Ant-Man: "The Man in the Ant Hill!"

Tales to Astonish #27 (1962)

By Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers

Background: Horror and gruesome sci-fi tales had been very popular in the '40s, until the publication of the book Seduction of the Innocent by psychologist Fredric Wertham in 1954 resulted in a public outcry and later on in the creation of the Comics Code Authority. The now self-regulating publishers were forbidden to depict violence and gore in crime and horror comics, as well as sex or sexual innuendos. Sci-fi and horror stories survived but only in very toned-down form. This is one of those stories.

So, What Happens? Ridiculed scientist Henry Pym has created a serum that can shrink objects to miniature size or restore them to normal. He dreams of using it for the good of mankind, but first needs to try it on a living subject and decides to test it on himself. It works so quickly that the antidote is now out of reach, so he panics and runs out in the garden, where a colony of ants take notice and attack. He tries to hide inside the ant hill, where he almost drowns in the ants' stores of honey. Saved by a different ant, he finds a matchstick and lights it up, keeping most of the colony away. After fighting off another ant with a judo move, Pym finally exits the ant hill and sees the antidote on the window ledge. The ant that had saved him earlier helps him again, this time carrying him up to the ledge so that he can access the serum and go back to full size. Realizing the danger, Pym destroys all the chemicals.

Ant-Man: "The Voice Of Doom!"

Tales to Astonish #42 (1963)

By Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck

So, What Happens? A certain Jason Cragg has the power to control people with his voice, and orders the crowd to push Ant-Man away from the city. A few weeks earlier, he was a simple radio announcer, and not a particularly good one at that, but one day due to a nearby experiment his microphone became radioactive and made his voice impossible to resist to. He immediately quit his job and started travelling, until eventually deciding to test himself by defeating Ant-Man and gaining control of the city. Back to the present, Cragg stirs both the general public and the police against Ant-Man, whose helmet fortunately makes him immune to the villain's powers. Hank Pym manages to get away and tries to go back to his lab to return to normal size, but when crossing a field he is found by the crowd, who use magnets to pull his helmet and empty gas canisters. Without his helmet, Hank is powerless against Cragg's voice and has to obey his order to dive from the pier and drown, but his ants are loyal and save him even without a telepathic order. Back to the lab, Hank returns to full size and prepares a plan: a few days later, the night before Cragg is scheduled to appear on live TV, Ant-Man steals a bottle of germs and a fake gun, which he then uses to force Cragg to retract his accusations againt him. Realizing he has been outsmarted, the guy tries to take control of the crowd again, but Hank had covered his microphone with the microbes of laryngitis, making his voice hoarse and powerless. Convinced that he will never regain the exact same voice, Cragg leaves the city.