Ant-Man / Giant-Man Marvel Epic Collection

 

I guess that I'm forever enamored with the early 60's Marvel characters that I discovered via my brother when they came out and I will always have a fondness for their early stories. I have a feeling that Ant-Man was initially created just so that the artists (Jack Kirby, at first) could have fun with different perspectives as they led him through various improbable adventures. For some reason that I never understood - I suppose they thought he wasn't powerful enough - Marvel turned Hank Pym into the polar opposite, Giant-Man, to handle stronger foes, and at times Pym would jump from one to the other extreme within the same adventure. 

The first few tales are basically introductory, an origin story (that was initially meant as a stand alone, but apparently, it was popular with the readers), followed by Pym's initial expeditions as a costumed super-hero and not long after, the introduction of his partner/love interest, Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp. Of course, there has to be some Commies involved - as there were with every hero at the time - along with basic thieves, rival scientists, aliens, magicians, super-villains and even mutant insects!

Funnily enough, I have never seen a number of these stories, even in reprints, so it's fun checking them out for that reason alone. I have to say that Don Heck is not one of my favorite Marvel artists, but the Kirby stories are great, natch, and Dick Ayers has a neater style, but I guess Giant-Man did not get enough respect to deserve the top-tier artists after Kirby left. 

Again, I grew up with these comics, so I have a natural love for all the 60's Marvel output, and while this batch might not be the best-of-the-best, I still dig the wacky exploits and implausible escapades (and boy, both the heroes and villains spent lots of money setting up traps!).