Resting at
home after a long day of Ant-Manning, Hank Pym broods about his late wife
Maria. He recalls how on their honeymoon they visited her native Hungary and
she was immediately kidnapped and murdered by the Reds and later, he remembers
how she said something about ants that inspired him to become Ant-Man and now
he wishes he had a partner to aid him in his fight against crime….
Almost
immediately, he receives a visit from Dr. Vernon Van Dyne who brings his
daughter Janet with him; Hank notes she looks like a much younger version of
Maria. Hank and Janet size each other up romantically and decide against doing anything.
Van Dyne wants Hank’s help in his experiments with Gamma rays to search for
life on other planets. Hank tells him that’s out of his field and the Van Dynes
depart….
Later, Van
Dyne sends a beam into space and a huge green weirdo from the planet Kosmos
arrives; it explains that it is an escaped criminal from his own world and
decides to conquer Earth instead, starting with killing Van Dyne and destroying
his machine. When Janet comes home she finds her father dead and calls the only
responsible adult she knows: Hank Pym. Once Hank realizes she’s not pranking
him, he goes over as Ant-Man to investigate. Together, Ant-Man and Janet decide
that Dad was killed by a monster from outer space; he tells her to call Lee
Kearns of the FBI while he checks in with the ants who tell him the alien
monster secretes formic acid like ants and they freaked out….
Hank
hurries home and Janet comes to see him; he reveals that he is Ant-Man and
suggests that if she is serious about avenging her father’s death, she can be
his partner. She agrees and he gives her a treatment that will enable her to
grow wings and antennae when she shrinks and he gives her a costume he already
had in the closet and dubs her—the Wasp! The monster shows up wreaking havoc
downtown so, after a crash course in using the shrinking gas, they head out to
the George Washington Bridge to find the monster battling the army. She tries a
frontal attack to prove she isn’t a dumb kid and Ant-Man has to rescue the dumb
kid and think of a scientific means of defeating the monster. Back in the lab,
he whips up some antidote to formic acid, loads it in shells, and has the ants
carry a shotgun back to the bridge. A couple of blasts and the Kosmosian fades
into nothingness. Janet falls in love with Hank and Hank keeps her at a
distance despite his feelings because she’s too young for him.
“Blueprint
for Victory”
Writer:
Unknown. Art: Unknown.
Synopsis:
During WW2, an American intelligence agent captures an important German
communications unit by pretending to surrender!
“Hunted”
Writer:
Stan Lee. Art: Steve Ditko. Colors: ? Letters: Terry Szenics.
Synopsis:
In the year 2000 (!), one man has the entire population frantically searching
for him—because he is carrying the last gun on Earth, stolen from a museum!