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Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man #3
Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man, Vol. 3
Because you demanded it! The Marvel Masterworks are proud to bring you the continuing adventures of Ant-Man - and not just one Ant-Man! Hank Pym's never-before-reprinted Marvel Feature series with the Wasp leads the way. Then comes Pym's former assistant, Bill Foster, who becomes an all-new Giant-Man under the codename Black Goliath. His adventures continue into Champions in a story featuring the power of the Infinity Gems. Next comes the debut of Scott Lang, the man who stole the mantle of Ant-Man - literally! With stories and art by Marvel icons including John Byrne, P. Craig Russell, Roy Thomas, Ross Andru, Herb Trimpe and more, this Masterworks is as big on talent as it is on adventure. COLLECTING: MARVEL FEATURE (1971) 4-10, POWER MAN (1974) 24-25, BLACK GOLIATH (1976) 1-5, CHAMPIONS (1975) 11-13, MARVEL PREMIERE (1972) 47-48, MATERIAL FROM IRON MAN (1968) 44
353 pages, Hardcover
Published June 26, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 11, 2023
Iron Man #44 (2nd story) - Although, he had been appearing in the pages of the Avengers fairly regularly for seven years as Goliath and then as Yellowjacket, no explanation is offered as to why Pym had suddenly and inexplicably returned to his Ant-Man identity. I suppose it’s just because he’s a crazy mad scientist who can’t deal with his feelings of inadequacy, his lack of self-esteem, his inferiority complex, his undiagnosed Dissociative Identity Disorder, or his growing manic behavior. This short story serves as a trial run launch for his new “solo” series coming in the pages of Marvel Feature. This is certainly better than most the stories from Tales to Astonish, but that’s not a high bar to pass. And I’m rather glad that the mutant beetle from Tales to Astonish #39 received his … final curtain (3/5).
Marvel Feature #4-10 - Let me be bunt, this is a much better showcase series for Ant-Man than his Tales to Astonish era. It’s still got flaws, but it’s such an improvement. Previously, the only issue I’d read was #7, as I have an original copy of that particular issue, but until now I didn’t have the rest of these issues. Mike Friedrich does a nice job on this series, although the delays that resulted in a fill-in issue for such a short run series really derailed the pacing. Still, we have Egghead and Whirlwind (aka the Human Top) returning, and new threats from Para-Man and Doctor Nemesis, as well as lots of environmental threats for our shrunken heroes. We also have the long awaited return of Bill Foster. The primary weakness in these tales is that all these events occur over such a brief period of time and over such a small area of space. It stretches the limits of credibility, but not as much as those older Tales to Astonish stories. Not great stuff but certainly interesting. Also, I’m not a huge fan of Herb Trimpe’s style, but it’s good, although the later issues here offer early professional art from P. Craig Russell and even Jim Starlin (who are among my favorites) among others, so there are some highlights (3/5).
Power Man #24-25 - This 2-part tale is all over the place. With half written by Tony Isabella, and half written by Bill Mantlo it doesn’t feel very stable, and the art, half by George Tuska and the other by Ron Wilson doesn’t really help. These are issues in transition and it shows. Still we are introduced to the new Goliath (#3, after Hank Pym and Clint Barton both vacated the identity), so there’s that at least (3/5).
Black Goliath #1-5 - Bill Foster, Hank Pym’s glorified “lab assistant” from the pages of the Avengers aka Goliath (3) or Black Goliath, now has his own series. Unfortunately, it is really short-lived. Really short-loved. The title was barely given a chance. Isabella wrote the opening issue and Chris Claremont wrote the next four issues. The art from Tuska (#1-3), Rich Buckler (#4) and Keith Pollard (#5) isn’t anything special, although the last issue definitely worked the best for me. The antagonists were all pretty lame and the narrative set up a lot of mysteries and then left everything hanging were also rather disappointing, but when I read them as the series was coming out, I enjoyed them. Looking back and reading them again after all these years, the title was nothing more than a nearly forgettable short-run hero series (3/5).
Champions #11-13 - John Byrne! Yes, I admit it, I’m a Byrne-Victim (Hey don’t blame me, I didn’t come up with it) and these were some of my favorite issues from the short-lived Champions series. Mantlo brings together a LOT of loose threads and weaves them into a solid and entertaining story. And the art by Byrne and Bob Layton only ups the ante. This is prime 1970s Marvel at its best (5/5).
Marvel Premiere #47-48 - Byrne and Layton return with David Michelinie to bring us the all-new, all-different Ant-Man. In case you’re unsure, this story was one of the major inspirations for the Ant-Man film. And it’s definitely a good one, but then with the likes of Byrne, Layton & Michelinie involved, of course it’s gonna be entertaining (4/5).
Some of the earlier stories in this collection are not nearly as entertaining as the latter ones, but overall this is a decent collection.
Marvel Feature #4-10 - Let me be bunt, this is a much better showcase series for Ant-Man than his Tales to Astonish era. It’s still got flaws, but it’s such an improvement. Previously, the only issue I’d read was #7, as I have an original copy of that particular issue, but until now I didn’t have the rest of these issues. Mike Friedrich does a nice job on this series, although the delays that resulted in a fill-in issue for such a short run series really derailed the pacing. Still, we have Egghead and Whirlwind (aka the Human Top) returning, and new threats from Para-Man and Doctor Nemesis, as well as lots of environmental threats for our shrunken heroes. We also have the long awaited return of Bill Foster. The primary weakness in these tales is that all these events occur over such a brief period of time and over such a small area of space. It stretches the limits of credibility, but not as much as those older Tales to Astonish stories. Not great stuff but certainly interesting. Also, I’m not a huge fan of Herb Trimpe’s style, but it’s good, although the later issues here offer early professional art from P. Craig Russell and even Jim Starlin (who are among my favorites) among others, so there are some highlights (3/5).
Power Man #24-25 - This 2-part tale is all over the place. With half written by Tony Isabella, and half written by Bill Mantlo it doesn’t feel very stable, and the art, half by George Tuska and the other by Ron Wilson doesn’t really help. These are issues in transition and it shows. Still we are introduced to the new Goliath (#3, after Hank Pym and Clint Barton both vacated the identity), so there’s that at least (3/5).
Black Goliath #1-5 - Bill Foster, Hank Pym’s glorified “lab assistant” from the pages of the Avengers aka Goliath (3) or Black Goliath, now has his own series. Unfortunately, it is really short-lived. Really short-loved. The title was barely given a chance. Isabella wrote the opening issue and Chris Claremont wrote the next four issues. The art from Tuska (#1-3), Rich Buckler (#4) and Keith Pollard (#5) isn’t anything special, although the last issue definitely worked the best for me. The antagonists were all pretty lame and the narrative set up a lot of mysteries and then left everything hanging were also rather disappointing, but when I read them as the series was coming out, I enjoyed them. Looking back and reading them again after all these years, the title was nothing more than a nearly forgettable short-run hero series (3/5).
Champions #11-13 - John Byrne! Yes, I admit it, I’m a Byrne-Victim (Hey don’t blame me, I didn’t come up with it) and these were some of my favorite issues from the short-lived Champions series. Mantlo brings together a LOT of loose threads and weaves them into a solid and entertaining story. And the art by Byrne and Bob Layton only ups the ante. This is prime 1970s Marvel at its best (5/5).
Marvel Premiere #47-48 - Byrne and Layton return with David Michelinie to bring us the all-new, all-different Ant-Man. In case you’re unsure, this story was one of the major inspirations for the Ant-Man film. And it’s definitely a good one, but then with the likes of Byrne, Layton & Michelinie involved, of course it’s gonna be entertaining (4/5).
Some of the earlier stories in this collection are not nearly as entertaining as the latter ones, but overall this is a decent collection.
January 5, 2020
The early 70’s Ant-Man run was the precursor to “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and it was rather fun. Seeing Hank try to survive while he stuck at a small size was interesting. This volume also shows the heirs to Pym’s legacy - Black Goliath (Bill Foster) and the new Ant-Man (Scott Lang).
March 30, 2023
Sebbene da vecchio appassionato della Marvel di una certa età sia contento di questa raccolta di storie, diverse delle quali in Italia non vedono stampa da decenni, qualitativamente il livello è decisamente basso. Questo non dipende dal fatto che, raccogliendo storie sparse su diverse testate e quindi scritte da diversi autori e disegnate da diversi artisti, l'altalenanza della qualità è normale. Esiste proprio, in quegli inizi anni '70, un periodo di produzione di storie super eroiche decisamente scadente.
A livello di sceneggiature non c'è praticamente nulla che vada oltre la sufficienza, e spesso siamo sulla grave insufficienza. Le storie sono effettivamente dimenticabili, la caratterizzazione dei villain è sempre decisamente piatta ed anche quella dei protagonisti non è all'altezza di quanto letto nel decennio dei '60.
A livello di disegni siamo messi alla stessa maniera. Si salva qualcosa di un giovane Barry Smith non ancora Windsor-Smith, e Craig Russell.
Nel complesso sono storie per completisti, e giusto per la confezione grafica di alta qualità arriva alle 2 stelle, ma sono decisamente generoso.
A livello di sceneggiature non c'è praticamente nulla che vada oltre la sufficienza, e spesso siamo sulla grave insufficienza. Le storie sono effettivamente dimenticabili, la caratterizzazione dei villain è sempre decisamente piatta ed anche quella dei protagonisti non è all'altezza di quanto letto nel decennio dei '60.
A livello di disegni siamo messi alla stessa maniera. Si salva qualcosa di un giovane Barry Smith non ancora Windsor-Smith, e Craig Russell.
Nel complesso sono storie per completisti, e giusto per la confezione grafica di alta qualità arriva alle 2 stelle, ma sono decisamente generoso.
March 15, 2024
Not as good as the other volumes. The classic Ant-Man/Giant-Man stories are the bomb. The revamp here is a cross between Ant-man and The Incredible Shrinking Man and is not on a par with either individually. The Bill Foster stories are just lacking any reality [the costume is ridiculous] although the guest shots with the Champions were the highlights but he was only a bit player in those. The Scott Lang stories were actually surprisingly good but too little to late.
October 7, 2022
With the exception of the scott lang issue which is actually decent (most of its ideas are in ant man movie) the rest is garbage. Black goliath is a lame, weak character
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews