American Update: ‘Hank & Jan, Hank & Jan, Do Whatever Small Insects Can…’ Complete Ant-Man in Marvel Feature
*Marvel: The 1971 series of Marvel Feature, having successfully repackaged three of its solo acts as ‘The Defenders’ for its first three issues, looked around for a new feature when the Defenders got their own book – and the editorial eye fell upon Hank Pym, size-shifitng founder of the Avengers, currently doing a whole lot of nothing. With Marvel Feature #4, Hank was returned to his Ant-Man role, but with a twist – he was trapped in tiny form, and effectively marooned in his own backyard! Needless to say, Hank’s wife, the wonderful Wasp, soon came along for the ride, and their battles against some oddball villains, including the Para-Man and Dr. Nemesis, were orchestrated by writer Mike Friedrich and illustrated by Herb Trimpe, Mike Trimpe, and an early effort by P. Craig Russell. Sadly, the off-beat focus didn’t catch with a mass market, and after issue #10, Hank & Jan went back into limbo (though not for long), to be replaced by Thing team-ups which were the ‘stealth pilot’ for Marvel Two-In-One. We have the entire Ant-Man run from issues #4 to #10 of Marvel Feature new in – small heroes! Big Adventures!