Since the
last issue, Ant-Man has become well known to the public as a mysterious hero
who helps out the police, miraculously knowing when he is needed. As the story
opens we find three crooks have locked themselves in a bank vault with a time
lock; Ant-Man arrives and enters the lock, turning the tumblers manually and
freeing the crooks. He then vanishes as mysteriously as he came….
Word of
Ant-Man’s exploits has reached the Soviet Union where their top agent, Comrade
X, is ordered to learn Ant-Man’s secrets for the Russian cause. Days later, a
young woman visits a police station, desperately seeking Ant-Man but the police
don’t know how to contact him. We learn the truth: a network of ants all across
the city sends messages along the chain to Hank Pym who suits up and catapults
himself to the police station, in time to see the woman entering a taxi.
Ant-Man sneaks into the cab and hides in her purse so that when she reaches her
hotel room he surprises her by suddenly showing himself. The woman outlines her
tale of woe: she fell in love with a man whom she then learned was the Soviet
spy Comrade X—and then he dumped her for another woman. Now she wants revenge
and informs Ant-Man that Comrade X is in the US to discover the hero’s secrets
and he can be found aboard the freighter at Pier 89….
That night,
Ant-Man sneaks aboard the freighter, only to fall into the villain’s trap as he
and his ants are trapped in a glass box the size of a small fish tank. Ant-Man
sends a message to more ants via the air holes in the tank and soon a massive
swarm of ants invades the ship and frees the hero from the fish tank. He heads
to the radio room, conks the operator, grows to full size, and summons the
Coast Guard. The ants lock the ship’s crew in their quarters while the hero
confronts the villain. But Comrade X knows he is there and threatens him with
DDT. The ants turn out the lights and Ant-Man ties the baddie’s shoelaces
together. Comrade X falls to the floor and the ants pull off his rubber mask,
revealing him to be the woman who sent Ant-Man on the mission—which is no
surprise to him as he spotted her rubber mask and voice synthesizer when he
rode in her purse. The Coast Guard arrives to capture the Commies and Ant-Man
takes his leave….
“From Outer
Space”
Writer:
Unknown. Art: Unknown.
Synopsis: An
alien ship comes to Earth from an imperialist civilization and reveals that
they are going to conquer Earth unless the human race can give a reason why
they should be spared. It turns out that music is something unknown to the
aliens and they decide to let Earth live in exchange for a supply of music!
“The Hands
of Time!”
Writer:
Larry Lieber. Plot: Stan Lee. Art: Paul Reinman. Colors: Stan Goldberg.
Letters: Artie Simek.
Synopsis: A
crook breaks into a clockmaker’s shop and learns the old man has invented a
clock that can turn back time. He steals it and de-ages himself back to 1927.
Attempting to commit the perfect murder, though, causes him to knock over the
clock and when it breaks, he dies!
“The Search
for Pan!”
Writer:
Stan Lee. Art: Steve Ditko. Colors: Stan Goldberg. Letters: Artie Simek.
Synopsis:
An American tourist in the Alps is irritated by the locals’ belief that the
Greek god Pan is real so he bullies a bartender into telling him where Pan can
be found. He goes out there and comes face-to-face with the divinity, panics,
and flees for home. And the bartender turns out to be Pan himself!