Oh, Wasp, Where Is Thy Sting?

Continuing from last issue, Giant-Man is chasing after the Human Top who has just captured the Wasp, however he soon loses his foe who has mastered the ability of flight with the help of his new costume. Once away from Giant-Man, the Top tries to get the Wasp to join his cause, explaining that her partner will be doomed once he stumbles upon the trap that he is preparing for him. Hoping to warn Giant-Man, the Wasp gives her wasp the command to tell Giant-Man where she is.

Back at his lab, Giant-Man is contacted by the Wasp's wasp, and uses it to fly to the location of the Top's hide out, however he manages to stumble into the Top's trap: a giant pit that where the Top will freeze Giant-Man into a block of ice. When the Wasp refuses to join the Top, he throws her into the pit as well to be frozen to death along side her comrade.

Giant-Man instructs the Wasp to shrink in size and climb into his costume, just before he is sprayed with quick freezing water and encased in a sheet of ice. Believing his foes are dead, the Top has the Giant-Man ice state lifted out of the pit, but is surprised when a normal size Giant-Man and Wasp bust out of the ice. Giant-Man explains that he waited for the outer layer of water to freeze before shrinking to normal size to free himself.

After a brief battle with the Top, the Top is knocked into his own trap and is frozen as well, then pulled out and thawed out before being turned over to the police. After the Top has been arrested, Giant-Man explains that his constant growing has affected his health and that continuing to do so may lead to his death, and so decides that it is time to retire from being a super-hero.

Recurring Characters

Giant-Man, Wasp, Human Top, Boopsie

Continuity Notes

• Although Giant-Man and the Wasp try to retire here, they are pulled back into super-heroics during the events of Tales to Astonish #78 and Avengers #26-28.

Trapped in the Lair of the Leader!

The Leader's Humanoids have succeeded in knocking out the Hulk. The Leader himself arrives on Astra Island to collect the Hulk and the Absorbatron for more study. Before the Navy can stop the Leader, he manages to escape in his ship, transporting the Absorbatron and the Hulk along with him via a magnetic beam. The military land on the island and revive Major Talbot and the group search for Bruce Banner but find him missing.

Meanwhile, at the Leader's secret base located in the southwest, the Leader attempts to examine the Hulk's body but finds that his devices cannot pierce the Hulk's dense skin and so he begins working on stronger components. While distracted he misses seeing that the gas he used to knock out the Hulk has triggered his transformation back into Bruce Banner. Banner awakens and then begins modifying one of the Leader's devices to send out Morse Code to alert someone of his location.

Back at base, General Ross and Major Talbot discuss the situation, Ross explaining that when they find Banner he wants him shot on sight. Overhearing this, Rick Jones hurries to Bruce's secret lab out in the desert to figure out a way to find Bruce himself and soon notices one of the devices is picking up Bruce's Morse Code. Realizing the army will pick up the signal as well and shoot him on sight, Rick rushes to rescue Bruce by himself. Indeed the army does pick it up and soon sends an attack force to get Banner.

Meanwhile, the Leader notices the Hulk is not on the table where he left him and figures that the Hulk is trying to escape and floods the room with twice the dosage of gas. This causes Banner to change into the Hulk once more who goes on a rampage in the Leader's lab and smashes his way out of the room he was captive in.

The Leader tries to shoot the Hulk but his attack appears ineffectual. The Hulk then smashes the Absorbatron, causing the Leader to flee. Crashing through the base the Hulk eventually encounters the army who attack him. Rushing past the soldiers, Rick Jones finally makes it to the front line to find that the soldiers have stopped fighting because they have found Bruce Banner, and to all present he appears to be dead...

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Major Talbot, General Ross, Rick Jones, The Leader

Continuity Notes

• This story runs parallel to the events of Avengers #17.