For pity’s sake, will you all just leave Henry Jonathan Pym alone! He has been around for close on half a century now and he has never, ever had a fair shake from anyone. We all know and appreciate that Stan’s winning formula was to put all of his heroes through an emotional mill, but Hank seems to be the dog that everyone likes to kick and I’m getting totally sick of it.
In his first published story, his wife gets killed, (be honest — did you even remember that Janet was his second wife? – plus extra points for the first student who actually remembers her name) so right out of the box, he loses someone very dear to him. Then the powers that be decide that his grief should only last a few a few issues before he is expeditiously paired up again with a young millionairess. All right, I do realize that comic book time is not the same as ordinary time but does anybody else think that was a bit quick? I mean really, Peter Parker has been heartbroken about his uncle Ben since for what seems like centuries and nobody seems to object to his constant moping, but Hank was supposed to get over the death of a spouse in two short months!
This man was one of the pre-eminent scientists of the original Marvel universe who refined his patented growth formula so well it could turn him into two different superheroes plus he was one of the founder members of the planets pre-eminent superhero team, the Avengers. However, some people couldn’t leave well enough alone. They had to throw some serious complexion into the mans life and when they started they didn’t hold back.
So over time we had all these things happening to the guy : Hank trapped in his Goliath form -– Hank creating Ultron who goes on to attack his crime fighting partners – Hank contracting paranoid schizophrenia and becoming the obnoxious Yellowjacket – Hank was then turned into a murderous caveman – Hank being brainwashed by Ultron — Hank court marshalled by the Avengers – Hank having his official status pulled by Gyrich — Hank losing his second wife through a divorce — Hank framed for grand larceny and ending up in prison because of Egghead — Hank having to watch Janet fall in love with Tony Stark – Hank being dumped by his new love interest Tigra – Hank is driven to the point of suicide — and of course lets not forget the capstone of all this abuse —- Hank captured by the Kree and a substitute is put in his place. (there are some more points for the student who lists the comics that all these terrible events took place in)
So now we come to this particular issue and what do they have Hank doing now — nothing much – just organising an attack on the Fantastic Four. It’s totally ludicrous. Its just another chapter of using Hank as a plot point that the writers call in when they want to write a story where the hero is a bit morally ambiguous.
Well that’s it — I’m done with all this crap — I say enough of this debasement already — it has to stop. Would you please just stop pounding on this man. Absolutely nobody deserves this kind of sustained long-term punishment.
So I feel its now time for everyone who ever liked Hank to stand up and be counted and say I am a Pym Pusher, and I’m giving Mighty Avengers #25 2 Stars out of 5.
12 Comments
Yes, I defintely agree wiht you. Hank Pym had been the punchbag of the MU for lot of time.
While I agree on the treatment of Hank, it was still a fun read. Like I’ve said before the Hank/Reed dialogue was hilarious and os was the reation of the people present.
Hank’s first wife was named Maria. She was later mutated into the monstrous AIM creation MODAM.
I have to say that the best part of the issue (“Richards? It’s on, bitch.”) served only to make Hank look even more unstable and silly. I hope that Slott really does have something huge in mind to bring Hank back to prominence, because the flippant “hey, we saved you from a snot monster, now you love us, right?” bit didn’t do the job.
The problem with Hank is that he has so much crap stacked up against him that he could cure cancer, achieve world peace and feed every man, woman and child on earth and still have stuff to make up for. Just think of “Annihilation: Conquest”, how many were killed by Ultron and his troops?
I don’t understand how this book is selling
I think the real problem is that we’re being oversaturated by Avengers issues (much like all of the X-titles in the 90s). Between Mighty, New, Dark, and the Iniative it’s a bit much….
God, this is all looking terribly familiar…
The flooding-the-market with one of Marvel’s main franchises, a heavy shake-up in the Spider-Man universe, and creators being allowed more and more freedom with established characters, due to past success history. Oh, and Wolverine’s still everywhere, so much in fact he needed a son and a clone to spread the wealth.
So when does Bendis, Slott, Pak, Van Lente, DnA, Gage, etc. etc. split and form “About Face Comics”?
I agree…..I’m pretty sick of Hank getting kicked around like this. I wish he would get treated better in the comics..
I am a Pym pusher. As stated, not many bad guys are immune to three-foot wide knuckles.
The best part of this issue was the panel where Reed tells Hank that he knows more about Pym Particles than Hank does, prompting Cassie to spit out her tea and Cho to stammer out an “Oh, snap!”. Good stuff.
I’ve long been tired of the writer’s making Pym and unstable idiot. If you compare his mistakes to other such as Reed and Stark they haven’t done better.
I know this is probably dangerously close to setting off some kind of bomb, but…. As much as I did enjoy reading this, it sort of brings up the debate we had here (somewhere) about “what is a review?” Don’t get me wrong, everything you bring up is relevant AND true. It’s just that only ONE paragraph is devoted to _glossing_ (quite lightly, too) over this particular issue of this particular book. If you called this “A Response to Avengers #25” I would totally not even be bringing this up… I enjoy your original style, Mr. Marlowe, but… If I were your editor at a newspaper, and you handed me that? I would have you do some rewriting. Your mileage is welcome to vary, naturally, as is everybody else’s. Let me repeat: I LIKED THIS!! :D You just might be inviting trouble if it’s going to be what you do all the time. Hopefully that’s seen as “constructive”, because I don’t wanna be a jerktard on the intarwubs. :)
(Oh, wasn’t it the Skrulls, and not the Kree? Where’s my No-Prize? :D)