Pym mugshot

Bonus deleted scene! Well, not really. This is the Giant-Man I used in the Captain America shoot, and he's from the Avengers boxset predating the current Marvel Legends. Sadly, he either lost the antenna in storage or while abusing his wife...

Henry Pym has been Ant-man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, and simply Dr. Pym. He's a consistent if not spectacular member of the Avengers roster, but ever since Jim Shooter did the story with Hank hitting his then-wife Janet van Dyne/the Wasp before having a nervous breakdown; I think he's been a tough character to write. At least one storyline, the Crossing, tried to establish that his breakdown (and by association, the abuse) were the result of mental tampering by Kang. That's the same storyline that gave us the Teenage Iron Man, which is still heralded as a highwater mark for Marvel and comics in general...in some other, possibly less discerning reality. (For DC fans, Marvel doesn't have the big Crisis or Zero Hour style continuity fixes: if something needs fixing, Marvel just shuts up about it and hopes it goes away. In this case, everyone was more than happy to oblige.)

An alternate reasoning was that all the shrinking, growing, electric shocks from renegade robots, etc. hadn't done Henry's brain a lot of good, leading to his problems. Although in some ways, he and Janet have worked through the abuse; it always seems to be something the character is always going to have to apologize for, or that writers want to give him an out for. Wow, two prepositions at the end of sentences: I suck!

I personally like the Yellowjacket costume, but no toy for that yet, except a "shrunken" one that comes with Wonder Man. Why do shrinking superheroes--Wasp, Antman, Yellowjacket, DC's Atom--have to be small whenever there's a crowd scene in the team books? I grant you that it's more interesting visually, and it's easier to fit seventeen heroes in a panel when three are about 6 inches high; but I would get sick and tired of having to check to make sure I didn't set my drink on the Atom's stupid tiny chair; and everytime you ask Antman to pass you something, he has those damn ants do it for him.

In stores--well, in Wal-Marts now, is the Marvel Legends Giant-Man wave, often referred to as the Wal-Mart wave, since it's an exclusive. Buy all ten figures (including Kitty Pryde, Havok, and Ms. Marvel/Warbird) and you can build a larger Giant-Man than the one pictured. Currently, I have seven; so poor Hank's missing his feet and a hand. Not terribly inspiring. He also recently appeared in New Avengers, as a tool for registration. Hank will doubtless have more to be sorry for soon.

And that's all the rambling we have time for today: more meandering tomorrow!