Story #2Giant-Man Versus the Wonderful Wasp!
Synopsis
Credits:
Writer: Stan Lee. Pencils: Carl Burgos. Inks: Dick Ayers. Colors: ? Letters: Art Simek.
Synopsis: Hank Pym discovers a means
to accelerate the growth of plants as a means of increasing the world’s food
supply but he soon discovers a problem: the growth comes much too quickly,
constantly doubling and threatening the city. He shrinks down to Ant-Man size
to destroy the tap root with a karate blow…
Elsewhere, a burglar named
Second-Story Sammy discovers that the jewels in his victims’ hotel room are
fake and makes it out onto the window ledge when he hears them returning. A
huge leaf from one of the fast-growing plants scoops him up and deposits him on
Hank Pym’s ledge. Inside, Hank’s reactor explodes, hurling him across the room
and knocking him unconscious. Sammy enters and recognizes Giant-Man by his outfit;
a little bit of searching yields the name Henry Pym and Sammy now knows the
hero’s secret identity. He dons the Giant-Man costume and quickly discovers how
to control his size changes mentally. Janet Van Dyne arrives but the crook
pushes his way out past her and on to a scheme…
… At a downtown jewelry store. He
sneaks in at ant-size but an accidental growth triggers the alarms so he
shrinks down again to hide among the gems in the window. Wasp tracks him down
via the cybernetic helmet and quickly realizes that this isn’t Hank Pym. With a
combination of judo, thrown objects, and threats, Wasp forces Sammy to tell her
what has happened to the real Ant-Man….
Meanwhile, Hank recovers and learns
that the plant is still spreading and filling the city. He contacts Wasp and
the baddie takes the opportunity to shut her in a jewelry box and escape. But
Jan has already summoned a flying ant which scoops up Ant-Sammy and delivers
him to Hank’s lab; Sammy tries to grow to giant-size but Hank punches him out
before he can grow too big. Hank marshals the ants and has them locate the main
root of the fast-growing vine; he heads out there and as Giant-Man, he tears up
the root, sending the ants to chew up every last vestige of it, ending the
menace of the plants. Giant-Man gives a press statement telling how he defeated
the giant plant menace, introducing Sammy as a friend who had stopped by.
Later, he tells Jan that he used some memory loss serum to wipe Sammy’s mind of
Hank’s identity—and his own criminal career.