The Wasp and (Gi)Ant-Man are almost a hero-sidekick team, but Marvel's a bit more subtle about it. True, only Giant Man gets billing on the cover, but that's because most Giant Man comics shared a space with other stories, and there was only so much room. Wasp gets her name on the title page, and sometimes she gets a feature to herself, too. ...Well, I suppose Robin could sometimes say the same thing, especially after heading the Teen Titans. All right, maybe Marvel isn't subtle about it. But what can you say? It was the sixties.
Mind you, the feminism movement was in full swing by the sixties, so I'm surprised the Wasp's behavior wasn't already dated by then. It's certainly dated now. Though Janet van Dyne is given powers almost equivalent to Ant-Man's (sometimes better - she got a weapon; sometimes worse - she couldn't grow), she is almost never in charge (although Marvel notes this at one point and purposefully gives her more to do because of it, thanks to reader complaints), she is frequently the damsel in distress, and Ant-Man (Hank Pym) frequently distrusts her company, telling her to remain safe while he leaves to fight crime. Janet's behavior doesn't help matters. She's just so in wuv with Hank, as she tells him all the time, and she only thinks about fashion, going out to dinner, or (mostly) moonlit nights with her partner. She's not given much of a character.
Come to think of it, Ant-Man doesn't have much of a character, either. The "Fantastic Four" volume that I reviewed earlier had a bit of an arc, in which the characters of that team came to love and accept each other by the end of the volume. Ant-Man and Wasp grow to respect each other eventually (mostly in the last few issues), but their emotions are so sporadic that it never flows well. Some days Hank sits alone in his lab, ignoring the Wasp, and other days he pines for her.
This may have to do with the writing. Stan Lee famously did all the writing for the early Marvel superhero books, but he did have help. As Steve Ditko reportedly gave ideas for the Spider-Man comics, Stan Lee has surrogate authors fill in the details of the plot and dialogue after he comes up with the basic story for many of these Ant-Man comics, including the very earliest ones.
It may have to do with Giant-Man's purpose as a character, too. These issues (short as they are - as I mentioned, Giant-Man often shared his comic with other stories, including the Hulk later on) span a wide part of Hank Pym's career, from initiation, to his meeting with the Wasp, to his membership with the Avengers, and finally to his first retirement. Pym was not always intended to be an Avenger, probably, but soon the Avengers drop in on Giant-Man's comic without nary a word from the editor, who usually mentions a new guest-star by name several times so consumers will buy their book. This has led me to believe that the Giant-Man comics would be primarily read by Avengers fans who want to know more about the Giant-Man.
The comics aren't really long enough to stand on their own as a story, either. Sure, Giant-Man has as large of a rogue's gallery as everyone else, but in twelve pages there's barely time to introduce him, check on the daily activities of our heroes, and then bring in the villain before he is defeated. Some of the villains are pretty good (Eggman and Porcupine come to mind), but even some recurring villains I don't feel like they're trying hard enough with. The Human Top never receives an explanation for his superpowers, although I'd be interested to finding them out.
The Human Top displays the one big complaint I have about Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Wasp comics: they feel like Marvel superhero comics that have been reduced to the very basics. Unfortunately, all Marvel comics will be judged next to the early Spider-Man until I find something better, because Spider-Man worked hard to make a coherent narrative out of its protagonist, convincing (well, conclusive anyway) backstories for its villains, and a general tone that fit with the way Spidey got his powers: villains got their powers from SCIENCE!, and Parker solved his problems with SCIENCE! Hank Pym is also a scientist, and he invents things as often as Mr. Fantastic, but the tone doesn't extend from there. The villains are just villains, not characters. Wasp is his partner, but for most of this book it's a reluctant partnership, made for convenience. We're here to read about superheros battling villains, and that's fine and entertaining, just like many summer blockbuster movies. But behind the bare mechanics, there's no substance. Nothing besides hype makes me feel like I should come back for more - and sometimes even the hype fails to please. (Spider-Man, for instance, was a guest star, but ended up being terribly written - what a wasted opportunity, compared to the countless interesting guest stars of his own book.) "Essential Ant-Man" works, but only just. Like much of Marvel's early stuff, it's an experiment, but it didn't take enough risks.
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