, Egghead starts studying up on Ant-Man and his ants. Viewing footage of the hero and reading books on ants, Egghead comes to the conclusion that Ant-Man must be able to contact the ants with electronic signals through their antennae. Egghead rigs up his own device to communicate with the ants.

On the outskirts of town, Egghead finds an anthill. He uses his communication device to probe the hole in the hill and translate a message to them. He tells the ants that they are no longer bound to Ant-Man's rule. He will free them from his enslavement if they follow his plan. The following Thursday evening, Egghead and the crooks will rob a museum. If the ants bring Ant-Man to him during it, Egghead will catch him in a trap made of flypaper. Proclaiming the ants will do as he says since he appealed to their sense of vanity and greed, Egghead promptly shows the trio of crooks how flypaper works.

Thursday night arrives and Egghead and his cronies are stealing the Wentworth Necklace at the museum. Before long Ant-Man arrives, mounted on ant-back, with a trail of the insects following him up the side of the building. Egghead sees him as soon as the hero enters through the window. He promptly blasts him with air through a bellows. Ant-Man is forced off his insect and plummets into a box completely lined with the dreaded flypaper. Egghead gloats over the fallen hero as he proclaims that the ants have betrayed him.

Suddenly the Ant-Man rises to his feet. Unhindered by the sticky paper, the hero hits a button on boots. Springs emerge from the soles of his boots and Ant-Man springs out towards the crooks. Missing the Ant-Man with a punch, one of the gangsters smashes his hand against a suit of armor. Ant-Man then ties his wrist in a lasso made of unbreakable nylon fiber and spins him around the room. He then proceeds to hide from the other two crooks.

As the remaining gangsters search for Ant-Man, the ants they had assumed turned on Ant-Man attack them. From the ceiling, the ants drop a giant sheet of flypaper over them. The gangsters waiting outside quickly realize their scheme is failing and try to book it. When they reach their vehicles, they discover all of their tires are flat. Also, their keys are all missing.

In a panic, the gangsters hear the incoming police sirens. They give themselves up and are taken into custody. As the cops round everyone except a hiding Egghead up, Ant-Man explains how he beat everyone. The ants do not see themselves as slaves to Ant-Man. The ants are considered friends and partners to the hero. Furthermore, they do not even possess the capabilities of feeling greed or vanity as humans do. Instead of turning on him, the insects told Ant-Man Egghead's entire scheme so he could plan accordingly; dousing himself in a liquid chemical that made him immune to the flypaper's stickiness; flattening the car tires outside the museum; stealing the gangsters's car keys. With Egghead beat, he is forced into hiding from both law enforcement and the criminal underworld. He finds shelter in a Bowery district flophouse, muttering how the ants had beat him as the other derelicts look on.

Notes/Thoughts:

Firsts: The introduction of Egghead. His name is Elihas Starr, but they haven't said that in this issue, only referring to him as Egghead. The first of the three main Henry Pym villains (Egghead, Whirlwind, Ultron.)

The Good: Keeping Ant-Man out of the way. If you're going to have a character with limited personality like Henry Pym in the early years, I think it's best to have plots where we only see him to foil the bad guys.

The Bad: Egghead isn't very good at learning about ants. Also, Ant-Man's explanation about the feelings of greed and vanity being primitive human traits isn't exactly right. I'm no antspert, but most of the science regarding the ants seems very off.

The Ugly: The artwork in this issue is some of the worst we've seen so far. The splash page has Egghead at such and angle that his neck should be broken to twist like that. There aren't any "world from Ant-Man's perspective" moments that are interesting this time.

Speculation: I was thinking while reading this story, that Ant-Man may be the most influential crime fighter of all of the upcoming heroes. His tactics are actually causing the entire criminal underbelly to change where they have to hire discredited scientists like Egghead and people with powers to get anything done. Which is why when Spider-Man and Daredevil become more predominant, they are facing these animal-costumed villains. Instead of committing some big robbery, the gangsters have to hire people like Rhino or Doctor Octopus to help them.

List Opinions: An inauspicious beginning for a less than stellar villain who goes on to be semi-important later? That sounds like The Wizard to me. At least the plot makes a little more sense in this one. I'm sticking it between the first appearance of The Wizard in Strange Tales #102 and Henry Pym's first appearance in Tales to Astonish #27

List:

1. Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
2. Fantastic Four #1
3. Fantastic Four #4
4. Incredible Hulk #1
5. Fantastic Four #5
6. Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
7. Fantastic Four #6
8. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
9. Fantastic Four #9
10. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
11. Fantastic Four #2
12. Fantastic Four #8
13. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
14. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
15. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
16. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
17. Incredible Hulk #4a
18. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
19. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
20. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
21. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #38
22. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
23. Fantastic Four #3
24. Incredible Hulk #2
25. Fantastic Four #7
26. Incredible Hulk #4b
27. Tales to Astonish #37
28. Incredible Hulk #3
29. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101

Next Issue: The Hulk journeys to Subterranea in his most ambitious story yet.

Journey into Mystery 87

Prisoner of the Reds

by

Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

Scientists from around the United States have been mysteriously defecting to the Soviets. With no more than a letter explaining their absence to their loved ones. Having seen the news report on this, Donald Blake determines to get to the bottom of these disappearances. As he makes plans to contact an old Colonel friend of his, Jane Foster shows up to give him allergy and vitamin pills for his trip to Washington. On the plane ride, Blake wishes he could tell Jane he loves her, but fears she will always only see him as a weak man.

Inside Colonel Edward Harrison of the U.S. Intelligence's office, Don Blake reveals his plan. Blake says he will set himself up as bait, claiming he has discovered a new biological weapon. When the Reds come, he'll discover how they are stealing the scientists. What he really plans on doing is when the Soviets show up, he'll turn into Thor, but he's not going to reveal his secret identity to the Colonel. The Colonel agrees. After leaving, Don turns into Thor to fly back to his office in New York.

Days later, a Soviet agent reads the headline "Doctor Develops New Virus For Germ Warfare!" on a newspaper. The agent arrives at the lab of Don Blake disguised as a photographer. He claims to be working for a magazine. As he raises his camera to take a photo, a gas suddenly bursts in Don's face. The gas puts the doctor in a trance-like state, leaving him subject to the communist agent's commands. He orders Blake to write a farewell note in his office, before making him board a plane to Russia.

Hours later in Russia, Don Blake finds himself imprisoned along with all of the other American scientists who had "defected". As Blake comes to from the gas, he ponders how he is going to maintain his secret identity with all of these scientists around. Luckily at that moment, the guards have decided to divide the men up to prevent any unity that may form. After being put into a cell alone, Blake strikes his cane into the ground and transforms into the Norse god of thunder, Thor.

The mighty Thor attacks the Reds. In his cell, Thor spins Mjolnir around until it creates a great shockwave that shatters the stone walls of his captivity. The Russians watch in awe as he breaks free. Before they can fire at him, Thor rubs his hands against the head of his hammer, in order to emit bright sparks from the friction, which blinds the soviet men. Before he can go further, the soviets spring a trap door from under Thor's feet. He falls down into a pool of water filled with deadly sharks. Thor escapes by creating a whirlpool to stun the sharks before he flies back up.

Rising back to the surface, Thor confronts the men who triggered the shark trap. Before he can attack, they threaten to self-destruct the entire fortress which will kill everyone, including the scientists. Thor relinquishes his fight and lets himself become captive. The Soviets restrain him in electrically treated chains. These thick, bulky, treated chains are enough to keep Thor captive as the guards figure out how to lift Thor's hammer.

After 60 seconds have passed, the guards have left Thor alone and he undergoes his transformation back into Don Blake. This makes him small enough and skinny enough to slip through the restraints and grab his cane back off the floor. Stamping it down, he becomes Thor again. He immediately goes to set the scientists free before the Soviets know what is going on. He uses Mjolnir to create an underground tunnel for the scientists to escape from to the outside. Thor returns inside the fortress to confront the rest of the Reds.

Rounding a corner, Thor runs right into the Soviets. He slams his hammer into the ground and prays to his all-mighty father Odin to send a storm to destroy this stone building. Thor's pleas are answered as a raging wind and rain pound down on the stone fortress. Lightning crashes into the building, forcing walls and towers to collapse under their power. The Soviets argue among themselves as they emerge from the ruins. Thor lets them go believing they will punish themselves.

After the storm ends, Don Blake meets up with his fellow scientists. He tells them that Thor had rescued him and he's just now catching up. Sneaking through the Russian underground, Don leads the scientists to a ship headed back to the States as they all praise Thor. Back in his lab, Don tells Jane of his adventure. Jane expresses her gratitude and love of Thor as Don looks on wishing he could tell her the truth.

Notes:

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. This is about the most basic commie plot you can get. It's got a soviet spy, strange disappearances, hypnotizing gas, man-eating sharks and bumbling Soviet soldiers, but it isn't terrible. I like this one better than most of the Ant-Man ones so far. I think mainly due to Thor being a much grander figure than Ant-Man. There's some tiny character beats with Don Blake and Jane Foster, but they aren't anything we haven't seen before. I like that there isn't some "boss" commie, it's just some regular Soviet soldiers who get beat.

The best part is when Thor is calling on Odin to storm up the fortress. I wish there were more panels detailing that than Thor dropping into a pit of sharks.

I'm a bit disappointed they got out of Russia so fast. If they had started doing story arcs at this point, seeing Don Blake leading the scientists out of communist country and maintaining his secret identity could be an interesting story on its own.

List Notes:

I'm placing it right between Journey into Mystery 86 and Tales to Astonish 36. It reminds me a lot of the Comrade X story in Ant-Man, but doesn't have some of the more interesting stuff going on when Thor fought Zarrko in the previous issue of JIM.

List:

1. Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
2. Fantastic Four #1
3. Fantastic Four #4
4. Incredible Hulk #1
5. Fantastic Four #5
6. Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
7. Fantastic Four #6
8. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
9. Fantastic Four #9
10. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
11. Fantastic Four #2
12. Fantastic Four #8
13. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
14. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #87
15. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
16. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
17. Incredible Hulk #4a
18. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
19. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
20. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
21. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
22. Fantastic Four #3
23. Incredible Hulk #2
24. Fantastic Four #7
25. Incredible Hulk #4b
26. Tales to Astonish #37
27. Incredible Hulk #3
28. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101

Next Issue: Ant-Man gets his very own arch-enemy.

Fantastic Four 9

The End of the Fantastic Four

by

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers

The Fantastic Four are bankrupt. Reed Richards has made incredibly poor stock options, so the Fantastic Four are forced to sell off all of their highly advanced science equipment to make ends meet. The news reaches to the depths of the ruined Atlantis where Namor, the Sub-Mariner watches the news. He plans on using their situation to his advantage. Tensions running high, Thing and Reed get into an argument over the selling of the Pogo Plane. Thing says he's had enough and decides to quit the team again.

Outside the Baxter Building, a livid Thing heads to Alicia Master's. He signals a cab, but upon arrival the surly cabby refuses to give Thing a lift; he doesn't think Thing will be able to afford the ride. Grabbing the taxi off the ground, Thing forces it over a lamp post, ruining the vehicle. As the cabby shouts at him, Thing uses his 4 flare gun. Johnny responds with his section of the Fantasticar, who gives Thing a lift to Alicia's. Inside her apartment, Alicia is able to calm the Thing down. She explains that she believes him to be as honorable as the white knight figure she has molded. 

Back at the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four receive a letter in the mail. It's from a movie studio in Hollywood; one S.M. Studios. They want the Fantastic Four to be in their next film and are willing to pay them a million dollars. As Reed's hopes are raised, Thing returns to apologize and rejoin the team. With that settled, they decide to hitchhike west across the country to Hollywood, California.

The Fantastic Four arrive in Hollywood. They immediately come through the gates of S.M. Studios and stare at the many film stars in front of them. The greatest shock is the person running S.M. Studios. They head into his office as his back is turned to them. Reed stretches his arm to tap the man wearing a green business suit who is staring out his office window. He turns to reveal himself as Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Namor explains that he does indeed own the studio. He tells them that the treasures of the ocean that have been lost to mankind over the centuries are his for the taking. He used these ancient, forgotten treasures to have enough wealth to create S.M. Studios and finance the film the Fantastic Four are to star in.

After Namor hands over a portion of their promised money, the Fantastic Four spend the weekend on vacation. Reed uses some of his money to buy a new suit to look presentable for the film. Johnny buys himself a brand new hot rod; spending the weekend driving around with local girls and impressing them with his flame powers. The Thing tries to relax on the beach. His relaxation is cut short by a bunch of buff dudes showing off for the women on the beach. Thing grabs the whole lot of them in his arms and proceeds to dump them all in the ocean. That evening, Susan Storm dines with Namor. She is suspicious of the Sub-Mariner's motives for helping the team, but Namor brushes her question off.

Shooting begins the next day with Mr. Fantastic. Namor takes the rubbery scientist to a hidden island in the Mediterranean that only he knows about. He explains that Reed's part in the movie involves him fighting the legendary Cyclops from Greek mythology. Reed assumes the Cyclops must be a prop, but when he arrives on the island he finds out differently. The Cyclops is indeed real and alive. As the giant one-eyed humanoid approaches Mr. Fantastic, he realizes he's been duped by Namor. Reed battles the giant, avoiding boulders hurled at him. He manages to turn his rubbery body into a sling around jutted rocks and bounce the boulders back at the monster. Reed uses a strategy to lure the Cyclops over to a very deep pit in the island. He stretches out his legs to trip the monster into it. With the Cyclops defeated, Reed promises to contend with Namor.

While Reed is making his way back, Namor is now set to film the Human Torch's scenes. He brings Johnny to a section of Africa. Before diving from a helicopter, Namor explains to Johnny that he will be filming him from above while he pretends to fight a village of native Africans. As soon as Johnny lands, the tribesmen hold him captive with spears.

What Namor failed to mention is that this particular tribe of Africans consume a magic potion that makes them immune to fire. As Johnny slowly realizes this, the tribesmen catch Johnny and throw him in a bamboo cage. He flames on and burns his way out, surprising the natives. They quickly consume the magic potion to immunize themselves against the Torch's flame attacks. Flying off, the Human Torch sees a nearby volcano. He hurls a fireball at the peak which sets off a chain reaction resulting in the utter destruction of the bluff. As the lava pours out, the villagers abandon the battle and flee for their lives. As the natives safely escape the destruction, the Human Torch vows to get back at Sub-Mariner.

Next Namor is chatting with the Thing on a beach. The Atlantean explains that his scene in the film is a battle between himself and the Thing. Namor suddenly swings his fist into Thing's chest as hard as he can, knocking him into the sea. He proclaims he's been waiting for this moment to battle the Thing alone. Thing gets back up only to get struck back down by Namor's winged feet. As the Sub-Mariner pounds on his rocky hide, Thing realizes the ocean water must be empowering him.

Thing scrambles to get Namor away from the ocean, when a storm pours down on them. As Thing prepares to strike Namor with a heavy haymaker, a bolt of lightning shoots down hitting Thing. Suddenly his rocky exterior evaporates and left standing is the human form of Ben Grimm. Namor takes advantage of the moment and quickly decks him one last time, leaving Ben unconscious on the shore.

The Sub-Mariner returns to his office to meet the Invisible Girl. He reveals his true intentions to her; now that he has beaten the Fantastic Four, he wishes to make her his bride. Susan is incredibly disparaged at this revelation. She goes invisible and fights Namor, knocking books and furniture into him. As she tries to escape, Namor uses his fish powers to mimic cavefish, who use a radar sense, to find her. Taking her in his arms, Susan struggles until the rest of the team bursts in.

Reed, Johnny and Thing, who is back to being in his rocky form, lunge at the Sub-Mariner. Susan suddenly blocks them off. She reminds them all that they still agreed to Namor's contract and he still owes them money. Sub-Mariner relinquishes in defeat, and promises to release their film as he heads back to the sea.

Notes:

Cycloptics: The Cyclops in this story is not to be confused with the major X-Men character known as Cyclops. This is supposedly the one from Homer and the Greeks.

Namor Tactics: I love that his plan involves splitting the team up to defeat them, but then when they come together at the end, he knows he is beat. It's a very basic idea that is pulled off rather well.

Supportics: Alicia Masters helps Thing cope with his anger by talking about it. This is a very touching (no pun intended) scene. Her role as the Thing's girlfriend established here gives the Fantastic Four its first supporting role to the title.

Odd optics: Namor using the cavefish power to find Sue is the lamest part of this issue, but I wonder if it gave Stan Lee the idea for Daredevil's radar sense. The way Kirby depicts the radar sense looks like it could have inspired him.

List Opinions: This issue is so much fun. I like the structure around the main story better than the main story. The Fantastic Four going broke because Reed is shitty at playing the stock market is a pretty great setup. Namor using this to his advantage to try to win over Sue is also great character stuff. The situations he puts Reed & Johnny however are pretty lame and in Johnny's case a bit racist. The battle with Thing was almost good, but Thing just gets struck by lightning instead of getting any offense in against Sub-Mariner. It reminds me a lot of Loki's first appearance, where his method of fighting Thor was all over the place, but overall a fun and enjoyable read. So I'm going to put it right under that one, above Thor's first appearance which is very important, but the main plot with the Stone Men is mostly nonsensical.

List:

1. Amazing Fantasy (Spider-Man) #15
2. Fantastic Four #1
3. Fantastic Four #4
4. Incredible Hulk #1
5. Fantastic Four #5
6. Amazing Adult Fantasy (X-Men) #14
7. Fantastic Four #6
8. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #85
9. Fantastic Four #9
10. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #83
11. Fantastic Four #2
12. Fantastic Four #8
13. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #86
14. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #36
15. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #35
16. Incredible Hulk #4a
17. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #103
18. Journey into Mystery (Thor) #84
19. Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) #27
20. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #102
21. Fantastic Four #3
22. Incredible Hulk #2
23. Fantastic Four #7
24. Incredible Hulk #4b
25. Tales to Astonish #37
26. Incredible Hulk #3
27. Strange Tales (Human Torch) #101

Next Issue: Speaking of Thor, next time he faces a bunch of commies behind the Iron Curtain, only to be rescued by Don Blake.