Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #36
Published October 1962
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 0.12 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee
Notes Distributed to newstands in July 1962. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.

Cover Details

Characters Ant-Man [Hank Pym]; Comrade X [Nina Vladimirovna Tsiolkovsky]
Genre superhero
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Dick Ayers
Letters Artie Simek
Notes Letters credit from George Oleshevky's Marvel Comics Index.
Reprinted in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #1; in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

13 page The Astonishing Ant-Man story "The Challenge of Comrade X!"

Characters Ant-Man [Hank Pym]; Comrade X [Nina Vladimirovna Tsiolkovsky] (introduction)
Synopsis Ant-Man is hunted by a Soviet agent sent to capture him, but a beautiful stranger warns him of the spy's whereabouts. Ant-Man realizes that the woman is really the spy and defeats her.
Genre superhero
Script Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Dick Ayers
Letters Terry Szenics
Notes This story is divided into two untitled parts (7 pp, 6 pp). Page 5 includes a schematic of Ant-Man's miniature entrance and exit from his house. Comrade X next appears in West Coast Avengers (Marvel, 1985 series) #33 (June 1988) as "Madame X". Letters credit from George Oleshevky's Marvel Comics Index.
Reprinted in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics (Marvel, 1965 series) #1 (1965); in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

2 page text story "From Outer Space"

Characters Jonathan Ditmar
Synopsis When hostile aliens come to Earth of the future they are persuaded not to enslave humanity because of Earth's music.
Genre science fiction
Letters typeset
Notes Text story with illustration.
Reprinted from Mystery Tales (Marvel, 1952 series) #26 (February 1955)

5 page story "The Hands of Time!"

Characters Harry Weems
Synopsis A fugitive steals a clock that turns back time. He becomes young again, and tries to commit the perfect crime, by escaping back in time before it happened, but when the clock breaks, he dies.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee (plot) ?; Larry Lieber (script) ?
Pencils Paul Reinman
Inks Paul Reinman
Letters John Duffy
Notes Script and letters credits from George Oleshevky's Marvel Comics Index.

5 page story "The Search for Pan!"

Characters Pan
Synopsis A man arrives in a small village looking for Pan, whom all the villagers affirm does exist. He hopes to cash in somehow, but becomes frustrated when no one will tell him where to find Pan, and he begins to think they are just scamming the tourists. He threatens to rough up a bartender and the bartender directs him to a nearby grove under the full moon. The man goes, and does encounter Pan, but is so unsettled by the encounter he immediately leaves town. It turns out the bartender has cloven hooves.
Genre occult
Script Stan Lee
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Letters Artie Simek
Notes The last page includes an advertisement for Strange Tales Annual (Marvel, 1962 series) #1 (1962). Lee credit noted by "kevobay" via the GCD Errors list, February 2010. Letters credit from George Oleshevky's Marvel Comics Index.