I don’t remember where I picked up this issue of MARVEL PREMIERE featuring the second half of the two-part debut of the new Ant-Man, Scott Lang. But it wasn’t at my regular 7-11 haunt; they weren’t carrying MARVEL PREMIERE, and their selection in general had been pulled back to tried-and-true sellers. So I must have gotten it on some shopping trip or other where I found it in a candy or card store that I didn’t typically frequent. At the age of twelve, i was still very much at the mercy of my parents taking me to such places where I might find treasures otherwise unavailable.
I had really liked the debut of the new Ant-Man in MARVEL PREMIERE #47, as did my comic-reading friend David Steckel. So we were on the avid lookout for this follow-up. I’m sure a great deal of what attracted us was the skill of the creative team. David Michelinie was getting notice from us on IRON MAN and AVENGERS, and John Byrne had become a favorite for his work on X-MEN, AVENGERS, MARVEL TEAM-UP and the like. This book also had the look and feel of a classic Marvel comic, mostly thanks to Byrne’s work on layouts and composition. It felt like it was more important than just a random try-out story, and it harkened back to the beginning of the Marvel Age, since that’s where Ant-Man stemmed from. So whatever the reason, we were entirely taken with this new hero.
So just to recap the story so far: former cat-burglar turned electronics specialist Scott Lang needs to locate specialist surgeon Dr. Sondheim to perform a vital life-saving procedure on his stricken daughter Cassie. Unfortunately, Dr. Sondheim has been spirited away from Darren Cross for his own purposes. Willing to break the law in order to save his little girl, Lang steals the Ant-Man gear created by Henry Pym years before and sets out to rescue the Doctor. But after infiltrating Cross Technologies, this new Ant-Man finds himself confronted by the hulking figure of Darren Cross. And that’s where this issue picks up.
Cross’s body has been mutated by the Nucleorganic Pacemaker that’s been installed to keep his weak heart beating, transforming him into a super-strong brute. Ant-Man tries to fight him, but Cross dispatches his tiny foe with ridiculous ease, capturing the novice super hero, removing his size-change gas cannisters and snapping the antenna off of his helmet to render him powerless. Hours later, Cross comes to visit Lang (whom he still believes to be Hank Pym), tells Lang his backstory and reveals that he intends to transplant Lang’s heart into his own body as a replacement for his own failing organ.
Fortunately, Lang thought ahead: realizing that as a novice, he might break his antennas on his own, he took a spare set with him, and so he’s able to repair his cybernetic helmet. From there, it’s a simple matter to command his ant legions to retrieve his lost size-changing gas cannisters and to escape lock-up. But he still needs to rescue Dr. Sondheim, so he sets out deeper into the Cross Technologies campus. He finds Cross attempting to coerce Sondheim into resuming the procedure that was interrupted by Ant-Man’s arrival earlier. But she refuses on ethical grounds.
So ant-man hurls himself into the fray. But once again, there doesn’t seem to be much that a tiny super hero and a legion of ants can do against Cross’s bludgeoning power. Things aren’t looking very good…until Cross suddenly experiences chest pains and he keels over, his heart having burst. Dr. Sondheim reveals that when the earlier operation had been interrupted, she couldn’t transplant a new heart into Cross, she could only restore the worn-out heart she was removing. And putting this much exertion and strain on the injured organ caused it to give out, killing Cross. Ant-Man isn’t especially broken up about this, although Dr. Sondheim is, because he’s still got somebody else that he needs her to save.
In an extended three-page epilogue, we learn that Dr. Sondheim does operate on Cassie and that she’ll be fine. But then, Hank Pym shows up as Yellowjacket. Scott figures that his time is up, and he offers himself up for arrest, but Pym tells him that that isn’t why he’s come. Turns out that Yellowjacket was alerted to the theft of his Ant-Man gear by automated alarms, and he’s been surreptitiously been following Lang throughout most of the past two issues, curious as to what he intended to do with the outfit. Having liked what he saw, Pym tells Lang to keep the suit, because the world can always use another hero. Lang sees this as a turn-around for his life: he only got into crime for the challenge and the thrills, and being Ant-Man provide those and more. So he figures that he’ll carry on in the role. A next issue blurb indicates that the new Ant-Man will be appearing in upcoming issues of IRON MAN and AVENGERS, which isn’t at all surprising given that those were the two regular titles that Michelinie was writing.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Not only were 47 and 48 just masterclass examples of comic storytelling, but they form such a perfect cool story showcasing how cool character Ant-Man can be. No wonder Marvel/Disney ended up using this as the core for the first movie. (I wished Darren Cross had been more like this instead of Yellowjacket in the film — because that never really developed into something bigger, like a recurring villain).
I usually use these two Byrne issues when I teach comics. The panel transitions are so smart, so efficient, so effective.
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Me too on Darren Cross. It is funny how I never noticed until Tom did the second half of the Marvel Premiere Ant-Man story that Darren Cross ( of Cross Technological Enterprises ) is like an earlier Marvel corporation head with a heart condition: Tony Stark of Stark Industries ( Granted Tony’s isn’t do to overwork but a severe heart wound in a war zone ).
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Can I just add: Tom, I love how you isolate the main image you need from your pages to create your banner for each of these entries? I love this one.
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Scott Lang needing specialist surgeon Dr. Sondheim to save Cassie Lang’s life is very 1960s: In order to save the Wasp’s life, the Avengers seek out the help of Dr. Svenson, only to find he’s been replaced by an alien from the planet Kallu [ The Avengers#14 ( March 1965 ) — another doctor needing rescuing ]. These 2 involve doctors that transform: The X-Men take an injured Havok to be treated by one of Xavier’s old buddies, Dr. Karl Lykos ( Sauron )[ The X-Men#60 ( September 1969 ) ]With Professor X in a coma after warding off the Z’Nox, the X-Men try to reach him and he mentally tells them one word, “Hulk” ( Dr. Bruce Banner ) [ The X-Men#66 ( March 1970 ) ]. Other versions don’t involve the hero rescuing or seeking out a medical specialist: Aunt May is dying due to some radioactivity in her blood, and Dr. Octopus has stolen the radioactive isotope that Peter and Dr. Connors need to create a serum to save her life [ The Amazing Spider-Man#32 ( January 1966 ) ] and in a hidden cave in Tibet The Ancient One’s servant questions the meaning of his ailing master’s word “Eternity” [ Strange Tales#132 ( May 1963 ) Doctor Strange ].
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Scott Lang got Hank Pym’s former alias in the 2 Marvel Premiere issues and months later Dr. Bill Foster got Hank’s second alias — Giant-Man [ Marvel Two-In-One#55 ( September 1979 ) ].
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IT’s too bad this version of Scott, that once replaced Reed on the F4 and defeated Doctor Doom by redefining an existing power set, was turned into an idiot bumbler no one respects because of the movies. Maybe as more time goes by since the last movie Marvel editorial will restore Scott’s intelligence and standing in the hero community.
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That’s because the people behind the MCU don’t know the difference between humour ( Diehard ) and slapstick. I hate buffoon Thor ( Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder and while with the Guardian of the Galaxy — Avengers: Endgame ). Currently watching Avengers movies on TV, Mission: Impossible movies on another channel. In the first Avengers movie that line Cap says to Tony about not making the sacrifice play, completely ignores Tony doing exactly that ( Tony telling Pepper to overload the large arc reactor powering the building while he was still on the roof with Stane ) or Thunderbolt Ross in Captain America: Civil War blaming the Avengers for the alien invasion in the first movie ( That was SHIELD using the Tesseract to make weapons and study — alien invasion and Loki made Nick Fury’s Avengers dream a reality ) or destruction of SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier ( That was Hydra infiltrating SHIELD that cause Cap and his allies to take it down ) or Ultron ( Not an A.I. created by either Tony or Bruce — but a Trojan horse clearly left by Thanos — as seen during the end credits of Avengers: Age of Ultron which only we knew not the characters, but Tony/Bruce knew they never created the Ultron A.I. only opened Pandora’s Box ).
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One could charitably argue that Marvel comic books had often placed heroes in the position of being falsely accused, and that those charges aren’t always sorted out properly. But the big difference IMO is that in the comics the reader was encouraged to empathize with the heroes’ struggles, while the weird POV of the MCU seems to be that the heroes really are guilty just because they’re accused.
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Loved these two issues. Very solid. Though even back in the day it bugged me a little that Cross thinks enough to break off Ant-man’s antenna when he could just as easily take his helmet.
Curious if Hank’s then-recent return to the Ant-man id in Avengers had anything to do with this relaunch. Byrne draws the double punch using growth momentum that Perez drew in Avengers when an out of his mind Pym floored Beast and Black Panther. It’s not a thing I remember Hank ever doing previously.
Happy Yellowjacket at the end makes me nostalgic for pre-wife beater Pym… something the character can never get over.
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It will take an equally iconic event to ever supplant that. Spider-Man survived slapping MJ because of the body of stories the character has to focus on. Hank has nothing else. Slott tried but nobody liked Scientist Supreme. Hank merged with Ultron seems its only equal to date.
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Not to minimize domestic violence but I suspect (and others have posited) that it was the subsequent depiction of Jan’s black eye more than the strike itself that altered it from being just another violent comic panel.
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Hadn’t noticed it at the time, but that wordy thought balloon exposition in page 14 panel 2 feels very, very Weisingerish.
“Didn’t have a chance to set this up properly, so let’s explain it all at once!”
The previous issue doesn’t even establish that he _has_ spare antennae. It would have been an easy set-up — that he steals the suit and the replacement components, and then thinks to himself in part 2 that it’s lucky he thought to bring along some spares in case he messed up. But as it is, they just conveniently come out of nowhere.
But it’s a good-looking story, which makes up for a lot.
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I was pretty excited by the Scott Lang Ant-Man when he debuted, even though I was never a particularly big fan of Hank Pym. My excitement was probably due to the skills of the creative team on these two issues, combined with the fact that legacy heroes were pretty rare in the Marvel Universe back then. I still like Scott these days, even though he finds himself holding the idiot ball more often than not.
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