Russkie-Smashers ASTONISHING ANT-MAN "Part 2: An Army of Ants!"

We Have Already Seen...

...research scientist Henry Pym and his team, working on an anti-radiation gas, have been captured by Russkie spies...who have no idea what they're in for as Dr Pym becomes The Ant-Man for the first time!

Tomorrow:

The Ant-Man's Revenge!

Don't Dare Miss It!

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this series premiere from Marvel's Tales to Astonish #35 (1962) clearly demonstrates how Henry Pym differed from most other costumed heroes by using brains over brawn!
BTW: Ant-Man would soon incorporate a microphone and speaker into his helmet so normal-sized humans could hear him when insect-sized.

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Essential Ant-Man

Volume 1

Russkie-Smashers ASTONISHING ANT-MAN "Part 1: Return of the Ant-Man"

We Have Already Seen...

...after Dr Henry Pym's Hungarian-born wife was kidnapped and (supposedly*) killed by Russkies, the embittered scientist took his wife's comment "Go to the ants, thou sluggard!." literally...

Tomorrow:

Army of Ants!

Dare You Miss It?

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby, and inked by Dick Ayers, this series premiere from Marvel's Tales to Astonish #35 (1962) clearly demonstrates how Henry Pym differed from most other costumed heroes by using brains over brawn!
*Years later, it was revealed Maria Trovaya Pym was killed, but resurrected and subjected to experimentation by A.I.M., turning her into a MODOK-like creature known as SODAM/MODAM!
In addition, Maria was pregnant at the time of her kidnapping, though Hank didn't know it.
Maria was kept alive by the Russians long enough to give birth to a daughter, Nadia, who was trained from infancy to become a "Black Widow" agent (like Natasha Romanova).

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Marvel Masterworks

Ant-Man/Giant-Man

Volume 1

Silver Age Marvel's FIRST Russkie-Smasher Isn't Who You Believe It Is...

It ain't Iron Man or Thor, neither of whom appeared until 1963!

And, while the Fantastic Four made their space flight in 1961 to beat the Russkies into space, they didn't face a Russian foe until the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes in FF #13 (also in 1963)!

Technically, The Incredible Hulk was the first to actually face Russkies in combat in the premiere issue of his own title...cover-dated May, 1962!

But another character, introduced several months before Bruce Banner, was the first to appear in the pages of Atlas/Marvel Comics...cover-dated January, 1962!

...Henry Pym, the man who would soon be The Ant-Man!

His initial appearance was in Tales to Astonish #27, where he appeared to just be a hapless scientist who inadvertently created a formula to reduce himself to ant-size!

But, there was an unrevealed, Russian-related, reason for his project, which we discovered in Tales to Astonish #44...

This week, on the one-year anniversary of imperialist running dog Vlad Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, we're presenting the Astonishing Ant-Man's premiere adventure from September, 1962...which was against (who else?) Russkies!

Tomorrow:

Return of The Ant-Man!

Dare You Miss It?

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Marvel Masterworks

Ant-Man/Giant-Man

Volume 1

Russkie-Smashers BLACK COBRA "...Crashes the Ring of Red Death!"

Fighting Russkies 24 hours a day as either an FBI agent or superhero...

...the Black Cobra is truly unstoppable!

The creatives for this never-reprinted tale from Ajax/Farrell's Black Cobra #1 (1954) were from the Iger Studio which "packaged" comic stories (both scripts and artwork) for various publishers including Fox, Chesler, Elliot, Fiction House, St John, and (of course) Ajax/Farrell!
It may be a re-working of a previously-published comic story, which the studio was notorious for, as shown HERE, where a story written and drawn for one character was modified/updated for a totally-different character!
Or, it may be a totally-new tale.
We're not yet certain.

Russkie-Smashers MARVEL BOY II "Zero Hour!"

The only thing you can trust about Russkies...

...is that you can't trust Russkies...who apparently would be happy to die to "own the imperialists" (to paraphrase Repugs)!

BTW, though the mag was called Marvel Boy for the first 2 issues, (and he appeared in issues 1 through 6), it became Astonishing as of #3, and remained that way for the rest of the title's 63-issue run!

Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Bill Everett, this tale from Atlas' Marvel Boy #2 (1950) about cooperation-then betrayal parallels what happened between the Allies and Soviet Russians during World War II (when they acted together against the Axis) and afterward (when they became hostile once the common threat had been eliminated).
You'll note, though the other side is referred to as the "Eastern" Empire, they're clearly written and drawn as Russians/Soviets!
Bob Grayson was the second character to bear the "Marvel Boy" name, the first one being a Joe Simon/Jack Kirby creation who made only two appearances during the 1940s.
Since he appeared (and disappeared) before the 1953 revival of the "Big Three" (Captain America/ Human Torch/Sub-Mariner) he could be considered Timely/Atlas/Marvel's final Golden Age superhero!

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Marvel MasterWorks

Atlas-Era Heroes

Volume 1

(which includes all of Marvel Boy's 1950-51 appearances as well as the re-intro of the Big 3)