Hank Pym Day!

Larry Lieber was a powerful creator during Marvel's formative years. Brother of the famous Stan Lee, Lieber was the go-to writer for many of Marvel's earliest efforts when Stan was too busy. Consequently, he is now credited with creating some of Marvel's heroes such as Henry "Hank" Pym the Ant-Man. Lieber went on to draw as well, especially western features such as the Rawhide Kid which he both wrote and drew for several years. Lieber left Marvel for a time when he was tapped as an editor for the brief but bright Atlas-Seaboard line. 

Doctor Henry "Hank" Pym is the most flawed of heroes. One of the earliest heroes in the Marvel Universe, only preceded by the Fantastic Four and the Hulk in the Silver Age, Pym in his role as Ant-Man was always it seemed trying to find a better way to express his clear desire to be of help and to make himself useful.

Early on he fell in love with his partner Janet Van Dyne who became the Wasp and ever after the need in his mind to look big in her eyes proved a fundamental weakness in him.

He became Giant-Man, then after a brief retirement he returned as Goliath and then later when his mind snapped he took on the role of Yellowjacket. In that last role he married his love, but the pairing was ill-fated. 

Their marriage was a ragged one to be sure as Pym continued to alter his heroic pose, even at times eschewing it completely. Eventually his lack of self-worth drove him to abuse his wife and she quite wisely left him.

But still the journey to become a hero worthy of that name continued for Hank Pym. Of the myriad looks that Hank Pym has adopted over the decades, I have to say my absolute favorite is when he first returned to the Assemblers as "Goliath". One of the original Marvel superheroes, Pym began of course as Ant-Man before switching to the somewhat more imposing Giant-Man. He changed up his costume often enough even then. But then he and Winsome Wasp retired briefly from the Avengers only to return some months later all revved up for a new somewhat glitzier run.

The gold and blue he wore was attractive and distinctive among costumed heroes. The design is sleek and modern and eshcews too many goo-gaws. The use of goggles was an inspiration, giving the character a weird but oddly practical look. It rock solid costume, one of Marvel's very best. The look debuted in Avengers #28 and Jack Kirby offers up our first glimpse of the more imposing giant superhero. Goliath will be featured on most all the Avengers covers for the next few years, the first few drawn by Kirby.

Then it became the task of underrated artist Don Heck to illustrate the new hero. And he does a magnificent job. Goliath is a hero inside Heck's wheelhouse as Heck's jaunty lines work well on the simple costume. Avengers covers showcase the new hero to great effect. I recently had the opportunity to see some of the original work Heck did on this run and his inks on his own pencils are simply beautiful. I own one piece of art from this era, and I'd wish I'd had enough bucks to bring this one home as well.

After some months Goliath recedes a bit into the background of the covers, joining his fellow assemblers.

Gil Kane steps in for an issue and offers up a look at Goliath in a decidedly weak position here.

Then came John Buscema to the Assemblers while Don Heck drew the first Avengers annual adventure.

Buscema's arrival marked the end of the focus on Goliath as new Avengers scribe Roy Thomas decided that Hank Pym needed some more angles to his profile. He returned him to his roots, reactivating his Ant-Man persona.

We get one last look at the awesome blue and gold costume, with the added antennae in this powerful drawing of the assemblers by Buscema.

When next he'd appear Goliath would lose the blue and gold and replace it with a somewhat more drab red and blue, making him alas less distinctive and more like other heroes. Soon after that Goliath would be replaced by Yellowjacket.

But for a few years at least Hank Pym was a star, a true "big man on campus".

Then in a startling turn of events he trashed his Goliath identity and became The Yellowjacket. Hank was mildly mad at the time and used the brash personality of the Yellowjacket to win the hand of Janet and the two were finally wed. 

Hank did at one time become Ant-Man for a brief time in the pages of Marvel Feature, but it wasn't long before he'd returned to being Yellowjacket. 

One thing that I have always found fascinating is how many of Pym's identities have been handed off or perhaps purloined by other characters over the years. First of course Hawkeye became the second Goliath with Hank's blessings.

Later still Bill Foster, a longtime associate of Pym's became the third Goliath, this time with the added "Black" to the name. Foster took on another of Pym's identities some years later when he became the second Giant-Man.

Without doubt the most successful hand off was when Scott Lang stumbled onto the Ant-Man identity and then kept it with Pym's permission of sorts.

Many years later we even got a new Yellowjacket, though she was of a quasi-villainous nature for a bit.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some later ones, but frankly I haven't been paying much attention in the last decade or so. For me the power of Pym though still resonates.

The Trial of Yellowjacket is one of the most notorious storylines in the long history of comics. Featuring the downfall of a founding member of the Mighty Avengers, this saga seemed to follow on relentlessly from one of the most debated scenes in comics history. For Jim Shooter's reflection on how it was that Hank Pym came to be comics poster boy for wife beaters see this link.

Whatever the truth of that situation, this story was intended to document the collapse of a fundamentally good man when confronted with his own percieved relative uselessness to those around him. That frustration leading to one bad decision after another until his colleagues are left with only bad choices. Happily this collection not only tells the story of that fall from grace, but showcases how the completely humbled Hank Pym gathered himself and eventually re-entered the ranks of the pantheon of Assembers.

Below is a cover gallery for this sprawling storyline which ran from late 1981 into 1983. The Avengers battled many a foe during this time, not always focused specifically on the drama of Hank Pym, but always that personal tragedy develops through most of these tales if not directly then in terms of a similar theme, not something I realized when these first hit the stands way back when. Artistically it was a somewhat chaotic period for the team, but the storytelling was most memorable. 

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