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114-689: Ant-Man ( Scott Lang ) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by David Michelinie , Bob Layton and John Byrne , Scott Lang first appeared in The Avengers #181 (March 1979) and in Marvel Premiere #47 (April 1979) as the second superhero character to use the Ant-Man name in the Marvel Universe . He is a reformed thief and an electronics expert. He

228-487: A naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko , Don Heck , and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with

342-493: A tabloid -sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology , it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow-peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought

456-491: A Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman , was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon 's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the " superheroes " that would follow. In early 1939,

570-426: A child-murderer, shortly before committing suicide by traveling into space with the murderer and exploding rather than return to the containment cells required to control his power. He also appeared in the series Alias by Brian Michael Bendis , where he dated the leading character Jessica Jones , a former costumed superhero named Jewel who left that avocation to become a private investigator. He assists her in

684-478: A collection of science fiction short stories originally published in Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction from 1940 to 1950. Compiled into a single publication by Gnome Press in 1950, the collection features a framing sequence in which the stories are told to a reporter by Dr. Susan Calvin , chief robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men , Inc. Changes necessary to fit

798-718: A collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer . The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats , in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault 's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley , starring

912-515: A comatose Hercules . He accidentally shrank Spider-Man and battled the Scarlet Beetle. He also battled Dragonfly . Lang was briefly hired by the Fantastic Four to serve as their technical consultant when Reed Richards was missing and presumed dead. It was during this period that Lang learned that Cassie had long since found out about his double life as a superhero. Lang later returned to form

1026-470: A double agent to save her life. He confesses his treachery just as HYDRA's forces arrive and destroy the resistance's hideout. During the final battle, Scott shrinks Bucky Barnes down so that he can enter the Cosmic Cube and reawaken Kobik . This ultimately allows Kobik to bring back the original Steve Rogers, who defeats his HYDRA doppelganger. With his reputation tarnished due to his betrayal, Scott joins

1140-521: A fictional work is in All-Star Squadron #18 (February 1983) from DC Comics . The series was set on DC's Earth-Two , an alternate universe in which Golden Age comic characters age in real time. All-Star Squadron was set during World War II on Earth-Two; as it was in the past of an alternate universe, all its events had repercussions on the contemporary continuity of the DC multiverse. Each issue changed

1254-588: A heated battle, Scott managed to exact his revenge on Doctor Doom by gradually overwhelming and defeating him, and by having him believe he had killed Valeria Richards . He also determined the true meaning of Pym Particles, and how they operate on three distinct axes determining size, strength and durability. During the " AXIS " storyline, a now-heroic and repentant Doctor Doom used Scarlet Witch's powers to resurrect Cassandra Lang, seeking to atone for at least one of his crimes; she turned out alive and well on Scott's doorstep. Following this, Lang moved to Miami to start

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1368-464: A matter with Mattie Franklin , one of the many female heroes to take the Spider-Woman name. Assisting the duo is S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clay Quartermain . Purple Man uses his powers to make it seem as if Scott had been consumed by ants. When Jack of Hearts reappears on the grounds of Avengers Mansion in a zombified state, Scott Lang rushes to Jack, only for Jack to blow himself up, destroying much of

1482-596: A million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books. In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston , created the female superhero character Wonder Woman , who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942. MLJ 's Pep Comics debuted as

1596-439: A new life as well as to spend more time with his daughter. Scott later established Ant-Man Security Solutions. When he was attacked by Grizzly , mistaking him for Eric O'Grady unaware of the latter's death, Scott had to clear up the misunderstanding. Afterwards, Scott offered Grizzly a job in the company. When Cassie was kidnapped by Crossfire on behalf of Augustine Cross to use Cassie's Pym-particle irradiated heart could revive

1710-500: A profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era. The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did

1824-442: A promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish

1938-490: A reformed criminal - not an unjustly accused innocent, which would have been the expected angle. And I figured that, as a burglar, he probably enjoyed the adrenaline rush of his previous 'job,' so the excitement of heroic adventure could fill that need in him, but legally. Though Ant-Man's two-issue tryout in Marvel Premiere failed to garner the character his own series, the dynamic of a single father and reformed criminal in

2052-641: A reserve member of the Ultimates before being transformed into a vampire and killed by fellow Giant-Man Peter. In " What If Iron Man Lost the Armor Wars ", Lang is captured while spying on Justin Hammer , and taken prisoner along with Cassie. When Hammer is later assassinated and his knowledge over the Iron Man armor claimed by A.I.M. , Scott and Cassie are taken hostage by them as well, but are eventually freed by Stark using

2166-455: A result of the fusion, Scott received one of Pym's labs. Recalling his encounter with Raz, Scott sent Raz a present in the form of the Giant-Man suit. During the "Last Days" part of the " Secret Wars " storyline, Ant-Man recovers an unnamed Asgardian artifact from Slug which he won from Mary Morgan in a game of contract bridge. Ant-Man delivers the goods to Mary Morgan where he learns that she

2280-572: A series' continuity. Later stories may contradict the previous ones or explicitly establish that they never happened. A notable example of subtractive retconning is the X-Men film series . After X-Men: The Last Stand faced criticism for abruptly killing off characters such as Cyclops and Jean Grey , its sequel, X-Men: Days of Future Past , features the character Wolverine traveling back in time to 1973 to prevent an assassination that, if carried out, would lead to mutant extinction. The result of this

2394-619: A subsequent battle ensues (regarding the fate of the Scarlet Witch) involving the Avengers, Young Avengers, X-Men , Magneto , X-Factor and Doctor Doom . In the course of the fight, Scott is seemingly killed by Doom, although he actually survives relatively unscathed; enraged, Cassie attacks but Doom kills her, much to Scott's grief. Afterwards, Scott joins the new Defenders team composed of Doctor Strange , Silver Surfer , Namor , Red She-Hulk , Iron Fist and Black Cat . Eventually, he became

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2508-520: A superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics . Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring

2622-559: A temporary Fantastic Four with the Human Torch , She-Hulk and Namorita when the other three were temporarily trapped in the Negative Zone . Lang played an important role in helping Mister Fantastic cure the Hulk , who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease ; using a cure devised by Leader , Lang shrank down to microscopic size, entered Hulk's genes, and replaced the damaged genes causing

2736-494: A ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in

2850-402: A third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were

2964-504: A time with Cassie's blessing, choosing to focus on the insect mind-controlling abilities. During the events of the limited series Avengers: The Children's Crusade , Iron Lad takes the Young Avengers and an amnesiac Wanda Maximoff into the past, back to the day that the events of Avengers Disassembled began. Here, despite Iron Lad's assurance that they could not interact, Scott Lang is hugged by his daughter, and to take him away from

3078-503: A trial, he was released. During the " Secret Empire " storyline, Ant-Man joins the resistance group against HYDRA after they takeover the U.S. After seeing footage from Rick Jones , explaining Steve Rogers' conversion into HYDRA's supreme leader, Scott is among the heroes who join Hawkeye in the search for the Cosmic Cube fragments that were scattered around the world, so they could reform

3192-503: A true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands ". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930. In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines , sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg , and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut , company Eastern Color Printing —which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as

3306-751: A way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies , but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , and the Bell-McClure Syndicate . These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith 's Mutt and Jeff , Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka , and Percy Crosby 's Skippy . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as

3420-456: A year. In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr. ) published The Funnies , described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than

3534-467: Is Miss Patriot. Mary Morgan revealed that Valhalla Villas is a retirement home for Golden Age heroes and villains where they live out their days in blissful remembrance. Mary Morgan then assembles the residents of Valhalla Villas like Golden Girl , Doctor Fear, Thunderer , Leopard Girl, Human Top , Sun Girl , American Ace , Flash Foster, and Wax Master. Using the Asgardian artifact, Mary Morgan rejuvenated

Ant-Man (Scott Lang) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3648-631: Is a new timeline where Jean and Cyclops never died. Retroactive continuity is similar to, but not the same as, plot inconsistencies introduced accidentally or through lack of concern for continuity; retconning, by comparison, is done deliberately. For example, the ongoing continuity contradictions on episodic TV series such as The Simpsons (in which the timeline of the family's history must be continually shifted forward to explain why they are not getting any older) reflects intentionally lost continuity, not genuine retcons. However, in series with generally tight continuity, retcons are sometimes created after

3762-587: Is a retired superhero and mentor to his successor, Cassie Lang. The second is Pincer , a supervillain and member of the Thunder Guard from Earth-9907. An alternate universe variant of Scott Lang from Earth-1610 appears in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. This version is a member of the New Ultimates and the second Giant-Man . Additionally, a separate character based on him, David Scotty , appears as

3876-456: Is at a school excursion to Atlanta. While drinking at a nightclub, Ant-Man encounters Janice Lincoln and tries to take her down, only to get blasted. Janice states to Ant-Man that he should party like there is no tomorrow since it is the last night on Earth. Ant-Man takes in Janice's suggestions as they both hit the dance floor. He wakes up the next morning with Janice in his bed as the final parts of

3990-415: Is equipped with sound amplification equipment allowing normal-sized humans to hear its wearer. The helmet also has a retractable plexiglass face shield and a limited air supply. Lang has advanced training and expertise in electronics, having earned an electronics technician certificate, plus additional advanced electronics training he received while in prison. At times, Lang even made his own modifications to

4104-432: Is so common in superhero comics that the term " comic book death " has been coined for it. An early example of this type of retcon is the return of Sherlock Holmes , whom writer Arthur Conan Doyle apparently killed off in " The Final Problem " in 1893, only to bring him back, in large part because of readers' responses, with " The Empty House " in 1903. The character Zorro was retconned early in his existence. In

4218-502: Is suddenly announced that "Oceania was not after all in war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia and Eurasia was an ally" (Part Two, Ch. 9), there is an immediate intensive effort to change "all reports and records, newspapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound-tracks and photographs" and make them all record a war with Eastasia rather than one with Eurasia. "Often it was enough to merely substitute one name for another, but any detailed report of events demanded care and imagination. Even

4332-460: Is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined

4446-511: The Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle! attraction, with Paul Rudd reprising his role from the films. American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States , on average 32 pages, containing comics . While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics , which included

4560-487: The Comics Code Authority . The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century. Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$ 1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect

4674-524: The Fantastic Four , and on their behalf first journeyed to a "micro-world", and joined the Thing in battle against its denizens. Scott was instrumental in helping Iron Man discover who possessed copies of his technology during the " Armor Wars " storyline. He also aided the Avengers in infiltrating Taskmaster's henchmen-training facility, battling the Taskmaster alongside Hawkeye , and visited Henry Pym while he

Ant-Man (Scott Lang) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4788-692: The Firepower armor. Paul Rudd portrays Scott Lang / Ant-Man in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe films Ant-Man , Captain America: Civil War , Ant-Man and the Wasp , Avengers: Endgame , and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania . Additionally, Rudd voices alternate timeline variants of Lang in the Disney+ animated series What If...? . The MCU incarnation of Scott Lang / Ant-Man appears in

4902-649: The Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space . Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics , also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ),

5016-502: The Guardians of the Galaxy to get away from Earth for a while. During a later attempt to coordinate a return to Earth for Cassie's birthday with Nadia van Dyne 's aid, things go quickly awry, and the two of them experience a series of bizarre adventures in the microverse before returning home. However, in the process the two of them became quantum-entangled with each other. Trying to pick up

5130-548: The Human Torch , and the Sub-Mariner , briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics ' Young Romance and with Young Love , the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers. Dell 's comic books accounted for

5244-516: The Marvel Cinematic Universe films Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), the web series WHIH Newsfront (2015), and the animated series What If...? (2021). Created by David Michelinie , Bob Layton and John Byrne , Scott Lang first appeared in The Avengers #181 ( cover-dated March 1979) and as

5358-543: The Micronauts . Alongside Spider-Man , he again battled Taskmaster, exploiting Taskmaster's belief that he was Pym by using his growth capsules on one of his ants as a surprise tactic. As Lang, he attempted to stop the Raiders at a Dallas electronics engineers convention. He then battled the malfunctioning GARD computer security system at Stark International . As Lang, he aided Iron Man and Jim Rhodes against Mauler . He then met

5472-670: The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954. In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on

5586-657: The Yellow Kid . The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend , measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly , did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted

5700-520: The 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published. Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton , Dell , Gold Key , Harvey Comics , and Tower . Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following

5814-457: The 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story. In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics , Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen , had

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5928-542: The 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses. The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck ,

6042-515: The 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking

6156-580: The American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom . While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist , or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds. Particularly in superhero comic books,

6270-591: The Ant-Man costume on various occasions, primarily to assist Iron Man and the Avengers . Scott came to the rescue when Iron Man was trapped in his armor in the aftermath of a system overload. He also helped Yellowjacket (Hank Pym's alias at the time) attempt to rescue the Wasp captured by Dr. Parnell Solomon, and alongside the Avengers he first battled Taskmaster . He then battled Odd John's mutated insects, and encountered Biotron of

6384-747: The Ant-Man equipment, such as installing the Pym gas dispenser in his helmet rather than leaving it on his belt, or mounting an electric disruptor into his helmet for offensive purposes. Scott Banner / Little Monster , a fusion of Ant-Man and the Hulk created by the Infinity Gems , appears in Infinity Wars . He possesses similar abilities to the Hulk, but decreases in size as he grows in power. Two alternate universe variants of Scott Lang appear in MC2 . The first, from Earth-982,

6498-675: The CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952). The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance , television properties, and Westerns . Detective, fantasy , teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955. In

6612-556: The Cube and restore Steve back to normal. After he smuggles Cassie out of the country, he offers Sam Wilson to join the resistance but Sam turns it down. Ant-Man then meets him at a bar, with a small group of heroes led by Hawkeye. Hawkeye and the Tony Stark A.I. manage to convince Sam to smuggle them out of the country so they can find the Cosmic Cube fragments. It is eventually revealed that HYDRA found and captured Cassie, forcing Scott to become

6726-526: The Incursion occur. As part of the " All-New, All-Different Marvel ," Ant-Man becomes a target of Whirlwind when Power Broker offers a demonstration of the Hench App to Darren Cross. When Cross was unable to pay $ 12,000,000.00 to Power Broker, Whirlwind received orders to not attack Ant-Man. Ant-Man later helped Darla Deering when she was attacked by the second Magician (the son of the original Magician) when he

6840-587: The Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use " Bronze Age " to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp. The development of the " direct market " distribution system in

6954-537: The Valhalla Villa residents as Miami sees the unexpected resurgence of characters from the Golden Age. Mary decides to remain elderly since the past was too much to bear the first and only time. Scott then visits his ex-wife Peggy Rae in an attempt to see his daughter Cassandra Lang . Peggy puts Scott in his place due to him making no effort to visit her since she was in the hospital. Peggy also tells Scott that Cassandra

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7068-407: The angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man , Hulk , X-Men and Fantastic Four . This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This

7182-408: The art may be divided between: The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline , finalizing it with a script . After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have

7296-417: The assumption that the changes are unimportant to the audience compared to the new story which can be told. Retcons can be diegetic or nondiegetic. For instance, by using time travel or parallel universes , an author may diegetically reintroduce a popular character they had previously killed off. More subtle and nondiegetic methods would be ignoring or expunging minor plot points to remove narrative elements

7410-619: The author doesn't have interest in writing. Retcons are common in pulp fiction , and especially in comic books by long-established publishers such as DC and Marvel . The long history of popular titles and the number of writers who contribute stories can often create situations that demand clarification or revision. Retcons also appear in manga , soap operas , serial dramas , movie sequels, cartoons , professional wrestling angles , video games , radio series, and other forms of serial fiction . They are used in role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons . An early published use of

7524-415: The bandwagon in 1960. In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America ), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics . With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated

7638-465: The best name for it a few months back: 'Retroactive Continuity'. Has kind of a ring to it, don't you think?" Retcons sometimes add information that seemingly contradicts previous information. This frequently takes the form of a character who was shown to have died but is later revealed to have somehow survived. This is a common practice in horror films , which may end with the death of a monster that goes on to appear in one or more sequels. The technique

7752-494: The comic books. An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic . It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books . American comic books are one of the three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books . The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. Historically,

7866-529: The comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman . The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural -crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult . In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled

7980-432: The countercultural era. Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s. Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote

8094-459: The country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent , where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety,

8208-519: The darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics , Dark Horse Comics , and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics . This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as " A Death in the Family " in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin ), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of

8322-412: The debut of the superhero Superman . This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II . After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw a gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of

8436-527: The disease with healthy genes taken from the corpse of Bruce Banner's father , the energy surge released when Hulk returned to human form integrating the new genes into Hulk's system and curing of the disease. After his ex-wife Peggy Rae gained custody of their daughter, Lang accepted an offer to join the Avengers officially. His personality clashed immediately with fellow Avenger Jack of Hearts . However, in The Avengers vol. 3 #76, Jack helped save Cassie from

8550-415: The doctor from Cross' clutches and was relieved when Sondheim was able to save his beloved Cassie's life. Upon being confronted by Pym (as Yellowjacket ), Lang intended to return the Ant-Man suit to Pym and turn himself in for its theft, but Pym, aware of the use to which Lang had put the stolen goods, offered to let him keep them, provided he only use them to uphold the law. Shortly after, Scott Lang donned

8664-471: The early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name— Disney comics by Barks were signed " Walt Disney ". In

8778-455: The end of Season 8, to be still alive when actor Patrick Duffy wanted to return to the series. This season is sometimes referred to as the "Dream Season" and was referred to humorously in later TV series such as Family Guy as a "gas-leak year". Other series such as St. Elsewhere , Newhart , and Roseanne would notably employ the same technique. Unpopular stories are sometimes later ignored by publishers, and effectively erased from

8892-462: The experience. When Peggy and Blake arrived, Sondheim told her that Cassie suffered an infraction and Scott took them to her. Although he saved his daughter, Scott decided to distance himself from her so that she could have a normal life. Some months ago, Ant-Man helped Giant-Man into rescuing a computer technician named Raz Malhotra from Egghead. Months later after the incident where Hank Pym and Ultron were fused together with Pym seemingly perishing as

9006-499: The fact to explain continuity errors. Such was the case in The Flintstones , where Wilma Flintstone was mistakenly given two separate maiden names over the course of the series: "Pebble" and "Slaghoople". Though the term "retcon" did not yet exist when George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four , the totalitarian regime depicted in that book is involved in a constant, large-scale retconning of past records. For example, when it

9120-444: The final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer. The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors , the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers. Another aspect of

9234-467: The hero tried to buy time for Sondheim to transplant another heart into Cassie. After Cross was forced to flee when the Pym Particles now in his body caused him to shrink down, Scott shrank down to microscopic size, and was guided by Sondheim to attack Cassie's white cells and allow her body accept the new heart's tissue. Even though the procedure was difficult, Scott was finally able to help Cassie survive

9348-540: The history of the fictional world in which it was set. In the letters column , a reader remarked that the comic "must make you [the creators] feel at times as if you're painting yourself into a corner", and, "Your matching of Golden Age comics history with new plotlines has been an artistic (and I hope financial!) success." Writer Roy Thomas responded, "we like to think that an enthusiastic ALL-STAR booster at one of Adam Malin 's Creation Conventions in San Diego came up with

9462-467: The incident, Scott Lang gave Raz an offer come with him to Florida to be trained while looking over Hank Pym's lab there. Raz accepted the offer. Scott later recruited Hijacker, Whirlwind, Beetle, Voice, and Magician to his Ant-Man Security Solutions. As a team, they fought Darren Cross, Crossfire and Augustine Cross to save Stinger, aka Cassie Lang. After that battle, the NYPD arrested Scott for his crimes. After

9576-483: The introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency , which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there

9690-623: The late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across

9804-433: The major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing. Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed

9918-579: The mansion and seemingly killing Scott. This Jack may have been some type of "apparition" created by an insane Scarlet Witch rather than the actual Jack of Hearts, starting the crisis known as Avengers Disassembled . His daughter Cassie Lang subsequently takes the name Stature as a member of the Young Avengers , having apparently taken enough Pym particles over the years to enable Cassie to automatically grow and shrink in size whenever she wants. His Ant-Man helmet falls into Amadeus Cho 's possession for

10032-559: The new version included the name of the company (originally the Finmark Robot Corporation), new, earlier references to the Three Laws of Robotics , and new interpolated scenes featuring Dr. Calvin herself. The TV series Dallas annulled its entire Season 9 as just the dream of another character, Pam Ewing . Writers did this to offer a supposedly plausible reason for the major character of Bobby Ewing , who had died onscreen at

10146-426: The original 1919 novel, The Curse of Capistrano , Zorro ends his adventures by revealing his identity, a plot point that was carried over to the 1920 film adaptation The Mark of Zorro . In order to have further stories starring Zorro, author Johnston McCulley kept all the elements of his original story, but retroactively ignored its ending. One notable example is Isaac Asimov ’s 1950 fixup novel I, Robot ,

10260-401: The phrase "retroactive continuity" is found in theologian E. Frank Tupper's 1973 book The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg : "Pannenberg's conception of retroactive continuity ultimately means that history flows fundamentally from the future into the past, that the future is not basically a product of the past." A printed use of "retroactive continuity" referring to the altering of history in

10374-451: The pieces of his lost life on Earth, Scott takes up residence in an ant-hill in Florida and begins offering his service for pay. On a mission, he ends up joining forces with Swarm against a new enemy called Macrothrax. Using a gaseous form of "Pym particles" kept in a compartment in his belt, Ant-Man initially had the power to shrink himself (and other people and objects along with himself) to

10488-559: The process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition. The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix , continued somewhat in

10602-505: The publication of Robert Crumb 's irregularly published Zap Comix . Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint , Kitchen Sink , Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in

10716-650: The red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium . When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics , to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as

10830-620: The satirical Mad —a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code. DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas ) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash

10944-492: The second Future Foundation 's leader replacing Reed Richards when the Fantastic Four went on a time travel trip. Still suffering from his daughter's death, he decided to aim all the Foundation's resources towards making Doctor Doom pay for his crime; in the meantime he engaged in a romantic relationship with Darla Deering, aka Ms. Thing . It is to Darla that Scott confessed that he killed a fellow inmate while in prison. After

11058-453: The second Ant-Man in Marvel Premiere #47 (April 1979). Michelinie had long been an enthusiast of shrinking heroes, and saw Hank Pym's return to the Yellowjacket guise as an opportunity to take over the discarded Ant-Man identity. He explained how he came up with the character: I wanted something completely different, in both origin and motivation, from Pym. So I came up with the idea of

11172-455: The series continued with the title Astonishing Ant-Man. Scott Lang was born in Coral Gables, Florida . A movie fanatic, he turned to burglary when his occupation as an electrical engineer failed to provide him with enough excitement in life. (This was later retconned with the statement that he did so because he could not support his family.) Apprehended, Lang served his prison sentence and

11286-566: The size of an ant and return to normal. Over time, he has acquired the ability to change size at will. He can also shrink to sub-microscopic size, and thereby enter the countless " subatomic universes ". He retains his normal strength in ant size. Lang also discovered the true secret of Pym Particle technology, using it along an axis of three enhancement and reduction vectors. Enabling access of phy. augmentation without growing or shrinking to various sizes. The cybernetic Ant-Man helmet allows rudimentary telepathic communication with insects , and

11400-408: The size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm). This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4. In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches. The format of

11514-729: The success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman , who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books . It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half

11628-675: The suit to Lang, allowing him to become the second Ant-Man. As Ant-Man, he serves as an Avenger for years, until he is killed during the Avengers Disassembled storyline. Years later, he is resurrected in the Avengers: The Children's Crusade mini-series. Following his resurrection, Lang heads the Future Foundation and founds his own company, the Ant-Man Security Solutions . Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang in

11742-524: The superhero role struck a chord with readers and led to Ant-Man enjoying modest popularity and frequent appearances in Marvel Comics thereafter. Ant-Man appeared prominently in the 2012's FF series by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred . An ongoing series focusing on Lang, titled simply Ant-Man written by Nick Spencer and drawn by Ramon Rosanas , began in January 2015. After Marvel's Secret Wars event,

11856-417: The tradition of the earlier underground comics , while others, such as Star Reach , resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist. This so-called " small press " scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in

11970-599: The various X-Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered "mutants" in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution. In addition, published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature. As a result, these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries . Retroactive continuity There are various motivations for applying retroactive continuity, including: Retcons are used by authors to increase their creative freedom, on

12084-513: The very first villain Scott had fought, Scott was forced to turn to Grizzly and his fellow supervillain Machinesmith to infiltrate Cross' plant to save his daughter. With Machinesmith disabling all the security Scott was able to get into Cross Technologies and fight his way to Darren Cross, whom Dr. Sondheim was blackmailed into reviving using Cassie's heart. Darren engaged in combat against Ant-Man while

12198-411: The very moment he attempted to contact her, Sondheim was forcibly taken away to Cross Technological Enterprises , and to get her out, he decided to return to burglary as a final resort. He broke into Hank Pym 's home and stole the Ant-Man suit and shrinking gas canisters. Garbed as Ant-Man, Lang broke into Cross Enterprises and discovered that Sondheim was being held prisoner by Darren Cross . He rescued

12312-478: The zombified Jack of Hearts who is revealed to be the real Jack of Hearts under the control of an insane Scarlet Witch. When Jack explodes, the Scarlet Witch regains her memories and returns them to the present, including Scott (thus his death is retconned as having never actually happened, as he was merely taken from his time and brought forward). Scott is proud that his daughter followed in his footsteps. However,

12426-408: Was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it. While the creators of comics were given credit in

12540-447: Was a member of the Avengers , the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy , the main character in the comic-book series FF and, in 2015, he became the title character in the series Ant-Man . Scott Lang is an ex-convict and electronics expert hired by Stark International , which enables him to steal the Ant-Man suit from Hank Pym , who had long since given up the name, to help his sick daughter. When Pym finds out, he gives

12654-464: Was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower . The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of

12768-416: Was hired by a publicist named Marlena Howard through the Hench App to pretend to have a grudge against her. Scott Lang later reunited with Raz Malhotra and took him to confront Power Broker at his public promotion of the Hench App 2.0. They ended up coming into conflict with a female Blacklash who Power Broker hired to guard the event. Due to Raz's inexperience in crimefighting, Blacklash got away. Following

12882-515: Was in prison. He encountered Rick Jones and Alpha Flight , and then battled Dire Wraiths alongside Rom and Starshine . Scott was serving in an Avengers back-up team created when Baron Helmut Zemo 's Masters of Evil took control of the Mansion and captured some of the current team; he even helped the Wasp defeat the Absorbing Man and Titania when they attacked a hospital in an attempt to kill

12996-470: Was paroled after four years for good behavior. In prison, he furthered his study of electronics and was soon hired by Stark International to work in its design department. Under Tony Stark's direction, he helped install a new security system in Avengers Mansion . When his daughter Cassie became seriously ill, Scott Lang sought out Dr. Erica Sondheim, the only person capable of helping her. However, at

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