NATE: So y’got your own blog now, eh? I picture your blogosphere looking different from mine. Prob’ly got more longboxes and moustache maintenance equipment lying about.
JORDAN: Naturally. But don’t fret, I will still appear on your blog, if you’ll have me.
NATE: Of course! We’ll do these Explains bits, and carry them over to each others’ blogs. Cuz if there’s one thing I love, it’s CONTINUITY.
So! Your blog, but I still get to pick the topic. But before we begin on that, did you get a chance to look at the Academy Award nominations? Any thoughts? Happy? Sad? Indifferent?
JORDAN: You know… since I began working at Marvel, the number of movies I watch has dropped dramatically. I spend so much time reading comics, I hardly ever find the time to go to the pictures. I know a lot of people were upset that Dark Knight did not get nominated for best picture. I liked it a lot, but… it just did not strike me as best picture material.
NATE: Nah, more I think about that movie, more it bugs me. I’m glad Slumdog Millionaire got a bunch of nominations, and I pray…PRAY, that the crappy Benjamin Button thing doesn’t win anything. What a piece’a bleh.
JORDAN: Really? Huh, I thought it looked good, from the previews. Ah well. Look at us, talking about not-comics, it’s just like old times.
NATE: Right! Ok, for those of you that don’t know how this works, Jordan’s got 100 words or less to explain something to me, then I get to ask questions. So Whitey, this round is about ANT-MAN.
Explain how we got from a guy accidentally getting shrunk down and talking to ants, to him beating his wife, to him where I hear he is now…cross-dressing as his wife.
JORDAN: Hank Pym, biochemist, discovers particles that shrink and regrow objects. He shrinks, gets attacked by ants. Builds a helmet to talk to and control ants, becomes Ant-Man. Meets Janet Van Dyne, makes her his sidekick, the Wasp. Helps found Avengers. Using growing particles, becomes Giant-Man, then Goliath. Builds robot called Ultron, which tries to kill mankind. Has a breakdown, becomes Yellowjacket. Marries Janet, becomes Ant-Man, goes crazy, hits Janet, gets kicked out of Avengers, gets divorce, goes to jail. Begins redemption in various guises… gets kidnapped by Skrulls. In the invasion, Janet dies. In tribute, becomes new Wasp, rejoins Avengers.
NATE: Right. We’ll pretend that he’s not cross-dressing right now, and begin at the beginning: Why did he commit to the shrinking at first? Did he not know he could get bigger?
JORDAN: Yeah. Like many (fake) scientific discoveries, he did it by accident. He figured out how to shrink, and how to regrow. He did not necessarily know it would work the other way. Also, when he is small, he retains his regular strength, just packed into a tiny body.
NATE: He retains the strength? That means he weighs the same, right? So if he’s tiny on a see-saw, he’ll tip a kid down?
JORDAN: No, I… I don’t think he weighs the same. If he did, when he like… rode on the back of an ant, it would squish it.
NATE: But isn’t “strength” just the application of one’s weight turned into propulsive, kinetic force? So he weighs 1/3 of an ounce, but punches as hard as a sissy scientist? This is ridiculous. I don’t think this could actually happen. We need to tell Dan Slott to stop writing immediately.
JORDAN: I am sure there is some sort of rational explanation for it. Something to do with some amazing pseudo-science talk that I cannot think of off the top of my head. But really, of all his powers, THAT is the one you question? Talking to ants through a helmet is ok for you?
NATE: I’m from the south. We talk to animals all the time (we have to, some are in-laws). So he becomes Ant-Man, then becomes someone else, right?
JORDAN: Yeah. He’s been called both Giant-Man and Goliath when primarily using his growing power, and when he shrink and also uses little wings to fly and “stinger” energy blasts, he’s been called Yellowjacket and, most recently, The Wasp. After his dead ex-wife.
NATE: So…he took his dead ex-wife’s name. Oh man, it would have been SO great if he’d married Scarlet Witch instead, and took her name in tribute:
THUG: “Oh NO! Guys, stop trying to rob the bank! Hank Pym, aka The Scarlet Witch is here!”
PYM: “That’s right fellas. You can tell from my pink tights and cute headpiece that I mean business!”
THUG: “Man, that Scarlet Witch is one bad dude.”
JORDAN: Well, he’s not wearing the Wasp’s costume. I mean… she had like a million of them, but he is wearing a new outfit.
NATE: Well, duh. Wasp was a Winter. Hank’s a Fall. Hey, this was before my time, but Hank went nutso and thought he was a different person, and dressed up like a Yellowjacket, right? And the Avengers still let him be on the team?
JORDAN: Yeah. In fact, Wasp actually got married to him while he was Yellowjacket, if I recall correctly. One of a few times when he went mental. He had been exposed to “Schizophrenia-inducing chemicals”. He later theorized that the Yellowjacket persona was based on his subconscious desire to break through his inhibitions and ask Janet to Marry him.
NATE: So…I mean…seriously. Why would ANYone be willing to let this guy cavort around (especially in his dead wife’s clothes) with deadly super powers, when he’s got all this ridiculous, dangerous stuff in his past? I think we need a new Ant-Man series. Something featuring an Ant-Man that no one likes and has 16 panels per page and could be written by someone that never saw a story he couldn’t overwrite. Think we could do that?
JORDAN: Funny you should mention that… I’ve told you a lot about Hank Pym, but I haven’t even touched on all the OTHER people who have shared the Ant-Man identity. Or the Goliath and Yellowjacket ones, for that matter. But, we’ve been going on a bit here… I think we should continue this explanation next time… on YOUR blog! That’s right, true believer—a crossover!
( we have a lot a fun my girlfriend and me ) I'm absolutely found of the covers from this era...thanks !
The 'Ant-Man' concept is wonderful but authors did not provide the magnum-opus stories that it was intended to. The evolution of the character is interesting, a mad-scientist and a wife-beater. Interesting because there's not so much archetypes telling the damages of frustration.
I don't know what to think about the current incarnation, except that Dan Slott is doing interesting things with the Pym particles in 'Mighty Avengers', what John Byrne started with, to my opinion, the very best incarnation of the character, ' Dr Pym' in the 'West Coast Avengers'. An avatar who didn't last enough to my tastes and could have provided wonderfuls and weirds sci-fi adventures, but you should listen this nice notapotatoe-guy with his idea about a title called 'Marvel Ages' ( right from your ' The age of the Sentry' concept ) who will be the ideal place to tell hidden or forgotten stories from the best eras of particular characters :
don't you dream about the FF by Duncan Fegredo ?
Moonknight by John Paul Leon ?
The Eternals by Walt Simonson ?
The Champions by Leinil-Yu ?
Forgotten stories of the Defenders by John Romita Jr , of Alpha Flight by Tommy Lee Edwards ?
Hope you'll catch the lift !
Friendly yours,
- Robert Redford
Friendly yours
Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-02-05 01:09:52
from Tom B's blog :
'It all validates one of my theories about publishing within the Marvel Universe, which is this: it?s good to introduce new titles and new concepts, even if they don?t catch on right that instant. Because all of this stuff eventually comes back, in one iteration or another, and you never know what new flowers will bloom from the conceptual seeds you plant.'
Despite I'm gaining nothing from that, I just love to throw away concepts that your ' Lab of Ideas ' is of course already working at since two years.
I was talking about weird sci-fi adventures with Dr Pym, to my opinion the weirdest title of Marvel as 'Doom Patrol' had been for DC could be ' Fantastic Force' ,with the actual GLI ,and the doctor.
I just wanted it to be told ...somewhere.
Posted by notapotatoe on 2009-02-05 01:23:56
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About this blog: Jordan loves reading comics, and he loves thinking about them way too much. Super Hero morality, quirks of continuity, and the daily grind of putting out funnybooks… it’s all fair game.
About the author: Jordan D. White is an assistant editor at Marvel. In his free time, he reads way too many comics. Seriously.
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