GIANT-MAN AND THE WASP: 1960s STORIES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will look at early adventures of Giant-Man and the Wasp.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #49 (Nov 1963)

Title: The Birth of Giant-Man

NOTE: Previously I covered Hank Pym’s solo adventures as Ant-Man, then the adventures of Ant-Man and the Wasp. This issue marked the 1st adventure with Hank as Giant-Man.

Villain: The Eraser

Synopsis: After last issue’s run-in with the armored villain the Porcupine and then helping form the Avengers over at Avengers #1, Dr. Pym wanted to improve his powers. While still retaining the power to shrink and control ants, he now used his Pym Particles to grow to enormous size as well.

Meanwhile, an interdimensional villain called the Eraser has been abducting Earth’s greatest scientists via his hand-weapons that teleport them to his home dimension. Because the process looks like he’s erasing them bit by bit the media dubs him “the Eraser.” 

When this new villain targets Hank Pym next, Giant-Man and the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) thwart the plans of the Eraser’s people in Dimension Z to replicate Earth’s nuclear weapons, rescue the abducted scientists and defeat the Eraser in combat. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #50 (Dec 1963)

Title: The Human Top

Villain: Human Top

Synopsis: A mutant supervillain called the Human Top (a name Marvel had used for one of their superheroes in the 1940s) is on a crime spree in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. NOTE: This villain later changes his alias to Whirlwind, one of Marvel’s classic figures.

By sheer chance, the Human Top first encounters Giant-Man and the Wasp rather than the X-Men. Hank and Jan fail to stop the villain when he robs a department store. Instead, their foe outfights them and escapes, encouraging him to make bigger plans.   

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #51 (Jan 1964)

Title: Showdown with the Human Top

Villain: Human Top/ Whirlwind

Synopsis: A few days later, the Wasp and Giant-Man once again clash with the Human Top, this time while he is trying to steal national defense plans from a government facility. The villain once again defeats our heroes and even injures Giant-Man this time around, then escapes with the plans.

Hank and Jan trace the Human Top to his exchange ground when he tries to sell the defense plans to agents of the Soviet Union. Despite Giant-Man’s leg injury he and the Wasp beat the Human Top this time and also corral the Soviet spy ring.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #52 (Feb 1964)

Title: The Black Knight Strikes

Villain: The Black Knight

Synopsis: The first appearance of this villainous Black Knight, Nathan Garrett, who is a descendant of Marvel’s heroic Black Knight figure from the 1950s. This modern-day inheritor of the title and the indestructible armor is also a scientific genius who devises knight-themed high-tech weapons to use in battle.

Astride his genetically engineered winged horse Elendil, the Black Knight starts robbing armored cars full of cash. On one such caper the Wasp and Giant-Man attack him. After a running battle that leads all the way to Coney Island, the villain escapes, but without his latest loot.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #53 (Mar 1964)

Title: Trapped by the Porcupine

Villain: Porcupine

Synopsis: Jan and Hank’s old foe the Porcupine returns, using his high-tech armor and deadly quill projectiles against them. He plots to kill them at an event being held for the fans of our two heroes.

The Porcupine’s two separate attempts at revenge in this issue fail and, in the story’s finale, the villain tries using some Pym Particles but doesn’t understand them. The Porcupine shrinks down so much he gets trapped in the Microverse/ Quantum Realm.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #54 (Apr 1964)

Title: No Place to Hide

Villain: El Toro

Synopsis: In the fictional Central American country called Santo Rico, communist forces install a puppet state led by the bull-themed supervillain El Toro in place of the previous democracy. The U.S. government sends Giant-Man and the Wasp to Santo Rico to covertly obtain proof that the communist takeover was done in violation of international law.

While carrying out that mission, our heroes wind up clashing with El Toro’s army and with the villain himself. During the days-long battle, the communist plot is exposed, El Toro is defeated and Santo Rico becomes a free nation again.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #55 (May 1964) 

Title: On the Trail of the Human Top

Villain: Human Top/ Whirlwind

Synopsis: The mutant villain the Human Top escapes from prison and robs a bank. This sets the Wasp and Giant-Man on his trail again. The villain ambushes them instead and uses Pym Particles to grow to giant size. He defeats Giant-Man and leaves him in a death-trap then makes off with the Wasp as his captive.

The Human Top has developed the hots for the Wasp and tries to talk her into joining him in a criminal career. Meanwhile, Hank escapes the death-trap and follows the giant Human Top’s trail of destruction to where he is holding the Wasp. Our hero defeats the huge villain and frees Jan, then shrinks the defeated Human Top back down to normal size for the cops.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #56 (Jun 1964)

Title: The Coming of the Magician

Villain: The Magician

Synopsis: The Wasp and Giant-Man have one of their lovers’ spats and are angry with each other through part of this story. Later, they fail to stop a new supervillain called the Magician, who uses his powers to rob the guests at a party attended by the wealthy.

Within the next few days, the villain tries to rob a yacht party, but our heroes are ready for him this time. Giant-Man and the Wasp defeat him in a battle that ranges from the yacht to a blimp over the Atlantic Ocean.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #57 (Jul 1964)

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man

Villain: Egghead

Synopsis: Egghead, the archenemy of Giant-Man and the Wasp, has been at large all this time and now returns with a new plan. He manipulates Hank and Jan into a battle with Spider-Man while he and his thugs take advantage of the distraction to steal a fortune.

Ultimately, the three heroes figure out they’re being used and join forces to chase after Egghead and his army of crooks. They all defeat the villain’s underlings and even capture Egghead for the first time and turn him over to the authorities.

Title: A Voice in the Dark

Synopsis: In a few-page solo story the Wasp nabs a gang of jewel thieves. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #58 (Aug 1964)

Title: The Coming of Colossus

Villain: Colossus

Synopsis: Giant-Man and the Wasp learn from their fellow Avenger Captain America that a gigantic creature called Colossus has been reportedly terrorizing a community in Africa. Because of the creature’s size Cap sends Hank and Jan to investigate.

Our heroes fly to Africa in an Avengers jet and learn that the stories about Colossus are true. Giant-Man and the Wasp do battle with the huge destructive figure and learn he is an advance agent of hostile aliens from the planet Vega. They defeat Colossus, who flees and calls off the invasion from Vega.

Title: The Magician and the Maiden

Synopsis: Another solo Wasp story. This time she fights and captures the returning villain the Magician when he tries robbing a clothing store selling Janet Van Dyne’s (Wasp’s) latest fashion line.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #59 (Sep 1964)

Title: Enter: The Hulk

Villain: Hulk

Synopsis: At a meeting of the Avengers (Hank and Jan plus Thor, Iron Man and Captain America) the team discusses how their former member the Hulk has been unaccounted for since their battle with the Lava Men. Goliath and Wasp fly out to America’s desert southwest to look for him.

Their old foe the Human Top has escaped prison again and follows them out west. He maneuvers them into battle with the Hulk, whose secret identity Bruce Banner, PhD is still working at Gamma Base under General “Thunderbolt” Ross.

Wasp and Giant-Man realize the Hulk was tricked into stealing a nuclear missile for the Human Top and turn Hulk against the villain.

The Human Top/ Whirlwind seems to die in the explosion of the missile.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #60 (Oct 1964)

Title: The Beasts of Berlin

Villains: The Beasts of Berlin

Synopsis: A mission in East Berlin results in Giant-Man revealing to the Wasp how his first wife died at the hands of communist authorities in Hungary. The mission to free a captured American agent is complicated by a battle with East Germany’s Beasts of Berlin.   

Those beasts are apes whose brains have been modified enough to make them an effective army. Our heroes defeat the dozens of Beasts and escape back to West Berlin with the American agent after sabotaging the brain-device that made the Beasts intelligent. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #61 (Nov 1964)

Title: Now Walks the Android

Villain: Egghead

Synopsis: The Wasp and Giant-Man’s performance at a children’s hospital is interrupted by police needing help chasing Egghead, who has just escaped from prison. Even with our heroes helping the cops, Egghead gets away. 

At his secret laboratory hideout, he tries a new experiment. The villain manages to create a giant-sized remote-controlled android to use against Giant-Man and the Wasp. He traps them in a live television studio and has his android try to kill them. Our heroes survive and destroy Egghead’s creation before capturing him.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #62 (Dec 1964)

Title: Giant-Man vs the Wasp

Villain: Second-Story Sammy

Synopsis: While Hank and Jan are busy getting Hank’s out-of-control, rapidly spreading giant plant experiment under control when it spreads to the nearby city, a two-bit thief called Second-Story Sammy slips into Hank’s lab. 

Sammy steals some Pym Particles and a spare Giant-Man costume and goes on a crime spree, intending to frame Giant-Man for his crimes then slip away. The Wasp catches up with the larcenous imposter, fights him and defeats him. She and Hank restore Sammy to normal size and turn him over to the cops.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #63 (Jan 1965)

Title: The Gangster and the Giant

Villain: The Wrecker

Synopsis: In Brooklyn a masked villain calling himself the Wrecker (NOT the later Thor villain of this name) and his men have been burning down and blowing up businesses who refuse to pay him protection money. The cops ask Hank and Jan to look into it.

The Wasp uses some of her wealth to buy a building for rent in Brooklyn, then she and Hank go undercover as a married couple running the store. When the Wrecker and his goons inevitably lean on them, they become the Wasp and Giant-Man and take down the villains. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #64 (Feb 1965)

Title: When Attuma Strikes

Villain: Attuma

Synopsis: Attuma, an Atlantean foe of both the Fantastic Four AND the Sub-Mariner, is still fuming over his recent defeat at Sub-Mariner’s hands. Attuma and his roving horde of barbarian Atlanteans (for “Attuma” think “Attilla) start attacking surface world shipping, like cruise ships and the like.

The Wasp and Giant-Man eventually put aside their latest argument about their romantic relationship and become involved. They take on Attuma and his men. Our heroes emerge victorious and Attuma leads his army in a retreat. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #65 (Mar 1965)

Title: The New Giant-Man

Villains: A giant cat and giant spider

Synopsis: While trying to improve his costume’s setup for controlling the Pym Particles that enable size changes, Giant-Man accidentally causes a housecat and a spider to grow to enormous size.

He and the Wasp stop the rampage of the kaiju-sized creatures and manage to restore them to normal size. Luckily, Giant-Man’s goofy new look lasted only a few issues. 

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #66 (Apr 1965)

Title: The Menace of Madam Macabre

Villain: Madam Macabre

Synopsis: The Wasp and Giant-Man go up against Madam Macabre, a supervillainess trained by Iron Man’s archenemy the Mandarin. Her genius has enabled her to invent her own size-changing technology and she has broken away from the Mandarin to work for Communist China. 

Madam Macabre tries to seduce Giant-Man into revealing his own scientific secrets to her but fails. Next the villain traps Hank and the Wasp in a death-trap but the Wasp saves both of them and also destroys the size-changing tech concealed in Madam Macabre’s beehive wig (How Sixties!).

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #67 (May 1965)

Title: The Hidden Man

Villain: Hidden Man

Synopsis: One night Giant-Man and the Wasp are attacked by a bus-sized spaceship. They ground the vessel and drive off the alien pilot, who escapes into the night.

The next day they hear news reports about the alien using his Green Rays to steal the abilities and knowledge of the people he blasts with the ray. (They should have called this villain the Green Ray instead of the dopey name Hidden Man.)

When the Hidden Man clashes again with Hank and Jan he shoots them with his Green Rays to try stealing their powers and knowledge, too, but they prove strong enough to resist the rays and defeat the alien. Suddenly, members of his own unnamed race arrive, saying he is an escaped criminal. They leave Earth, taking the villain and his damaged spaceship with them.

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #68 (Jun 1965) 

Title: Peril from the Past

Villain: The Human Top/ Whirlwind

Synopsis: Over the past few issues Giant-Man has had occasional dizzy spells but I refrained from mentioning them until this two-part story that finally explains them. It turns out that the Human Top escaped the atomic blast last time around.

The villain opens up his latest attack on our heroes by flying a private plane into Giant-Man, leaving him dazed and weakened. The Human Top defeats Hank, subdues the Wasp and makes off with her. At length, Giant-Man comes to and sets off on their trail.   

TALES TO ASTONISH Vol 1 #69 (Jul 1965)

Title: Oh, Wasp, Where is Thy Sting?

Villain: The Human Top/ Whirlwind

Synopsis: At his hideout with the captive Wasp, the Human Top makes it clear to her that he has left an obvious trail behind them to lure Giant-Man into a death-trap. Again he tries to convince Jan that they would make a great romantic couple and a potent criminal duo.

At length, Hank arrives as the villain had planned. He traps Giant-Man in a pit outfitted with freezing technology he stole and gives the Wasp one last chance to join him. She refuses, so he uses the freezing tech on her, too.

The two heroes survive the death-trap and defeat the Human Top. After he is turned over to the cops Giant-Man reveals to the Wasp that his dizzy spells have been caused by damage to his health from all his size-changing. He may die if he continues superheroing like this, so he retires. He and Jan had already quit the Avengers a few months earlier.

*** Eventually, Hank refined his use of Pym Particles and both he and Jan returned to the Avengers. Over the years he changed his nom de guerre to Goliath, then Yellowjacket, then Ant-Man again and back to Yellowjacket. Under any name his greatest foe was Egghead (Elihas Starr), who even clashed with the Avengers a few times as a leader of villain teams.