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Quote1 You and your old ants! I bet if I had six legs, you'd like me better! Quote2
The Wasp

Appearing in "The Porcupine!"

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Synopsis for "The Porcupine!"

Streaking off on another adventure, Ant-Man points out to the Wasp the location of a local army ordnance plant. Inside the plant we meet Alex Gentry, a scientist who works for the ordinance plant. Having designed combat armor based on the quills of a porcupine, he has become frustrated with the lack of recognition and pay that he receives from the military for his inventions. Seeking fortune, he decides to use his porcupine armor to rob a new bank that has opened that has been boasting a burglar proof safe in the newspapers.

The next day, Ant-Man and Wasp (in their civilian guises of Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne) visit the bank to see a demonstration of the bank vault. Pym notices that Janet is coming down with a cold and tries to talk her into going home, which she refuses. Just then, Gentry (in his combat armor and calling himself "The Porcupine") arrives and uses his liquid cement quills to disarm the guards and then fills the room with sleeping gas. As Pym tries to drag Janet out of the sleeping gas, the Porcupine uses a built in acetylene torch to burn through the vault. While our two heroes seek refuge and fresh air in one of the bank's offices, the Porcupine manages to steal the bank's money and uses his jet pack to escape. Donning their guises of Ant-Man and the Wasp, the two heroes find that they are too late. When the Wasp starts to get really dizzy, Ant-Man takes her home and confines her to a bed, telling her not to leave it until she gets better.

Meanwhile, the Porcupine robs another bank, which allows Ant-Man's spy-ants to track his movements. Learning that the Porcupine is hiding out at the military ordnance plant, Ant-Man travels there alone to confront his foe. Getting into Gentry's lab, Ant-Man is easily taken down by the traps that the Porcupine had set up for him. Removing Ant-Man's control helmet, the Porcupine leaves Ant-Man to drown in a filled bathtub while he commits another crime.

Worrying about Pym, Janet learns where Ant-Man had gone from the ants and resumes her guise of the Wasp to rescue him. The two devise a trap using one of the Porcupine's own gimmicks: liquid cement.

Taking a bunch of containers of the compound and putting them in bags, the two heroes wait for the villain to return. When the Porcupine finally arrives, they have their ants squeeze the bags, shooting jets of liquid cement that coats the Porcupine's quills with the glue, rendering his offensive capabilities useless. Finding himself overwhelmed by Ant-Man's human-sized strength the Porcupine manages to escape via his jet pack (which wasn't affected by the glue).

Taking the visibly distraught Wasp home (she was afraid that he would've drowned), Ant-Man promises to have something for her when they get there, but what Janet figures might be a monetary gift of jewelry or a ring, turns out to be plain old cough medicine. "Henry Pym, I HATE you!"

Appearing in "The Inventor"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Uncanny Tales #32

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Synopsis for "The Inventor"

Reprint of the 2nd story from
Uncanny Tales #32

A disgruntled janitor's obsessive effort to create a sweeping robot costs him his job and ends in failure, but only because he sees no use for a perpetual motion machine.

Appearing in "Grayson's Gorilla!"

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Synopsis for "Grayson's Gorilla!"

A scientist tries to give himself the strength of a gorilla for his own ends. He switches bodies with one instead, and the newly human gorilla sends him to the zoo.

Appearing in "The Little Green Man!"

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  • Jones (First appearance)
  • Collins (First appearance)
  • Unnamed Green Alien

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Synopsis for "The Little Green Man!"

An alien visitor to Earth is having technical troubles with his space ship and so he sets down to ask an Earthling if he can borrow a radio to call for help. He meets up with a self-centered pilot who is frustrated at always losing air races. The alien offers to modify his plane if he can use his radio, and the pilot agrees but wants to test the plane first. The plane does fly faster, but instead of honoring the agreement, he pushes the alien out of the plane along with the parachute in order to see how fast it will go without extra weight. Too late, he realizes he forgot how to ask to alien how to land the plane. As the alien parachutes to the ground, he hopes perhaps the pilot is telepathic since he did not bother to ask about landing the plane and he has modified the engine to run forever without fuel.

Notes

  • First Story, "The Porcupine" is Story # X-387.
  • Third Story, "Grayson's Gorilla" is Story # X-388.
  • A new left-top cover logo is presented this issue which, for the first time, features an image of the Wasp. This is the only time this logo will be used as a new one appears next issue with Giant-Man and the Wasp.

Trivia

  • Story III, "Grayson's Gorilla' makes a text reference to Spider-Man.
  • Ant-Man appears to fly unassisted in this issue. He was not empowered to fly at this time, but may have been using an experimental flying device which he later incorporated into his costume.

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