Ant-Man: The movie?

Some time back I reported on a plan to convert the Ant Man comic into a movie.  Updates from Comic-Con suggest that movie is back in development!  It currently has a 2014 release date.

Ant-Man first appeared in 1962, and is described in a comic Wiki with this wonderful sentence:

“With the help of his hexapoda allies Hank was able to stem the tide of most minor crimes. “

The basic Ant-Man plot line is, like most comics, convoluted and involves many different story arcs and reincarnations.  Hank Pym discovered a group of subatomic particles and produced two serums from them, one to reduce someone in size and another to restore them.  This allowed him to shrink to the size of an ant and return to normal shape.

He went on to develop a helmet that let him communicate and control ants, and became a crime fighter and one of the founding members of the Avengers.  (Sadly, he has been edited out of the Avengers movie to be released in 2012.  Speciesism!!)

He turned his girlfriend into an insecty sidekick (Wasp) and also had several nervous breakdowns and developed alter egos. I suppose as a physicist forced to constantly violate physical principles (conservation of matter, for one), that is to be expected.   About the only constant for Ant-Man over the years is that he seems to have been a bit of a perv, inclined to hide out in inconspicuous spots on women. Like… brassieres.

Do a Google search for images of “Ant-Man” or browse through the back issues of some of the comics online for much hilarious insecty action.

Anyway, back to the movie.   The director is Edgar Wright, and initial reports suggested Simon Pegg as the lead, which is just all sorts of flavors of awesome.

Mr Wright and Mr. Pegg:

I hereby offer my services as entomological consultant.

Spare your self the ignominy of The Bee Movie’s horrible fate (i.e., being mocked here and elsewhere for their utterly crap insect science.)

Accept professional help.  Hire an entomologist!

Other Insect Superheros:

• Killer Moth
• X-Man Angel Salvadore
• The Bug-Eyed Bandit
• The Red Bee
• Queen Bee and Hellgramite
• Beware the Beekeeper!
• Japanese Spiderman, featuring giant Scarab beetles with Laser bras. Really.

Comic Villain: The Bug-Eyed Bandit

W00t! MightyGodKing brought another insect super-villain to my attention:  The Bug-Eyed Bandit.

A dude with the catchy name of Bertram Larvan, he is listed as having two superpowers: Entomology and Robotics.

Now, leaving aside for the moment the validation of what I’ve always known–entomological knowledge confirms superpowers–how did this make him a villain?

“Bertram Larvan was an inventor who designed a mechanical insect to control insect pests. Unfortunately, he had no financial backing to support his invention. He resolved to steal money he needed for his invention. He later used his invention to steal more. Soon, he had an army of mechanical insects and took the name of the Bug-Eyed Bandit.”

See? This is what comes of having only a 10% success rate for federal science grants!  Scientists decide to get their own funding via crime!

Ok, maybe not.

Mr. Larvan was an opponent of the Atom, which seems fitting, given the Atom was bug-sized.  Larvan sported a rather dashing Goatee, and had the unusual fashion sense we have come to expect from insect related villains.  Personally, purple and green are two of my favorite colors; however, it’s a bit overdone in his outfit.

For some reason, the Bug-eyed Bandit kept losing his memory and recovering it, and moving in and out of crime.  Making him, I suppose, the ultimate absentminded entomologist.

Related posts:

• The Red Bee
• Queen Bee and Hellgramite
• Beware the Beekeeper!
• Killer Moth
• Ant Man!
• X-Man Angel Salvadore
• Japanese Spiderman, featuring giant Scarab beetles with Laser bras. Really.

Insect Comic Villains: Killer Moth!

I am always interested in the ways in which insects infiltrate into pop culture, and here’s another comic book villain from the Golden Age (1951): Killer Moth!

He had a rather strange fashion sense, rather like the Red Bee (covered earlier @ the Bug Blog.)
Um.
Striped purple, lime green, and pink tights? With an orange cape?

Call the fashion police, because he’s a villain, all right.

According to the Batman Wiki (not making that up), Killer Moth sets himself up as the anti-Batman, including a Moth Cave, MothMobile, and infra-red Moth Signals for criminals in Gotham City to summon him.

(You can read a more detailed account of his origins at the fan site for Killer Moth. From what I can see of the MothMobile, it shares the….interesting… color scheme of Killer Moth himself.)

His powers? Err.

“Abilities As Killer Moth: Flight via suit”

Come on. Not even sweater destruction at a distance?  Oh wait, sorry. I missed this:

Weapons: Incapacitating cocoon gun

Killer moth returned briefly to Batman comics in the 90s and sold his soul to a demon to gain power. He changes into Charaxes:

“As Charaxes, Walker resembles a vaguely humanoid, giant brown moth. He consumes humans and spins cocoons in which to keep his prey. In a later story, Charaxes begins laying hundreds of eggs, all of which hatch into duplicates of Drury Walker. Charaxes despises his progeny, but is unable to destroy them.”

Well, that’s something, although I wonder if he knew his bargain with the devil would include a sex-change.

Killer Moth has also appeared on Television in several different incarnations, none of which are particularly flattering. He does seem to have toned down the pink and lime green a bit, though.

Tree Lobsters: The Comic

OMG. There are no words for how awesomely awesome this is.  I mentioned tree lobsters at Skepchick because…Tree Lobsters! What do I need to say, really?

Steve made this comment:

I’d like to see a comic called Tree Lobsters. Something along the lines of Dinosaur Comics. Just clip art lobsters sitting in trees discussing philosophy.

And somehow, it evolved into this, courtesy of Mr. Degroof.

Thank you so much

Comic Heroes: The Red Bee

I’ve written before about various insect-themed comic heroes, and here’s a new one from 1956: The Red Bee.

He appears to be distinguished by….extremely poofy pink sleeves and striped tights. Hmm. 

The Red Bee was the alter ego of a District Attorney who kept his bees in his belt buckle. Yes. You read that correctly. I’m guessing he didn’t wear his hero costume with his street clothes, because I think the buzzing would be noticed.  And:

His favorite bee was named Michael.

I doubt that Michael was of any offensive or defensive use at all, since male bees don’t sting.

MightygodKing delivers the goods in an entertaining bio:

“The problem is that while controlling swarms of bees might make you a great behavioral scientist or perhaps an up-and-coming honey magnate, as superhero powers go it is not the most impressive trick one can get, is it?
If you are the Red Bee, twenty feet away from some gangster when he pulls out a gun, and you pull out your swarm of bees, the gangster can just shoot you and then the bees will presumably go find something more interesting to do with their time than sting the gangster to death. Because they are bees. They will establish a hive somewhere and then begin pollinating flowers. Because that is what bees do.

(And again, we do not know that he controlled the bees as such. But come to think, even if he controls the bees, where does he keep the bees? A swarm of bees is not exactly compact unless you cram them all into a little box and crush/smother them to death. And in the few Red Bee appearances I have read, he kept multiple swarms of bees on his person. Then again, maybe he just throws clumps of dead bees at people and hopes that they panic and scream “OH MY GOD BEES” and don’t notice that the bees are dead.)”

The Red Bee was succeeded by his grandniece in a later iteration, and she had bees that generated electricity. Or Something.

Related posts:

• Queen Bee and Hellgramite
• Beware the Beekeeper!
• Ant Man!

Productivity, prepare to meet your doom

Because I just spent HOURS playing with this online superhero generator,
and I predict you will too. It took a little work to get her to the appropriate level of….zaftigness.

Mr. Bug Girl says it does actually look like me, but I think that’s just because of a similarity in the rack region.

Also, note the Red High Heels!

What superhero alter ego can you come up with?

Edited to add: Link fixed! Now you can happily waste time….

Beware the Beekeeper!

I was trying to get ready for a presentation to incoming students on Thursday, and discovered the adventures of RawMan and Green Girl! In this episode, they solve the mystery of disappearing bees.

Um. Sort of.

One of the best lines: “Even a killer bee can’t resist the urge to pollinate a flower!”  Enjoy.

Bug Girl Denies Everything!

I am totally NOT the new supervillain in this comic, despite the (completely superficial!) resemblance in the photos.  It does look like me, but really, it isn’t me!

From that post about Insect Queen:

“a villain with her own private army of bug-Borg, and the capacity to make more from infected civilians, and to clone more besides. Between her and the wide variety of soldier-types among her drones (limitless possibilities, culled from your local Entomology textbook), they’ve already shown themselves able to hurt Superman and create superpowered insectoid clones of him. And she’s got four arms!

At the very least, there’s at least two good stories with her clash against Queen Bee and her team-up with Hellgrammite. I’m pretty sure there’s more than that yet, and I for one can’t wait to see them.

In case you aren’t a comic fan, Hellgrammite is an entomologist that turned into a…um.  Super insecty-villain-thingie?
He does not, alas, look anything at all like a real hellgrammite, or dobson fly.

Queen Bee has an army of drones,  and occasionally hangs out with Lex Luthor.  There is also a Nazi Beekeeper in the Comic universe, although he’s not mentioned here.

For those interested in the golden age of Comics, there is an insect superhero (sort of): The Blue Beetle!  He’s not very entomological, though–he’s got a vague relationship to a scarab, and that’s about it.

Ant Man: coming to a theatre near you

Coming in, um, like 2 years?
Yep, thanks to my close Hollywood contacts, I have a tip on a new insect movie!

Apparently there is an Ant Man comic, and like many other comics, it will be repackaged as a movie.

The plot:

Biochemist Dr. Hank Pym uses his latest discovery, a group of subatomic particles, to create a size-altering formula. Though his first self-test goes awry, he develops an instrument that helps him communicate with and control insects.

The director is Edgar Wright, and some have suggested Simon Pegg as the lead, which is just all sorts of flavors of awesome. So, I am cautiously optimistic.

No, actually, to be honest, I’m pretty geeked.

However, given the generally shitty job Hollywood does with insects on film, I can also imagine many, many ways this can go horribly wrong.

Mr Wright and Mr. Pegg:

I hereby offer my services as entomological consultant, free of charge.

Spare your self the ignominy of Bee Movie’s horrible fate (i.e., being mocked here and elsewhere for their utterly crap insect science.) Accept professional help.