Despite taking a breather last week, the battle call of Bahlactus beckons for another Friday Night Fight...and I must answer!
With the height of summer (and picnic season) upon us, what better way to celebrate than with an insane Ant-Man and billions of ants attacking the Avengers? Avengers #161 (1977) finds the team's resident headcase Hank Pym having yet another nervous breakdown/identity crisis, this time reverting to his original Ant-Man identity. Pym's mind also reverted back to a previous time frame, believing that the Avengers team has only recently come into being and that the people he sees in Avengers Mansion are either villains or impostors.
In a dynamic sequence illustrated by a young buck named George Perez, the addled Ant-Man launches a full-scale attack upon his perplexed teammates, culminating in a spectacular "growth-spurt knockout" of the Black Panther and the Beast (click on the panels for Pym Particle-like expansion).
SPECIAL BONUS BUTT-KICKING:
Of course, no Crazy Hank Pym story is complete without an appearance by his malevolent android "son" Ultron, who shows up seconds after Pym is subdued by the Avengers. Witness Ultron as he unleashes a KA-BLAAMM-flavored smackdown...
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That's freaky. I was trying to decide between that issue and Avengers 156 for my debut offering in Friday Night Fights. George Perez delivered Ant-Man's finest fighting momemnt in your selection.
Posted by: h | July 13, 2007 at 10:41 PM
That IS freaky, considering the billions of fight scenes lurking in back issues everywhere. The one you ended up posting is a doozy. Thanks for stopping by!
Posted by: Mark Engblom | July 13, 2007 at 11:28 PM
This issue, along with Avengers 160 and 162, are among my favorite comics of all time.
Posted by: Richard | July 13, 2007 at 11:40 PM
They're definitely among my favorites as well. It seems like the definitive story involving the whole Hank Pym-Ultron-Vision triangle...with an icky Oedipal angle thrown in if you count the Wasp. The artwork by Perez is some of his most solid work of his early career (especially with Pablo Marcos inking him and not Vince Colletta).
Posted by: Mark Engblom | July 14, 2007 at 08:34 AM
Perez's early Avengers work (with Englehart writing) is well deserved of the term "classic." I love George's Vision from that era (and subsequently HATE his volume 3 version with the too-high widow's peak). Vizh seemed to be his fave character then. My favorite issue of that entire run is #147 where the Android Avenger dispatches of the Golden Archer, Lady Lark and most notably, Hyperion, all by his lonesome.
Posted by: Hube | July 15, 2007 at 10:13 AM
The Vision was a fantastic and formidable character for so much of that era. Just the right balance of pathos and mystery.
Posted by: Mark Engblom | July 15, 2007 at 11:06 AM
This issue has the single greatest final panel in history. I had Perez sign it at a con years ago.
Posted by: Tim | July 27, 2007 at 07:08 PM