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

Issue Details

Issue #38
Published December 1962
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 0.12 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee
Notes Distributed to newstands in September 1962. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.

Cover Details - "Betrayed by the Ants!"

Characters Ant-Man [Hank Pym]; Egghead [Elihas Starr]
Genre superhero
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Sol Brodsky
Letters Artie Simek
Notes Cover inks credits from Nick Caputo via the GCD Error List (30 January 2009); the original indexer credited Dick Ayers. Letters credit from George Olshevsky.
Reprinted in Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1966 series) #3 (July 1966); in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

10 page The Astonishing Ant-Man story "Betrayed by the Ants!!"

Characters Ant-Man [Henry Pym]; Egghead [Elihas Starr] (introduction, origin)
Synopsis An scientist is hired by crooks to defeat Ant-Man. He tries to turn the ants against the hero and trap him, but the ants are loyal to Ant-Man and he foils Egghead's scheme.
Genre superhero
Script Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Dick Ayers
Letters John Duffy [as "Johnny Dee"]
Notes Egghead is the first villain to reappear and become a member of Ant-Man's rogues gallery (such as it was), becoming his arch-enemy; he next appears in issue #45 (July 1963).
Reprinted in Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1966 series) #3 (July 1966); in Giant-Size Avengers (Marvel, 1974 series) #4 (June 1975); in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #1 (2006)

2 page text story "Strange Mission"

Characters Alfred Pook; Harold; Dr. Smith
Synopsis A man becomes confused over directions to the dentist and as a result accidentally pilots an expedition to claim a new planet.
Genre science fiction
Pencils Joe Maneely
Inks Joe Maneely
Letters typeset
Notes Text story with illustration.
Reprinted from Mystery Tales (Marvel, 1952 series) #45 (September 1956)

8 page story "I Found the Impossible World!"

Characters John Fleming; Bartho; Ricca
Synopsis An experimental time machine seems to fail, aging its inventor 10 years. In fact he travelled into a fantastic future, but had his memory erased as punishment for trying to sow discord.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)
Pencils Don Heck
Inks Don Heck
Letters John Duffy
Notes Letters credit from George Olshevsky's Marvel Comics Index.

5 page story "The Secret of the Statues!"

Characters Gizzard
Synopsis An art critic visits a sculptor to give him his opinion of his work. He tells the crestfallen man that his statues appear lifeless. He faints when one of the statues calls him a fool. It turns out the 'statues' were aliens attempting to pose as Earthlings in order to infiltrate. They deposit the critic outside and depart Earth.
Genre science fiction
Script Stan Lee
Pencils Steve Ditko
Inks Steve Ditko
Letters Artie Simek
Notes Letters credit from George Olshevsky's Marvel Comics Index.