Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus

Written by Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, Steve Leialoha, Bill Mantlo, Marie Severin, Jan Strnad and Tom DeFalco
Penciled by John Byrne, Marie Severin, Mike Zeck, John Romita Jr., Jim Mooney, Denys Cowan, Rick Leonardi, Luke McDonnell, Jim Shooter, Ed Hannigan, Greg LaRocque, Al Milgrom, Bob Hall, and Ron Frenz.
Inked by Steve Mitchell, Al Gordon, Bruce Patterson, Jim Mooney, Dave Humphry's Josef Rubenstein, Frank Springer, Vince Colletta, Gene Day, Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek, Dave Simmons, Dan Green, Frank Giacoia, John Romita Sr., Bob Layton, Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Brett Breeding, Kevin Dzuban.  

Variant cover.

Note:Many of the stories reprinted in this book have been reprinted in other books and have already been reviewed here. This review will focus on tales that I have not previously covered.

Summary:
Over 1200 pages of Spider-Man stories written by one of his best scribes!

Nitro, the exploding man is released from the gas tanks that served as a prison. He uses his exploding powers to rob a bank. This draws the attention of Spider-Man. If Spidey wants to beat Nitro, the webhead will need to use his scientific knowledge instead of his spider-powers.

The mercenary known as Jack O'Lantern is taken to a hospital. He's recovering from a recent fight with Machine Man when his thugs arrive to break him out. When the police show up, Jack O'Lantern takes the hospital hostage. Spider-Man arrives and attempts to save the hospital from "Jackie!"

But for Spidey, this is no ordinary hostage scenario. One of the patients being held captive is Nathan Lebansky, boyfriend of Peter's Aunt May!

J. Jonah Jameson is holding a party and has invited many of New York's movers and shakers. The cause for celebration is that his girlfriend Marla Madison has been hired to work for the Brand Corporation.  Peter Parker is on hand to photograph the party. The party ends when the villain Killer Shrike shows up and captures Marla.

He takes her to a Brand facility, but doesn't seem to be in control of his actions. Can Spider-Man save Marla and figure out who is controlling Killer Shrike?

The super-criminal known as the Ringer is ordered to fight Spider-Man by a mystery villain. Ringer doesn't really want to fight, but he's got a device strapped to him that can be detonated from a remote location. If Ringer refuses to battle the wallcrawler, he will be blown up.

After defeating him, Spidey learns that Ringer was merely a pawn of his old foe the Beetle, who has revamped his costume. This makes Beetle much more dangerous than ever. But Spider-Man gets an unlikely ally when the Gibbon helps him fight the Beetle.

The villain called Moonstone attacks the campus of Empire State University. She breaks into the office of Dr. Curtis Connors. Spider-Man tails Moonstone and confronts her.

During their fight, Peter's colleague Marcy Kane shows up. Marcy is zapped and knocked unconscious by Moonstone. Peter must figure out a way to get Marcy to safety and defeat Moonstone. 

Sometime after that, a criminal named Georgie flees from Spider-Man and takes refuge underground in the sewers.  Georgie stumbles on an old hideout of Green Goblin. While Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, is dead, the warehouse is full of the Goblin's costumes, gliders and pumpkin bombs.

Georgie shows this off to his (unnamed) boss, who kills Georgie and then augments a glider and dyes a costume orange. A new villain is born—The Hobgoblin!

Peter hears news reports about break-ins at several Osborn facilities. On a hunch, he checks out one of Green Goblin's old hideouts. Spider-Man busts in and finds Hobgoblin and a battle ensues. Hobgoblin escapes and learns that Spider-Man is tougher than he expected. The Hobgoblin is determined to find a way to defeat the wallcrawler.

Spider-Man's old enemy the Vulture is leading a relaxed life in a retirement community. But that changes when he sees an ad for an electronics expo in New York. One of the companies presenting at the show is Bestman Electronics, headed by Gregory Bestman. Seeing Bestman's name sets off Vulture and he heads to New York.

When the Vulture arrives, he kidnaps Bestman and takes him to an old hideout. Can Spider-Man save Bestman from the Vulture? And why does the Vulture hate Bestman so much?

The Hobgoblin realizes that if he wants to face Spider-Man in combat, he'll need to enhance his strength. The villain reads Norman Osborn's journal and learns that Green Goblin developed a super-strength serum. After testing the serum, Hobgoblin decides he's ready to face Spider-Man once again, but their fight ends in a way Spidey could have never predicted.

Later, Peter Parker reads a Daily Bugle profile of a boy named Timmy Harrison, who is known as "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man". Timmy has a scrapbook that contains clippings of dozens of articles from newspapers and magazines. He even owns some old film footage of Spidey's appearances on television.

When Timmy asks how he acquired his spider-powers, Spider-Man reveals more about himself to Timmy than he has ever told anyone else.

Finally, the Hobgoblin continues his crime wave and concocts a plan to defeat Spider-Man once and for all. He creates a device that will nullify the webhead's spider-sense!

How can Spider-Man defeat the Hobgoblin without one of his most important super-powers?

Review:
I've said here before that I believe Roger Stern to be the best Spider-Man writer since Stan Lee. Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus contains more evidence to back up that claim.

Story:
Stern gives us just about every type of Spider-Man story I can think of. We get old villains like Vulture and Tarantula coming back for revenge. Stern utilizes Marvel villains who have never faced Spidey before, such as Nitro, Thunderball, Ringer and Moonstone. His Juggernaut story is one of the best Spider-Man stories ever published.

Thunderball gets a face full of webbing!

We also get quieter stories, like "Options". In this story, Peter Parker decides to quit graduate school. It contains about three pages of superhero action (Spidey easily captures some gunmen) and the rest is all about Parker's personal life and decisions he must make. He decides to quit graduate school to focus on photography and being Spider-Man. It's a major moment for the character, since one of Peter's defining characteristics since his introduction was straight-A student and science whiz. It was a gutsy move by Stern.

Another good but "lighter" story is "The Daydreamers". Stern shows us what Spider-Man, Black Cat, Jameson and Mary Jane think about when their minds wander. In the case of Black Cat, she dreams that under Spidey's mask she'll find...Cary Grant?

The Beetle story is a high point. Beetle had become a joke of a villain with a silly costume. Stern gives us a character that continues to be a major presence in the Marvel Universe. In recent years, Beetle has been better known as MACH-1 of the Thunderbolts.

Best of all, Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus reprints the introduction and early adventures of the Hobgoblin. Reading these stories took me back to when I first bought them back in the early 1980s. Hobgoblin was a fascinating villain, cunning, calculating and possessing as much intelligence as Spider-Man himself.

Spider-Man battles Hobgobin in the battle van!

As far as I'm concerned, "Hobby" (as Spider-Man derisively called the villain) is up there with the best villains in Spidey's rogues gallery.

Fans of Spider-Man's supporting cast will also appreciate the way Stern writes them here. Mary Jane makes her return to Peter's life and J. Jonah Jameson is written as a complicated character, not just a one-note Spider-Man hater (though he does still hate Spidey in these tales!). Even Aunt May gets to do more than usual, getting a boyfriend and turning her home into a rooming house for senior citizens.

Art:
As you can see in the credits at the top of this review, Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus contains art from a lot of pencilers and inkers. They all do a good job and none of the art stands out as bad.

I'd say John Romita Jr. provides the best pencils in this book. He gives us lots of great fight scenes and does a great job depicting Peter and his supporting cast as well as Spider-Man and the super-villains.

John Byrne penciled the first story in the book and also Spidey's duel with the Ringer. I believe Byrne also helped redesign Beetle's costume and it's a major improvement over the old one.

How Does It Look?:
This page was scanned from my copy of Spectacular Spider-Man #58:

And this is how the same page looks in Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus:

Extras:
This super-sized book features a plethora of bonuses. Roger Stern wrote a brand new six-page introduction. Most of the letter columns from the reprinted issues are included. It also includes fifteen pages of Spider-Man pin-ups (which feature text written by Stern) and a two-page humor story (written by Stern) from Marvel's What If? series.

Rating:
Spider-Man By Roger Stern Omnibus contains every Bronze Age Spidey story written and/or scripted by Stern. This book contains lots of milestone moments, great villains and fantastic art from the best pencilers and inkers of the era. It's highly recommended.
J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!

Huntress : Darknight Daughter

Reprints DC Super Stars #17, Batman Family #18-20, and Huntress back-up stories from Wonder Woman #271-287, 289-290 and 294-295

In the Gotham City of Earth II, the costumed criminal Catwoman gives up her life of crime and turns herself in to the authorities.  Upon release from prison, she marries her former nemesis, Batman, AKA Bruce Wayne.  

They have a happy marriage and raise a daughter named Helena who is blessed with the intelligence of both her parents. Bruce retires from crime-fighting and the Wayne family has a happy life together. 

This comes to a swift end when Selena gets a phone call from Silky Cernak, one of her old henchmen.  He has photos that show her committing a murder, something Bruce Wayne doesn't know about.  Cernak will destroy all evidence of the killing, if Selena will help him with one last crime. She is forced to don her Catwoman costume again.  

Bruce decides to investigate Selina's activities and prevents her from committing a heist.  But Cernak shoots and kills Selina. Bruce and Helena are crushed.  

Years pass and Helena utilizes her parents' training to fight crime. Like Catwoman and Batman, Helena has developed world class gymnastic skills. She arms herself with a grappling hook and a crossbow that shoots tranquilizer darts. Helena tracks down Cernak, easily defeats him and drops him off at the police station. Gotham has a new hero. The Huntress is born! 

When she's not fighting crime, Helena is a partner at Cranston, Grayson and Wayne, a law firm that specializes in Public Interest cases. She wonders if her life as the Huntress serves the public interest better than her legal career. Huntress also joins the Justice Society, Earth II's greatest superhero team.

Helena reads about a series of fires in South Gotham and decides to investigate as the Huntress. To her horror, she learns that an arsonist is getting children to set off firebombs in South Gotham. The Huntress herself ends up unconscious in a burning building. Can she escape and find out who is behind the arson?

Later, Winston Pitt, a prominent artist, visits Helena's law firm. Pitt tells her that some of his artwork has been destroyed. Since "Winnie" is an old friend, Helena puts on her Huntress costume and visits the art museum that houses Pitt's work. After a bit of digging, she learns that the paintings were destroyed by Solomon Grundy, the super-strong zombie who has battled the Justice Society in the past.  

Huntress battles Grundy and his henchmen, but is taken down. Helena learns that Grundy has fallen in love with a stone statue housed in the museum. During a fight, the statue is damaged and Grundy captures Huntress. He imprisons Huntress in a golden cage. Grundy decides that she will be the new object of his affections. Helena must use all of her physical and mental training if she hopes to defeat Solomon Grundy.

Sometime after, Huntress is troubled when she learns that Gotham's District Attorney, Harry Sims, has called for superheroes to be regulated by the government. This is shocking to Helena, since Sims is her friend.  

Power Girl, Huntress' teammate in Justice Society is also upset and visits the DA's office. She's furious at Sims. Thankfully, Huntress arrives and gets Power Girl to calm down.

We learn that Sims has spoken out against superheroes because he's being controlled by a super-villain called the Thinker, who wears a psionic helmet that allows him to control the minds of others. Thinker creates chaos when his actions cause every known criminal in the area to commit crimes simultaneously. Will even the combined abilities of Power Girl and Huntress be enough to save Gotham from Thinker's mind-control schemes?

During this time, Harry realizes that Helena and Huntress are one and the same. He is not sure how he feels about this and he thinks he may be falling in love with Helena.

Harry is visiting Gull Island Prison when Huntress tracks him down. They're discussing her identity when Gull Island's inmates stage a revolt. The leader of the revolt is Lionmane, a feline powered criminal who was formerly employed by Catwoman. Lionmane takes hostages, including the prison's warden. Lionmane had a falling out with Catwoman, feeling she wasn't tough enough to be a crime boss. The prisoners take hostages, including the prison's warden.

Huntress recalls that her mother buried stolen jewels when she worked with Lionmane. She challenges him to a one-on-one fight: if Lionmane wins, she will reveal the location of the jewels. Once again, Huntress is matched against a foe bigger and stronger than herself.

After that, she discovers that Harry has been poisoned by Batman's old enemy the Joker! The clown prince of crime escaped during the prison uprising and is on the loose in Gotham City. Harry is taken to the hospital and his life is in serious danger.

After a brief altercation with Huntress, Joker escapes. Helena decides that her taking Joker down physically is not a good idea. She puts her detective skills into action and investigates where and how Joker acquired his supply of dimethylsilicate, the primary ingredient of his Joker venom.

When she gets another shot at confronting Joker, she gets assistance from none other than the Batman?  But he's dead?!

Who is Gotham's new Caped Crusader!

Subsequently, Selena's law partner Arthur Cranton is facing legal trouble for possibly falsifying data that is relevant to one of the firm's court cases. Dick Grayson, better known as Robin, is also a partner in the firm and returns to help Cranston. When it looks like a local mob boss is trying to set up Cranston, Robin teams with the Huntress to clear their partner's name.

Plus, Huntress is attacked by new dangerous enemies, including Carnage...

...and Crimelord!

And the life of Alfred Beagle, the Wayne family's longtime butler is placed in jeopardy. Only the criminology skills of the Huntress can save Alfred!

Review:
I've always thought the Huntress was a cool character and I've enjoyed her in various media over the years.  However, these stories were mostly new to me and I thought they were generally good.

Story:
Paul Levitz wrote all of the stories reprinted in Huntress: Darknight Daughter. He does a nice job creating Helena's world, her workplace, and supporting cast. Early on, we see that she is treated with disrespect  by one of her fellow attorneys because she's a woman. Not exactly radical stuff, but such topics were uncommon in most Bronze Age superhero stories.

Helena is sometimes physically overmatched by foes like Solomon Grundy and Lionmane. But like her father Batman, she always manages to triumph despite the odds. Speaking of the Dark Knight, Levitz also shows that Huntress inherited some of her dad's detective skills, especially in her duel with the Joker.

I particularly enjoyed Huntress' team-up with Power Girl. Their dynamic is similar to that of Batman and Superman, with Kara providing the raw superpower and Helena relying on mental skills and athletic training. The two characters also call each other "amiga" (Spanish for "friend" in case anyone didn't know), which shows they're good friends in addition to being Justice Society team mates.

Speaking of team-ups, Robin's guest appearance was also good. It was entertaining to watch both of Earth II Batman's "kids" work together as adults.

The Lionmane prison revolt story is another good tale. Since Huntress battled a former partner of Catwoman, it gave Helena another chance to connect with her mother, taking her place in Selena's conflict with Lionmane.

However, Huntress: Darknight Daughter isn't without problems. Most of these tales were originally published as short back-up stories in the Wonder Woman series and they're only eight pages long. That means that every eight pages, action comes to a halt. It sort of breaks up the momentum of the stories.

But the biggest problem I had was the villains. Foes like Carnarge and Crimelord are one-note bad guys with generic names and even more generic powers. Thinker, who first appeared in the Golden Age, also isn't a very compelling adversary. I understand that Levitz was trying to build a rogues gallery for Huntress, but these characters aren't very interesting.

While I enjoyed seeing Huntress face the Joker, I felt that Huntress' victory over Joker was too easy. Joker is an A-list villain in any era and was always dangerous, even in his Pre-Crisis incarnation. Maybe Levitz was trying to build up Huntress, but I don't think he needed to tear down Joker to do that.

Art:
Every page of this book features pencils by Joe Staton. I've been a fan of Staton's art since I discovered it in back issues of E-Man and he provides some great work in Huntress: Darknight Daughter. Staton is embellished by a whole bunch of inkers.  

The beginning of the book features inks by Bob Layton. He was always something of a "heavy" inker, but Layton makes Staton's pencils look a bit more polished. Here's a great example of Staton and Layton's work:

The other inkers a bit of a step down from Layton, but the art looks good throughout this tpb.

Staton also draws a great version of the Joker, such as in the pages below, which feature inks by Steve Mitchell.

If I have any criticism of the art, it's that Huntress: Darknight Daughter features a few too many scenes of Helena lounging around in a bathrobe and various stages of undress. I'm no prude, but it gets a bit old. Maybe the honchos of DC Comics mandated a certain number of "cheesecake" panels?

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan from Wonder Woman #274:

This is how the same pages look in Huntress: Darknight Daughter:

Extras:
The end of the book features Huntress' one-page profile from Who's Who #10.

Paul Levitz and Joe Staton deserve credit for creating a great character who has been active in the DC Universe (in one form or another) for nearly 40 years. But the 8-page format of the majority of stories and the less-than-thrilling villains make it simply good rather than great. Staton's art makes it worth reading.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

2 and a half Sals.



  

 

Ant-Man: Scott Lang

Reprints Marvel Premiere #47-48; Iron Man #131-133, 151; Avengers #195-196, 223; Marvel Team-Up  #103; Marvel Two -In-One #87; material from Avengers #181, Iron Man 125
Written by David Michelinie, Bob Layton and Tom DeFalco.
Penciled by John Byrne, Jerry Bingham, Luke McDonnell, George Perez, Ron Wilson and Greg Larocque.
Inked by Bob Layton, Jack Abel, Mike Esposito, Chic Stone, Dan Green and Brett Breeding.

Scott Lang turned to burglary when his career as an electronics technician failed to pay the bills. When he is released from prison, Tony Stark offers him a second chance and gives Lang a job at Stark International. 

Lang's new job at Stark is going well and so is his relationship with his daughter Cassie. But Cassie suddenly falls ill with a rare heart defect. Her diagnosis is not good, but Lang has hope. Cassie's physician tells Lang about Dr. Erica Sondheim, who has recently performed the sort of laser surgery that could save Cassie.

But when Lang goes to Sondheim's office, he sees her being forced into a car. He tries save her, but she is driven away. Lang learns that the car took Sondheim to the Long Island headquarters of Cross Technologies. He decides to use his burglary skills to break into Cross, but he will first need to steal money to pay some "muscle" to help with the job.

His return to burglary has a surprising result. He breaks into the home of Dr. Henry Pym, the Avenger who has fought crime as Ant-Man, Giant-Man, and Yellowjacket. Lang discovers Pym's old Ant-Man costume and decides to try on the suit. It fits like a glove and he decides to wear the suit and use it to find Dr. Sondheim.

Lang quickly learns how to shrink to ant-size and how to control ants. This enables him to locate Sondheim, but then the new Ant-Man also encounters the villain behind the doctor's capture: Darren Cross, head of Cross Technologies.  

Cross has become super-strong due to a nuclear powered pacemaker. It works so well that it increased his strength and metabolism. Cross tells Ant-Man he's been forcing Sondheim to perform operations on unwilling donors so that he can use their organs to prolong his life. If Scott Lang can't stop Cross, it will mean the end of his daughter's life and the continuation of Cross' heinous crimes

After dealing with Cross, Scott meets Hank Pym. The Avenger tells Lang to keep the costume and a new Ant-Man is born!

Subsequently, Lang's boss, Tony Stark, is in trouble. He needs to talk to his old foe Whiplash, who is incarcerated at Ryker's Island prison. Stark asks Lang to assist him with this, since Lang had served time in Ryker's. Lang shrinks down to ant-size and pays a visit to Whiplash, getting information that could save Stark's life.

After that, Lang assists Iron Man in a project that could save the life of a former Avenger. Dr. Bruce Banner, also known as the Incredible Hulk, asks Tony Stark to use his technological know-how to help cure him of his Hulk-ness. Stark and Banner ask Lang to help them build a nuclear powered pulse regulator that will help Banner remain calm, preventing his transformation. Dr. Sondheim performs an operation that installs the pacemaker.

The operation is a success and Banner is cured...or so it seems. Unfortunately, the gamma rays that reside in the Hulks body act against the pulse regulator. Banner turns into the Hulk and it doesn't appear that he will ever turn back. Hulk goes on a rampage at Stark International.

Iron Man puts everything he has into stopping Hulk, maximizing all power his armor possesses. When the battle is over, Iron Man lies near death, his armor shut down. Ant-Man is forced to shrink and go inside the armor to repair it. If he fails, it will mean the end of Iron Man and Tony Stark.

Some months later, Ant-Man is contacted by Yellowjacket to help the Avengers. Yellowjacket's wife, the Wasp, is being held captive in the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane. But the Institute is really a front for criminal activity.

Yellowjacket and Ant-Man shrink down and sneak into the Solomon Institute. But they soon learn the institute is actually a "school" for criminal henchmen. It's operated by a man who calls himself the Taskmaster. He apprehends Ant-Man and Yellowjacket and tells them that he was born with the gift of "photographic reflexes." This ability enables him to watch a superhero or world-class athlete and emulate their actions.

The other Avengers are outside the Institute. Ant-Man contacts the team as only he can: by sending ants crawling into Iron Man's helmet.

Can the Avengers save Ant-Man, Wasp, and Yellowjacket from the clutches of Taskmaster?

Weeks after that, Lang receives a visit from Gus Sweezer, an old friend he knew in prison. Gus tells him that he's signed up with a criminal organization in Manhattan on Houston St. that pays well, and asks Lang to join him. But Lang has gone "legit" and wants nothing more to do with crime. When Gus leaves Lang's house, he's killed, hit by a car in a hit and run.

Simultaneously, at the offices of the Daily Bugle, editor/publisher J. Jonah Jameson tells photographer Peter Parker to investigate a block on Houston St that has been suspiciously crime free. As Spider-Man, Parker investigates a warehouse that makes his spider-sense tingle. It turns out to be a trap, and Spidey is attacked by the Taskmaster! The warehouse is another of Taskmaster's criminal academies. Spider-Man is taken captive and Taskmaster tells his trainees that this is proof that superheroes aren't all-powerful.

Ant-Man shows up at the warehouse and and sees that Taskmaster's goons are about to kill Spider-Man. Scott saves the wallcrawler by sending ants to his rescue. The two heroes learn where Taskmaster will strike next and set off to stop the villain!

Following that adventure, Lang is working at Stark International, making sure the computer network is working properly. Everything seems to be okay, but, suddenly, a drop of a strange green liquid seeps into the central computer.  

This causes the computer's security system to overreact and it threatens to destroy Stark's headquarters. Lang must once again become Ant-Man and go inside the system. If he fails, it could mean death for him and everyone who works for Stark.

Later, Ben Grimm, AKA the Thing, is assisting Reed Richards in an experiment. Ben ends up being teleported to the subatomic world known as Tok. Ant-Man gets a message from ants that the Thing needs his help.

He goes after Ben in the subatomic world and is shocked at what he finds. The Thing has become a pawn of Queen Pearla. She was aided years earlier by the Fantastic Four and ordered Tok's scientists to bring Ben to her kingdom.  

Pearla and her people are engaged in a war with the Lizard Men of Tok. Zorak, leader of the lizard men, says he will cease hostilities if Pearla appoints a champion to duel Zorak. The winner of the duel will gain control of Tok.

Ant-Man learns that Pearla has has an armada of spaceships ready to attack while Zorak and Ben are battling. Pearla intends to force Zorak to surrender. Lang overhears her plans and enlists the aid of Tok's insects in thwarting Pearla's plans. It's up to Ant-Man to free the Thing and bring peace to Tok.

Finally, Hawkeye visits a carnival in Long Island. He used to work there and the carnival's owner, Marcella Carson, has written to the archer seeking help. The Avenger discovers Marcella is being held captive by thugs.

Scott Lang is also attending the carnival with his daughter Cassie. When he sees Hawkeye running around the carnival, he decides it's time to don his Ant-Man costume and follow Hawkeye.  

It's a good thing he does, because the heroes discover that the man behind the scenes is none other than the Taskmaster! The villain has a bomb that could kill everyone at the carnival and only Ant-Man and Hawkeye can prevent this from happening.

Review:
Like the new Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man: Scott Lang is a lot more fun that I expected.

Story:
David Michelinie writes or co-writes (Bob Layton co-plots the Iron Man stories) all but one story reprinted in this tpb. It was interesting to have an ex-con become a superhero.  Michelinie does a nice job early on giving Scott Lang a distinctive personality.  

I enjoyed Ant-Man's frequent references to movies and TV shows. For instance, when he and Yellowjacket are trying to escape from the Solomon Institute, Ant-Man says they should "make like Clint Eastwood in The Eiger Sanction and head up to that air shaft."

Ant-Man, Wasp & Yellowjacket are held captive by Taskmaster.

Lang's relationship with his daughter Cassie is another nice touch that works. Comic book writers often fail to realistically capture dialogue between parents and children. But Michelinie nails it here. 

Ant-Man fixes his daughter's Rom doll.

Michelinie also makes smart use of supporting characters. Dr. Erica Sondheim appears in the first story. Then some time later, Sondheim is the physician that Stark calls to help perform the operation on Bruce Banner.  

The Taskmaster is an interesting villain and he appears three times in this book. I guess that makes "Tasky" the arch foe of Scott Lang. I'm also guessing Michelinie is rather fond of Taskmater, and rightly so. The Ant-Man/Hawkeye story is especially good, where Michelinie devises a clever way for Ant-Man to save the day against Taskmaster.  

Ant-Man rides one of Hawkeye's arrows in pursuit of a bomb!

Tom DeFalco wrote the Marvel Two-In-One story. It's not great, but it's a fun enough sequel to a Silver Age Fantastic Four tale.  

Scott Lang meets the Fantastic Four.

If there's any problem with Ant-Man: Scott Lang, it's that the book relies on the same concepts a bit too often. For instance, we get a story where Ant-Man must go inside Iron Man's armor to save the hero's life. Not long after that, he crawls inside a computer network to shut down the security system. Both stories rely on the formula of Ant-Man shrinking and going inside a small space.Perhaps this is just a hazard that one encounters in collections of comic book stories that weren't meant to be read in such close proximity.  

Another minor quibble: we join the Avengers story in the second part of a three-part story. Ant-Man doesn't appear in the first part, so I understand why it wasn't included, but Marvel should have given us a summary at the beginning to bring readers up to speed. Part 1 of this tale has been reprinted in Avengers: Heart Of Stone.

Art:
The art in Ant-Man: Scott Lang is mostly very good. The origin story is penciled by John Byrne with embellishment by Bob Layton. They were two of the finest Bronze Age artists and their art here looks fantastic.  

Layton also provides inks on the Iron Man/Hulk portion, with Jerry Bingham penciling. Their art looks great as well. Ant-Man's exploration inside Iron Man's armor is very nicely depicted by Bingham and Layton. It's likely meant to be an homage to a classic Ant-Man story that was drawn by Neal Adams.

George Perez drew the Avengers stories and his art is a great example of his Bronze Age abilities. Ron Wilson and Greg Laroque also provide good art in this tpb.

All of the artists give us cool renderings of Ant-Man shrinking and enlarging at super-speed, as seen in this image:

How Does It Look?:
Here's a panel from the original printing of Marvel Premier #48:

And this is how it appears in Ant-Man: Scott Lang:

Extras:
This book contains Ant-Man's entry from the Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe, plus a page of original art.  

Ant-Man: Scott Lang is a great introduction to the second hero to wear the Ant-Man costume and is recommended. But the similarities of some of stories prevents me from giving it my highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5


3 and a half Sals.