Pym was without a doubt a cheuvanist with mental issues (esp around the time of Ultron).  That we cannot deny.

Shooter without a doubt wrote that story - especially the script and subsequent panels as mentioned above. That he cannot deny.

He ramped Pym from a cheuvanist to a wife beater. Marvel should just let him move on from that - other characters have moved on from their mistakes (Sorry, mistakes the writers made), why can't he? (Sidebar - one of the comments mentions Peter Parker punching a pregnant Mary Jane across a room - did that happen?)

Shooter insisted the pages be sent back to me to be "finished properly".

Ugh, must've taken a thick skin to work for such people. I applaud (and continue to do so) your professionalism!

Mmm both Jim Shooter and Bob Hall are on Facebook.... and are Facebook friends......This link to the new entry of the blog isn't posted yet as far as i know, but they all are sooner or later..... So i suppose Bob Hall may eventually comment. :)

Even after Marvel tried for years to rehabilitate Hank Pym's image with Englehart, JB, Harras, and Busiek doing stories in the Avengers (and West Coast), Marvel allowed Chuck Austen to step in and try to ruin him once again. Thank God his run was short lived. Even ignoring Millar's Ulitmate version, Bendis followed in making him very flawed during the Civil War issues of the Avengers. Dan Slott returned Hank Pym to respectability in Mighty Avengers and Christos Gage has done a great job with him in Avengers Academy. I shudder to think if Bendis gets him again.

I was flabbergasted. What this reader interpreted as me doing nasty things to the characters out of some kind of dislike for them, was, from my perspective, me writing the most exciting stories I could. I answered the letter by saying if I didn't LIKE the characters, I would simply chose NOT to write them at all! I could not imagine any writer who would do otherwise.

Unfortunately, I have no trouble nowadays imagining all kinds of writers who seem to be doing just that!

I've commented before about the Pyms, and how Hank wasn't truly the abuser in their relationship.  He suffered amnesia during his first dealings with Ultron (amnesia caused by Ultron), he suffered a "split personality" that created the Yellowjacket persona (caused by an accidental exposure to a mix of exotic chemicals), and he struck his wife (while under the mind control of Egghead).  In each instance, there were in-story explanations for his behavior - not later recons, but in-story reveals that showed that forces way outside his control caused his erratic behavior.  He was never erratic by nature.

Compare to Janet van Dyne, who from her earliest appearance up to well past the time they were married, flirted shamelessly with every man on the team, generally within earshot of Hank.  As introduced, Jan was younger than Hank and generally shown to be flighty and funloving.  And she sought attention from Hank by showing appreciation for every handsome man around.  Bad enough if she were only doing this aloud as a means of making him jealous, but she often thought about what Iron Man looked like under the helmet, bemoaning to herself that he likely didn't resemble "that dreamboat" Tony Stark. 

Hank got a raw deal from Jan regardless of who wrote their adventures, from Stan and Roy on up.  Roger Stern portrayed her (finally!) as a grown woman able to lead the team, but she'd been around for well over 20 years by that point. 

And if you don't think her behavior was abusive, consider if their dominant personality traits were reversed.  What would be the flavor of the stories if Jan were entirely faithful and loving in both word and deed save for isolated incidents that were shown in-story to be not her fault, and Hank was hitting on every attractive woman in every story?  If Hank had been shown to be flirting with Wanda in every issue while still dating Jan, would that be all right, or would it be emotional abuse?  If while dating Jan and flirting with Wanda he was also hitting on any nurse or secretary or schoolteacher or business woman or whichever attractive woman crossed his path?  Why does Jan get a pass for this behavior?