Tales to Astonish #48
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTales to Astonish #48 (October 1963) delivers the origin and first appearance of the Porcupine — Alexander Gentry, a disgruntled U.S. Army weapons designer who turns his technologically sophisticated battlesuit against the society that refused to reward him — making him one of the first costumed professional criminals to emerge from the early Marvel Silver Age. The issue is a textbook example of Stan Lee's recurring 'resentful scientist gone wrong' archetype, and the character proved durable enough to recur across decades of Marvel continuity, clash with everyone from the X-Men to Captain America, and eventually reach the MCU. As the penultimate Ant-Man solo issue before Henry Pym's upgrade to Giant-Man in #49, it also marks a late-period creative high for the Ant-Man feature in its original format, with Don Heck's interiors grounding the quill-covered villain in the kind of grounded, gadget-driven menace that defined Marvel's early antagonists.
In "Ant-Man and the Wasp Defy the Porcupine!", Stan Lee and Steve Ditko deliver a clever, high-stakes adventure as the heroic duo faces off against the enigmatic Porcupine, whose schemes threaten to unravel their latest mission. With Jack Kirby’s dynamic cover and Ditko’s intricate interior art, this 1963 Marvel classic captures the era’s bold energy—featuring a pilot’s reckless gamble with alien tech that spirals into chaos when the true cost of flight is revealed.
When the Porcupine targets a burglar-proof bank on its opening day, Ant-Man and the Wasp—Henry Pym and Janet—are on hand to stop him. With the stakes high and the defenses impenetrable, the duo must use their unique skills to outwit a villain who’s already one step ahead.
When scientist Harvey Grayson attempts to harness the power of a gorilla through a radical experiment, he accidentally swaps bodies with the very creature he sought to dominate—leaving him stranded in a cage while the once-ape now walks among humans.
When a greedy pilot tricks a small green alien into upgrading his plane, he quickly learns the hard way that not all deals come with a manual. As the alien’s strange new engine powers his craft to new heights, Jasper Jenks realizes too late that the creature never explained how to land.
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The Ant-Man lead story was written by Stan Lee (plot) and scripter H.E. Huntley — the pen name of former Atlas Comics staffer Ernie Hart — with interior pencils and inks by Don Heck, lettering by Sam Rosen, and editing by Stan Lee; the cover was drawn by Jack Kirby with inks by Sol Brodsky and colors by Stan Goldberg. The issue was released on newsstands July 2, 1963, carrying an October 1963 cover date, placing it squarely in the middle of the explosive creative expansion that had already given the Marvel universe the Wasp (TTA #44) and would, just one issue later, transform Ant-Man into Giant-Man. The series at this point was plotted by Lee and scripted by Lieber or Hart, with Heck having largely taken over interior art duties from Jack Kirby on the Ant-Man feature.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of the Porcupine (Alexander Gentry), a U.S. Army weapons designer who fashions a multi-weapon battlesuit modeled on a porcupine and turns to crime after believing the military will never fairly compensate him.
- Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck; the lead Ant-Man story was scripted by H.E. Huntley (pen name of Ernie Hart); cover art by Jack Kirby.
- On-sale date was July 2, 1963; cover-dated October 1963.
- The Porcupine's suit incorporated liquid-cement-firing quills, sleeping gas, a built-in acetylene torch, and a jet pack — an unusually elaborate tech villain for the era.
- The issue is the second-to-last Ant-Man solo outing before Henry Pym debuted as Giant-Man in Tales to Astonish #49 (November 1963).
- Porcupine escapes at the story's end, establishing him as a recurring villain; he went on to appear in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965), X-Men #22 (1966), and various Captain America stories before dying in Captain America #315 — with his suit placed on display in Avengers Mansion as a tribute.
- The Alexander Gentry incarnation of Porcupine appeared in the MCU Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), portrayed by Jordan Aaron Ford; Marvel also selected Tales to Astonish #48 as one of the free tie-in digital comics released via QR code alongside that show's episodes.
- The story has been reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man Vol. 1 (2006) and the Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection: The Man in the Ant Hill (2015).
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Uncanny Tales #32 (1955)
Reprinted in Mystic #42 (1963), Hit Comics Die fantastischen Vier #230 (1971), Hit Comics Der Eiserne #204 (1973), I Fantastici Quattro #65 (1973), I Fantastici Quattro #66 (1973), Hulk #18 (1981), Eclipso #81 (1982), Les Vengeurs #8 (1982), Essential Ant-Man #1 (2002), Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man / Giant-Man #1 (2006), Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales to Astonish #4 (2011), Ant-Man & Wasp: Small World #[nn] (2011), Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man / Giant-Man #1 (2013), Ant-Man / Giant-Man Epic Collection #1 (2015), Marvel Gold. El Hombre Hormiga: ¡El Hombre en el Hormiguero! #[nn] (2015), Marvel Masters of Suspense: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko Omnibus #2 (2019), Marvel July 1963 Omnibus #[nn] (2023), El Sorprendente Hombre Araña #27, Sinister Tales #84
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