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

Issue Details

Issue #56
Published June 1964
Frequency monthly
Cover Price 0.12 USD
Pages 36
Editing Stan Lee
Notes Distributed to newstands in March 1964. This issue includes 10 pages of paid advertisements. Distribution date from Joseph Marek's Marvel Comics Group history website.

Cover Details - "The Coming of the Magician!"

Characters Giant-Man [Henry Pym]; Wasp [Janet van Dyne]; Magician [Lee Guardineer]
Genre superhero
Pencils Jack Kirby
Inks Chic Stone
Letters Artie Simek
Notes Inker changed from Sol Brodsky to Chic Stone. (Bob Bailey, 2005-01-31) (Per Sandell ed.)
Reprinted in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008)

18 page Giant-Man and the Wonderful Wasp story "The Coming of the Magician!"

Characters Giant-Man [Hank Pym]; Wasp [Janet van Dyne]; Magician [Lee Guardineer] (introduction); Sterling Stuyvesant
Synopsis Janet goes to a party in the hope of making Hank jealous. There, she is captured by the Magician. Giant-Man hosts a fake party aboard a yacht to lure the Magician into a trap, allowing him to save Jan and capture the Magician with her help.
Genre superhero
Script Stan Lee
Pencils Dick Ayers
Inks Dick Ayers
Letters Sam Rosen
Notes The Magician next appears in issue #58 (August 1964).
Reprinted in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008)

1 page text story "The Balloon"

Characters Leroy; Zoop
Synopsis A young boy meets a tiny space traveler from Skyville, a suburb of Mars, trapped in a balloon.
Genre science fiction
Letters typeset
Notes Continues in next issue. Printed between the pages of the Giant-Man story.
Reprinted from Tales to Astonish (Marvel, 1959 series) #11 (September 1960) [page 1]

Half page promo (ad from the publisher) "Two More Triumphs for Marvel..!"

Notes Advertises Avengers, The (Marvel, 1963 series) #5 (May 1964) and Daredevil (Marvel, 1964 series) #1 (April 1964). Printed between the Giant-Man and Wasp Tells a Tale stories. This shares the page with the statement of ownership.

Half page statement of ownership "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation"

Letters typeset
Notes Average monthly paid circulation/print run October 1962–September 1963 (issues #39–51): 189,685/321,646. Paid circulation/print run for issue #51: 187,995/318,339. This shares the page with the promo.

5 page The Wasp Tells a Tale story "Beware the Bog Beast!"

Characters Wasp [Janet van Dyne] (narrator); Lorenzo; King Maximus; Giant-Man [Hank Pym] (in framing sequence)
Synopsis A suitor thought unworthy by the king wins the hand of the princess through cunning when strength fails.
Genre fantasy
Script Stan Lee (plot); Larry Lieber (script)
Pencils Larry Lieber
Inks Paul Reinman
Letters Artie Simek
Notes The ending of the story is not drawn, there is instead a scene of Jan telling Hank how it ended over dinner. This is the last "Wasp Tells a Tale" story.
Reprinted in Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1966 series) #11 (November 1967); in Essential Ant-Man (Marvel, 2002 series) #1 (2002) [black and white]; in Marvel Masterworks: Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Marvel, 2006 series) #2 (2008); in Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades Omnibus (Marvel, 2010 series) #[nn]