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Quote1 Henry, you are the love of my life and the apple of my eye...but what you don't know about ladies fashions...!!! Quote2
The Wasp

Appearing in "Return of the Ant-Man"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #35

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  • Tom (First appearance) (Pym's lab assistant)

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Synopsis for "Return of the Ant-Man"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #35

Doctor Henry Pym is a scientist who had invented two incredible serums, one to reduce objects, and the other to enlarge them back to their natural size. The reducing potion proved more powerful than he anticipated. It reduced him to the size of an insect and led him to the most frightening encounter of his life within a teeming ant hill. Frantically, Pym escaped from the ants and reached his enlarging serum. After he was restored to normal size, Pym destroyed his serums, which he felt were too dangerous to exist on Earth. However, weeks later he decided that such a great discovery should not melt into nothingness and concocted his serums again, this time locking them safely away in his safe.

After his experience in the ant hill, Henry Pym developed a growing interest in ants. Secretly, he made a thorough study of the ant world and determined that ants communicate electronically through their antennae. After long months of grueling work, he finally developed a helmet that would enable him to communicate with the ants by tuning into their specific wave length. Pym also designed a protective costume to shield him from accidental ant-sting or bite.

On the same day that he completed work on his helmet, the government gives Henry Pym a top secret scientific assignment to develop a gas to make people immune to radiation and provides him with four research assistants. Weeks later, the communists have learned of Pym’s work and have dispatched agents to steal the almost-completed formula.

Communist agents burst into Henry Pym’s laboratory and hold him and his research assistants at gun point, demanding the anti-radiation formula. When Pym refuses to divulge the formula, the agents decide to search the lab and find the information themselves. Trapped in his lab, Pym decides that the only way to prevent the communists from getting the anti-radiation gas is to use his reducing serum. Donning his newly completed helmet and costume, Pym uses his reducing serum to shrink to insect size.

Now ant-sized, Ant-Man uses a rubber band as a slingshot to hurl himself to a nearby window ledge, where he slips through the window crack and uses a piece of thread to lower himself to the ground.

Part 2: An Army of Ants!

His destination is the ant hill, where he learns that his cybernetic helmet actually works, allowing him to communicate with and command the ants. He is attacked by a large worker ant. As he fights the ant, he learns that somehow, he retains the strength of a full-grown man at his diminished size. After defeating the worker ant, Ant-Man adjusts his cybernetic helmet and sends a command through the ant hill, forming a small army of ants.

As Ant-Man exits the ant hill, his colorful costume attracts the attention of a beetle. Using his full-size strength, he quickly digs a deep hole, uses himself as bait to lure the beetle into it and then fills in the hole, trapping the beetle.

Ant-Man then mounts the largest of the worker ants and leads his army up the wall and onto the window ledge near his lab.

Part 3: The Ant-Man's Revenge!

After observing the communist agents, Ant-Man slips into the lab and with the help of the ants, unties his assistants. He then commands the ants to attack the agents, distracting them long enough for Pym’s assistants to overpower them.

With the communist agents defeated, Ant-Man heads for his laboratory, where he uses his enlarging serum to return to normal size and rejoin the others in the lab. Pym is left wondering if he will ever be forced to become the Ant-Man again?

Appearing in "The Birth of Giant-Man!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #49

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Synopsis for "The Birth of Giant-Man!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Tales to Astonish #49

Our story opens with a giant Henry Pym (in a new costume) smashing through his own home and frightening off one of his own neighbors. We learn that he has developed a new type of formula that allows him to grow in size, and is now taking on the identity of Giant-Man. The Wasp helps him free himself from the house and Giant-Man explains that he was testing his new size-changing capsules. Giving her a demonstration, Pym grows to the height of 12 feet.

Meanwhile, Pym's frightened neighbor arrives at the police station to make a report about a giant man. The police tell him that they're too busy looking for a "pixie" that is apparently erasing people. Later, at a local park, a police team is searching for a being they're calling "The Eraser." The Eraser is hiding in the woods until he's discovered by a hot dog vender. Not wishing to have his presence alerted, he "erases" the hot dog vender. Later the Eraser travels to the home of Dr. Ebbhart, explaining that he's been "erasing" atomic experts, and that his next target is Henry Pym.

Back at Pym's residence, Henry is explaining how the size-changing capsules work and fits himself and the Wasp with belts that dispense different size-changing capsules for easy access. Wasp takes a size-changing pill and shrinks down to wasp size and lands on Pym's finger. Just then the Eraser arrives and erases Henry (and unintentionally the Wasp), who finds himself in "Dimension Z." The Eraser follows him shortly.

The Eraser explains that their world is in a different universe that shares the same space with Earth and that they have been monitoring the people of Earth for years. When they learned of mankind's ability to create the atomic bomb they sought to claim the technology to do so and invented their "erasers."

Refusing to aid them, Henry Pym tries to escape but is ensnared in "clinging bands." At this point the Wasp comes out of hiding inside Henry's coat and feeds him a shrinking capsule to escape the trap. In their diminutive size, Pym and the Wasp escape the guards and their hunter hounds. Donning his Giant-Man costume, the two heroes travel through the air ducts and find the scientists and alert them of their presence and intentions to free everybody.

Taking a growth capsule, Giant-Man storms the city, easily defeating the guards and their weapons. He captures one of Dimension Z's scientists and forces him to bring them to the lab where the erasers are kept. There Giant-Man is trapped in a unbreakable glass cage by the Eraser, who tells him that he has the only eraser on the planet. Too busy boasting over his victory, the Eraser doesn't notice that the Wasp has triggered the device to free Giant-Man. Giant-Man easily defeats the Eraser and takes his devices. Returning to the prisoners, Giant-Man uses the devices to send them all back to Earth's dimension.

Solicit Synopsis

Reprinting material from Tales to Astonish (1959) #35, Vol 1 49

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