This Ant-Man and wasp tale features Egghead whom we last seen in issue 57. In this issue he escapes from Jail, and sets out to get revenge on Giant-Man for besting him. As a villion goes it is more about proving himself the superior intellect then anything else at this point for the antagonist. This time though his intellect helps him turn a store mannequin into a Android that he can see, hear, speak as, feel as and control remotely. He then tricks the duo into going to a location believing it to be a set for them to play in a TV show based on their adventures. Once the duo arrive at the studio though, they are trapped inside with a steel door and forced to fight the Android as the air supply slowly depletes.

Story

The story is centered around the action that then transpires, the fight between the machine and Giant-Man while Wasp is left to play little more then cheerleader (a role not uncommon for female hero’s in the silver age) She does manage to land one good meaningful blow to the android.

On the whole though she tries to convice Giant-Man to change into Ant-Man and try to find a way to escape instead of fighting the machine until there air is gone, however Giant-Man insist on besting the machine and Egghead in a one on one fight.

I find myself wishing the Wasp played a bigger role in the fight, that her advice to Ant-Man ether be good or listented to instead of ignored. this dynamic I felt was bad for their relationship and for the issue.

Art

The work of Steve Ditko (whom based on the editors note was a stand in for this issue and did it quickly) was well done. While I may not be a big fan of how he does the face of Hank Pym on page five, the fight with the android, the scale of our hero’s and the transformation pages all where done well.

Characters & Development

I touched on how I feel this story hurt the Wasp, and given that her own independent featurettes have been brought to an end this is even more so a shame. The character has great potential and it does hurt when I see her reduced to cheerleader.

Giant-Man also though is hurt in this issue, a brilliant mind and his plan mostly seems rooted in just wrestling down the machine. Granted in the end, it does seem he uses his brain to best the android I question why this took so long, or why he never heeded the wasps advice.

then their is the development of the their new “Converti-Car” that they can ride in instead of on ant’s. To me this is just pushing things from the spirt of what makes Ant-Man and the wasp what they are.

Originality and Continuity

The story does fit nicely into the Continuity for Ant-Man, the Wasp and Egghead. But as for Originality it reminds me of Fantastic Four #9 among other stories. Hero’s off to play themselves in movies or TV might just need to be a trope or even a Tag that I developed for the sight. This time though the Trap much more thinly vailed.

the powers of the Android though to make itself heavier or lighter are both interesting and a great counter-weight (so to speak) to Ant-Man/Giant-Mans ability to be smaller or larger. This angle was fun to watch and see played with, and I look forward to seeing it again.

In conclusion

I hope that much of the events of this story fade away and don’t leave a lasting impact. the Converti-Car in particular is cringeworthy. The Android likely little more the a tool (even if I choose to view him as a character on the side of the review).