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Victor Rodgers
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Joined: 26 December 2004
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 1:52pm | IP Logged | 1
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If you look at Hank's history it wasnt til Chuck Austen decided to work out his daddy issues this became a big problem. Once he became Dr.Pym in West Coast Avengers, it was not mentioned for over a decade.
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Robert Bradley
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Joined: 20 September 2006
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | 2
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And how does the Wasp get off unscathed for marrying him when he's not in control of his senses in Avengers #60?
People have always gotten all bent out of shape over Ms. Marvel going off to limbo with Marcus in Avengers #200 [because she 'might have' been under his control/influence when she agree to it] and vilify Pym for striking the Wasp when he obviously was in the midst of a major meltdown, but why isn't the Wasp held accountable for taking advantage of this situation? [and yes, I know they tried to smooth it over 40 years later in Earth's Mightiest Heroes II, but it just doesn't jibe]
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Victor Rodgers
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | 3
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She admitted she felt great guilt for doing it in a Busiek Avengers issue. That she felt it contributed to his later breakdown.
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Paulo Pereira
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Joined: 24 April 2006
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | 4
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I miss the baggage-free Dr. Pym from AWC. If only he'd have been left like that. Ah well.
(And point taken, Emery, though I think the whole movie violates...something)
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Jason Schulman
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Joined: 08 July 2004
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 4:37pm | IP Logged | 5
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I had no problem with anything Busiek did regarding Hank's mental problems in his Avengers run. Everything made sense, really -- why else would Ultron be the way "he" is?
And thanks, Robert, I hadn't seen those panels since around 1983!!
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Eric Kleefeld
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Joined: 21 December 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | 6
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There's something interesting about the way a person can
simultaneously be heroic, risking his life for others, and in his personal
life be a complete jerk. That dichotomy is the draw of shows like Rescue Me, for example.
However, if somebody wants to explore that idea in the context of
superhero stories, then introduce a new character. Maybe have the other
heroes and the reader first meet him in terms of his good side, and
then slowly reveal all his problems. But don't drag down an existing
character.
Edited by Eric Kleefeld on 30 December 2007 at 5:33pm
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Robert Bradley
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | 7
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'HENRY PYM IN A NUTSHELL'
or 'To Many Cooks Spoil the Pym'
Introduced in a story in TALES TO ASTONISH #28, Pym was your basic run-of-the mill Marvel scientist. His invention, a shrinking formula, allowed him to shrink to the size of an ant, and then return to normal size.
  
In Pym's next appearance he became a costumed adventurer known as Ant-Man, using his shrinking formula [in capsule form] and a cybernetic helmet which allowed him to communicate with ants. In a strange twist a few issues into his run in TALES TO ASTONISH, Pym met a young woman Janet Van Dyne, who reminded him of his deceased ex-wife. Van Dyne then becomes his sidekick, the Wasp. The two soon join up with the Hulk, Thor and Iron Man as the original members of the Avengers.
   
Apparently because having two tiny adventurers was redundant, Pym gives himself a power boost by altering the formula so that he can grow to gigantic height as..... you guessed it..... Giant-Man! However, Giant-Man isn't quite so impressive next to Thor. Or Iron Man, Or even Captain America. Pym soon leaves the Avengers with the Wasp and concentrates on his scientific pursuits.
 
After the Wasp is kidnapped by Attuma, Pym went to the Avengers for help, taking on a new costume and moniker in the process, becoming Goliath. After rescuing the Wasp Goliath collapses, trapped at 10' in height. Fellow scientist Bill Foster [a future Giant himself] is brought in by Pym to help him find a cure and eventually one is found. With his size-changing powers stabilized Pym remains with the Avengers as an important member for years.
    
That is up until the point where an accident causes Pym to inhale some chemical fumes and with a new, cavalier personality, take on the identity of Yellowjacket - claiming to the Avengers that he had killed Pym. The Wasp sees through his ruse and takes this opportunity to marry Pym, who ultimately shakes out the cobwebs and returns to his normal personality. Pym then spends several years as Yellowjacket [and sometimes Ant-Man].
  
Pym is then captured and brainwashed by his own creation, the sentient robot, Ultron. After a brief convalescence Pym returns to active duty, but eventually, in his Yellowjacket identity, Pym [now suffering from an inferiority complex] suffers a complete breakdown, strikes his wife, shoots an enemy who had stopped fighting from behind, is divorced from the Wasp, expelled from the Avengers after a feeble attempt to use a robot to attack the Avengers and make himself look heroic, and then finally, going through a humiliating arrest after being framed by his enemy Egghead.
 
However Pym outwits Egghead and defeats him [as Egghead is accidentally killed by Hawkeye as he defends Pym]. Pym then decides to retire as a costumed super-hero.
 
Eventually Pym turns up at the Compound of the West Coast Avengers and serves as their resident scientist. Once again despondent, Pym contemplates suicide but Firebird intervenes and talks him out of it. Pym then utilizes a new ability to shrink items while touching them and joins the West Coast Avengers as Dr. Pym, Scientific Adventurer.
    
Eventually, without any reason given, Pym returns to the Avengers as a costumed hero, using his size-changing powers as Giant-Man. He remains Giant-Man [or Goliath] without incident for a few years before his adventuring takes a foreboding turn.
Pym returns to his Yellowjacket persona, breaking off another romance with the Wasp [who then takes up with Hawkeye], and becoming involved with the Initiative [where he takes part in a cloning of Thor - which ends up costing Bill Foster his life].
 
Now generally portrayed as insecure and despised by some of his teammates [such as Ms. Marvel], but still an accomplished scientist. Most recently he appeared as Ant-Man, but also appears as Yellowjacket at Camp Hammond, where the training of super-heroes takes place for the Initiative.
Edited by Robert Bradley on 01 January 2008 at 11:21am
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Paulo Pereira
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Joined: 24 April 2006
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 6:06pm | IP Logged | 8
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Thanks for that recap, Robert. Where does Busiek's run fit into that?
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Robert Bradley
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 6:17pm | IP Logged | 9
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When Busiek started writing him he had already taken up the Giant-Man mantle at the end of Avengers v.1, and he rehabilitated him a bit to make him more viable as a hero, but then he went and put him back in the Yellowjacket costume, and despite the rehabbing of the character, when other writers [Austen and Bendis] saw him as Yellowjacket they couldn't resist rehashing his old issues.
It's to bad Geoff Johns didn't stay on the book longer than he did, but he left because editorial wanted him to write in a different style by padding his stories.
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Emery Calame
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Joined: 16 April 2004
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | 10
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Oh yeah, Pym is currently dating Tigra who just got beat to a pulp by the bad guy in the OTHER Avengers book. Apparently the Wasp isn't too happy about it. And I think Hawkeye right after being killed in Disassembled and then remade, erased, and maybe remade again in House of M ,all due to the Scarlet Witch went and made zug zug with the Scarlet Witch and joined the illegal Avengers as Ronin(who is sort of the non powered, martial arts equivalent of Captain Universe...who will it be next week? ).
The Avengers (Mighty and New) officially have more "problems" now that the X-men did at their "angstiest".
Edited by Emery Calame on 30 December 2007 at 7:07pm
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Vinny Valenti
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Joined: 17 April 2004
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | 11
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I thought Hawkeye became the new Captain America? I guess I haven't been keeping up enough.
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Scott McKeeve
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Joined: 11 November 2007
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| Posted: 30 December 2007 at 10:29pm | IP Logged | 12
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Robert, I love your Henry Pym images. Those are hilarious alongside the captions. I'd like to challenge you and see if you can create a Dr.Don Blake base upon your initial "Henry Pym in a labcoat" image.
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