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Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection
Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection, Vol. 2: Ant-Man No More
Progenitor of the famous Pym Particle, biochemist Dr. Henry Pym started off his super-heroing life as the tiny Ant-Man and then burst into a new role as Giant-Man. The Avengers co-founder’s adventures with the Wasp continue in our second Epic Collection as they beat back the Beast of Berlin and battle other adversaries big and small. After their starring roles in Tales to Astonish and Marvel Feature conclude, there’s a new Giant-Man on the block—Pym’s friend and lab partner Bill Foster becomes the Black Goliath in a series all his own. Last, but far from least, we present the debut of Scott Lang as Ant-Man, the small hero who has made it big both in Marvel’s comics and on the silver screen!
COLLECTING: Tales To Astonish (1959) #60-69, Iron Man (1968) #44, Marvel Feature (1971) #4-10, Power Man (1974) #24-25, Black Goliath (1976) #1-5, The Champions (1975) #11-13 And Marvel Premiere (1972) #47-48.
COLLECTING: Tales To Astonish (1959) #60-69, Iron Man (1968) #44, Marvel Feature (1971) #4-10, Power Man (1974) #24-25, Black Goliath (1976) #1-5, The Champions (1975) #11-13 And Marvel Premiere (1972) #47-48.
504 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2023
31 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,562 books2,345 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 4, 2025
Tales to Astonish #60-64 - If one wants an example of Stan Lee’s achievements as a writer without the contributions of Jack Kirby, one can look at these Ant-Man/Giant-Man stories that were being produced simultaneously as the ground-breaking stories in the pages of Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man. These are absolutely terrible. These stories are, at their best, on par with the worst stories featuring the Human Torch in the pages of Strange Tales. But at their worst, these are almost unreadable. Further, the characterization of Hank Pym only supports the notion of a mad scientist that is truly only a lab accident away from being a threat to the world (1/5).
Tales to Astonish #65-69 - The New Giant-Man as redesigned by Bob Powell & Don Heck debuts! And it’s so underwhelming that this series ends after 5 issues. I fear this is just another example of Marvel (meaning Lee) operated under the influence of his own propaganda/hype. He believed wholeheartedly in what he said, even when lying, that he’d end up forgetting how much he was fabricating and what was reality. There is a clear difference between the stories that Lee produced that were co-developed with the likes of Kirby and Ditko, than those with less (let’s just say) imaginative artists. These adventures with Ant-Man/Giant-Man and the Wasp are clearly inferior in almost all respects to other stories being produced by Marvel over the same period (1/5).
While Tales to Astonish ended his solo (well, not exactly solo, since he was co-starring with the Wasp) appearances, Ant-Man/Giant-Man would appear off and on in the pages of The Avengers for the next 7 years. During this period he would retire and come out of retirement, get stuck seemingly permanently as a giant and begin using the code name, Goliath. Retire again and come out of retirement again. And then have that ill fated, and often foreshadowed, lab accident that would result in his suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder and gain yet another code name, Yellowjacket. And after having admitted to having “murdered” Hank Pym, Yellowjacket married the Wasp. Oh, and he also finds time to invent a murderous, genocidal robot with daddy issues, aka Ultron during all this. Heck, Pym is crazier than a mad scientist! Then he just returns to being plain-old-simple Ant-Man.
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 Yellowjacket, no explanation is offered as to why Pym has 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 (both who are among my favorites) among others, so there are some highlights (3/5).
After this point, Pym will spend most his time as Yellowjacket in the Avengers and briefly with the Defenders. Eventually things take a dark turn as his mental conditions begin to take their toll. The man needs therapy. Lots and lots of therapy. For an overview of Pym’s career and various identities, check out Avengers the Many Faces of Henry Pym, not complete, but worth it for the curious. So our focus in this volume switches to Bill Foster, Pym’s lab assistant and replacement as Goliath and Giant-Man, and eventually to Scott Lang, Pym’s replacement as Ant-Man.
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 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. 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 solidly 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). Also check out: Ant-Man: Scott Lang for more stories focused on him.
While this collection does get better as the stories go, there’s still a lot of really lame stuff in those early Tales to Astonish issues that really drag the whole thing down.
Tales to Astonish #65-69 - The New Giant-Man as redesigned by Bob Powell & Don Heck debuts! And it’s so underwhelming that this series ends after 5 issues. I fear this is just another example of Marvel (meaning Lee) operated under the influence of his own propaganda/hype. He believed wholeheartedly in what he said, even when lying, that he’d end up forgetting how much he was fabricating and what was reality. There is a clear difference between the stories that Lee produced that were co-developed with the likes of Kirby and Ditko, than those with less (let’s just say) imaginative artists. These adventures with Ant-Man/Giant-Man and the Wasp are clearly inferior in almost all respects to other stories being produced by Marvel over the same period (1/5).
While Tales to Astonish ended his solo (well, not exactly solo, since he was co-starring with the Wasp) appearances, Ant-Man/Giant-Man would appear off and on in the pages of The Avengers for the next 7 years. During this period he would retire and come out of retirement, get stuck seemingly permanently as a giant and begin using the code name, Goliath. Retire again and come out of retirement again. And then have that ill fated, and often foreshadowed, lab accident that would result in his suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder and gain yet another code name, Yellowjacket. And after having admitted to having “murdered” Hank Pym, Yellowjacket married the Wasp. Oh, and he also finds time to invent a murderous, genocidal robot with daddy issues, aka Ultron during all this. Heck, Pym is crazier than a mad scientist! Then he just returns to being plain-old-simple Ant-Man.
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 Yellowjacket, no explanation is offered as to why Pym has 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 (both who are among my favorites) among others, so there are some highlights (3/5).
After this point, Pym will spend most his time as Yellowjacket in the Avengers and briefly with the Defenders. Eventually things take a dark turn as his mental conditions begin to take their toll. The man needs therapy. Lots and lots of therapy. For an overview of Pym’s career and various identities, check out Avengers the Many Faces of Henry Pym, not complete, but worth it for the curious. So our focus in this volume switches to Bill Foster, Pym’s lab assistant and replacement as Goliath and Giant-Man, and eventually to Scott Lang, Pym’s replacement as Ant-Man.
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 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. 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 solidly 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). Also check out: Ant-Man: Scott Lang for more stories focused on him.
While this collection does get better as the stories go, there’s still a lot of really lame stuff in those early Tales to Astonish issues that really drag the whole thing down.
October 22, 2023
This collection takes on Giant-Man storylines from his stories in Tales to Astonish through Marvel Feature stories, but it isn't all Giant-Man, nor is it all Hank Pym.
These stories are of Giant-Man, Black Goliath, and Ant-Man #2,Scott Lang. They have everyone from the Champions, the Circus of Crime, of course, Egg Head and others.
Well done, although these read like a rag tag storyline because there was never any consistent book with these characters after Tales to Astonish # 70, so he ended up in all sorts of places--mostly Avengers with occasionally tales in Marvel Features and other places.
Worth reading and I was thrilled that they put Black Goliath in these collection and the origins of Scott Lang as Ant-Man.
These stories are of Giant-Man, Black Goliath, and Ant-Man #2,Scott Lang. They have everyone from the Champions, the Circus of Crime, of course, Egg Head and others.
Well done, although these read like a rag tag storyline because there was never any consistent book with these characters after Tales to Astonish # 70, so he ended up in all sorts of places--mostly Avengers with occasionally tales in Marvel Features and other places.
Worth reading and I was thrilled that they put Black Goliath in these collection and the origins of Scott Lang as Ant-Man.
June 17, 2023
Mixed bag. Starts with the tail end of Giant Man’s Tales of Suspense appearances, then we jump ahead to Ant Man’s 70’s return, followed by the entirety of Bill Foster as Black Goliath, ending with the introduction of Scott Lang as Ant Man. Some good, some bad, plenty of mediocre.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews