Ant-Man – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

John Byrne — Spider-Man’s Giant Headache

April 9, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Spider-Man: Chapter One #11, September 1999

Concluding the 60th anniversary celebration of Ant-Man/Giant-Man.

John Byrne provides his own spin (that pun was intended) on Spider-Man’s early days with the “maxi-series” Spider-Man: Chapter One. This series created some controversy, as many fans believed the early Stan Lee and Steve Ditko stories did not need a refresh. (Unlike say Byrne’s own Superman revamp years earlier, which was the right reboot at the right time. But… we digress.)

This fun page from issue #11 guest stars Giant-Man and Wasp in a revamping of Spider-Man’s very early Spidey crossover in Tales To Astonish #57. (How early was the original story? It’s the same month as Spider-Man #14, which also featured the Hulk. Spider-Man had a very busy month in the Marvel Universe, as Annual #1, featuring the Sinister Six, was also published at about the same time.)

Bob Layton — Incredible Shrinking Dad

April 7, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Comics Presents #11, January 1989

Continuing the 60th anniversary celebration of Ant-Man.

Bob Layton (pencils and inks) creates a terrific looking title page for a short story featuring the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. (Of course Lang’s version of the character is the one most familiar to most audiences since he’s the version currently inhabiting the Marvel Universe, played by Paul Rudd.)

I seem to own a number of pages from these short stories from Marvel Comics Presents and Marvel Fanfare, and none of this material has yet to be collected. I’ve probably said it previously, but it seems easy enough to create collections that are themed around specific characters, etc.

I hope that actually happens one of these days.

Fun fact: David Michelinie, John Byrne and Layton share co-credit for the creation of the Lang vesrion of the character, who first appeared solo in Marvel Premiere #47(April 1979), a month after he had a guest spot in Avengers #181.

Don Heck — Giants (& Ants) Among Us

April 5, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Tales to Astonish # 54, April1964

2022 is the 60th anniversary of Marvel’s shrinking and enlarging superhero Ant-Man (Giant-Man), sometimes hyphenated, sometimes not. Either way, we’ve got a cool page from Dandy Don Heck to lead off a mini-anniversary celebration.

That middle right panel has big (pun actually not intended) appeal to me — it appears that Giant-Man is about to break right through it, as he grows o his larger size.

Plus we have he lovely Janet Van Dyke (Wasp) and the ridiculous villain El Toro to boot.

What’s not to like?

Fun Fact(s): Henry (Hank) Pym invents his shrinking serum in Tales to Astonish #27, cover dated January 1962, but actually appearing on newsstands that previous September. But he doesn’t actually become the Ant-Man character until his second appearance in issue #35. The Wasp appears first in #44, and Pym becomes Giant-Man in #49. Whew.

Gil Kane / Rich Buckler — Spider-Problems, Big & Small

February 17, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #10 and Web of Spider-Man Annual #6, 1990

Described (tongue in cheek, hopefully) as a “micro-crossover,” Spidey’s Totally Tiny Adventure is a three-part story from 1990, running in the summer annuals. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #24, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #10, The Web of Spider-Man Annual #6).

The story, as you might guess, features Spider-Man shrinking down to Ant-Man size and beyond. It’s definitely a bit light-hearted without devolving into straight camp. (Our friends at Pulp and Dagger have a full review here.)

Gil Kane drew chapters one and three, and Rich Buckler tackled chapter two. And a trivia note: Stan Lee scripted both chapters two and three, marking a rare return to the keyboard for the Spidey’s co-creator.

P. Craig Russell And Dan Adkins — Bite Size Action

October 6, 2020 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Marvel Feature #7, January 1973

Ah, Hank Pym.

Ant–Man (no costume.) Ant-Man (costume.) Giant-Man. Goliath. Yellowjacket. Hank Pym, scientist, no alter ego.

And here, Ant-Man again.

Hank Pym was definitely having an ongoing identity crisis in his 10 years in the Marvel Universe.

Needless to say, seeing Ant-Man and Wasp as a full-length feature on the newsstands was a surprise. It lasted seven issues of Marvel Feature, before disappearing once again.

Here, P. Craig Russell and Dan Adkins present us with a nice Bronze Age action page. This is some of Russell’s earliest professional work, and his distinctive style has yet to develop.

In fact, since Craig broke in as Adkins assistant, it definitely feels much closer to Dan’s work than Craig’s.

Ina few months, Craig would take over the art chores on Killraven in Amazing adventures, and as “they” say (and I say too much) the rest is history.

As for Hank Pym, the identify crisis would continue. He returns as Yellowjacket, joins the Defenders, then rejoins the Avengers, and then… well, it actually becomes even more complicated.

But of course, Scott Lang eventually takes the role of Ant-Man, and as they say…