I Saw the End of the World!

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Don Heck, end of the world, giant ants, grottu, Jack Kirby, mole men, Paul Reinman, Steve Ditko, Strange Tales

What a great page from Steve Ditko! The rest of this issue of Strange Tales is pretty awesome, too — a personal favorite of ours. Jack Kirby and giant ants to lead off!

Collectors’s Guide: From Strange Tales #73; Marvel, 1960.

Prototype issue (Ant-Man). “Grottu, King of the Insects!” with pencils by Jack Kirby; “I Saw the End of the World!” with art by Steve Ditko; “I Was Captured By the Mole Men!” with art by Don Heck; “I Am a Walking Time Bomb” with art by Paul Reinman; plus a two-page text story, “The Tree.” Kirby cover pencils. Cover price $0.10.

Alarming Tales 6: King of the Ants by Al Williamson!

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Al Williamson, Alarming Tales, giant ants, Harvey Comics

We’ve been looking at Jack Kirby’s stories for Alarming Tales. Let’s have a look at an Al Williamson story from the sixth and final issue. This showcases one of our favorite themes here on Mars: Giant Ants! Okay, the ants are actually normal size. But they seem really big when you get shrunk down to their size!

Collector’s Guide: From Alarming Tales #6; Harvey, 1958. Issues #1-3 are now collected in a Kindle version!

Space Platforms – Way Stations of the Future!

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atomic bomb, giant ants, golden age, Lost Worlds, Space Platforms, space stations, Standard Comics

Here we see one of the absolute worst ideas of the 1950s. Maybe we can put huge mirrors in space to reflect the sun’s rays to the Arctic regions. WOW! As if the polar ice caps aren’t melting fast enough. At least we can get a great tan while dropping atomic bombs from space! Isn’t science great?

Collector’s Guide: From Lost Worlds #6. 1952, Standard Comics.

We’re including the cover here because of the completely awesome Giant Ants!

The Island of Doom!

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Dime Comics, giant ants, golden age, iguana, Island of Doom, Newsbook, Rex Baxter

For a second, we considered editing this down to just the fight with the giant lizard, which seems to be based on an IGUANA. We hate to knock anyone who can draw better than us, but iguanas are vegetarians and probably the least scary reptile out there. Sure you don’t want to make one angry, but don’t think your lady friends are going to give you extra points if you spear one of them! COME ON!

Anyway, enough editorializing! Along with a Rex Baxter story, we get a drawing lesson in this issue. PLUS a fun fact about the world’s most powerful radio on the Eiffel Tower, a fun fact about ants with swollen bodies full of honey-flavored goo, and a %$#&!-ing sweet orb that explodes out of the ground! SOLD!

Collector’s Guide: Rex Baxter and the Island of Doom, From Dime Comics #1; 1951, Newsbook.

Courtesy of the Digital Comic Museum.

Behold… I Give You the Super Soldier!

Tags

ancestral genes, ants, Captain America, genetics, giant ants, super soldier, super soldier ants

Any fan of Captain America in the last 10 or 15 years knows that Captain America was created as a “Super Soldier.” We’ve seen lots of variations on that theme. Some of them are downright creepy, like Warren Ellis’ take on the Russian Super Soldier program in Ultimate Nightmare.

Well, here’s a little something to give you a nightmare, too: Super Soldier Ants.

It seems some species of ants develop a super soldier subcaste with enormous heads who fight off enemy ants. What’s more interesting is that the development takes place when specific genes are activated. And, these ancestral genes occur in many more species of ants, but lie dormant. Now, some of the geeks in lab coats have figured out how to activate those dormant ancestral genes in other ant species, creating super soldiers in those species, too.

Holy $#%@! It’s an insect super soldier program! Call Nick Fury!

You can read a layman’s version of the article on Physorg.com or go right to the source article from this month’s issue of Science.

Ancestral Developmental Potential Facilitates Parallel Evolution in Ant, Science 6 January 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6064 pp. 79-82.

ABSTRACT : Complex worker caste systems have contributed to the evolutionary success of advanced ant societies; however, little is known about the developmental processes underlying their origin and evolution. We combined hormonal manipulation, gene expression, and phylogenetic analyses with field observations to understand how novel worker subcastes evolve. We uncovered an ancestral developmental potential to produce a “supersoldier” subcaste that has been actualized at least two times independently in the hyperdiverse ant genus Pheidole. This potential has been retained and can be environmentally induced throughout the genus. Therefore, the retention and induction of this potential have facilitated the parallel evolution of supersoldiers through a process known as genetic accommodation. The recurrent induction of ancestral developmental potential may facilitate the adaptive and parallel evolution of phenotypes.

Swamp Thing: Nestor Redondo Splash Panels!

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giant ants, Nestor Redondo, Swamp Thing

You know we love the Moore/Bissette/Totleben/Veitch Swamp Thing as much as we’ve loved any comic-book story. And hats off to the original Wein/Wrightson Swamp Thing. But Nestor Redondo doesn’t get enough credit for his artwork on issues #11-23 of the first volume of Swamp Thing. To celebrate Nestor Redondo, we present for your viewing pleasure three awe-inspiring splash panels from his Swamp Thing days: mutant swamp worms, giant frogs and snakes, and even a giant ant. Yes!

Collector’s Guide: From Swamp Thing volume 1. Scripts by Len Wein and David Michelinie, art by Nestor Redondo.

Captain Science: World War III With the Ants!

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Captain Science, giant ants, golden age, time travel, war, war comics, World War III with the Ants

This is easily our favorite Captian Science story — and the good Captain is nowhere to be found! What a great sci-fi horror short, with some creative page layouts, classic drama, and emminently quotable lines. Plus, Giant Ants!

Like many Golden Age Comics now in the public domain, you can find Captain Science scans at the Digital Comic Museum. Or, you can collect the original issues of Captain Science.

Alex Niño’s Space Voyagers: The Queen Ant!

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Alex Nino, giant ants, Queen Ant, Robert Kanigher, Space Voyagers

Are you ready for some far-out adventure? Witness the Space Voyagers encounter evil giant ants from another planet in The Queen Ant! Alex Niño artwork, Robert Kanigher script.

We have a complete collection of Space Voyagers, and an ongoing gallery of work from Alex Niño’s out-of-print Satan’s Tears. If you’d like to dig into our Alex Niño gallery, click Alex Niño.

Collector’s Guide: From Rima The Jungle Girl #1-5; DC Comics.