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Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Number 2513: “Hup! Toop! Thrip! Four!” Soldier ants are marching!


It’s April, and time for the appearance of insects, without whom I would not know it was spring (I don’t get out much), when ants begin their annual invasion. I am not fond of ants making my home a residence, so I have my ways of getting rid of them. What if, though, the ants were as big as a human, and could think. Not only think, but say things like, “O antmen! It is time for your first test! Go forth this night and try your new power! Kill the hated mortals! KILL!”

My usual ant traps would not work with man-sized soldier ants. What I may have to depend on is the solution to get rid of those giant ants in the story. Personally, I had not heard of an enemy of soldier ants, but it is right here.

The artists who soldiered on by drawing this tale, are listed as Ken Bald ? (which means the Grand Comics Database is guessing) for the cover. Dick Beck and George Klein are credited for the artwork on “The Ant Master!” It is from ACG’s Forbidden Worlds #21 (1953).








7 comments:

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

Yeah, as with many ACG horror stories, the solution is a rabbit pulled from a hat; or, in this case, an iguana pulled from a hat. There's not much need for me to labor the differences between real iguanas and the iguanas in this story.

But I will note that Chick was positioned to infer that Professor Thorne could probably have been saved by a blood transfusion. Instead, Chick decided to put a bullet in the Professor, or to kill him by other means. And Pat was remarkably able to accept having her father killed. Someone should look into their motives. Was Professor Thorne a wealthy man? Did he stand in the way of their marriage? Did Chick imagine publishing the research with himself listed as sole author?

I was moved to laughter by the final panel, with Our Hero combining his honeymoon with an expedition to Save the World. I wonder how many people would die as a result of his arranging his affairs thus.

Brian Barnes said...

Well now that was silly. Hey, kids, don't base you shock ending on something you just read in a book on iguanas the other day!

Oh, and nice honeymoon, you jerk! Maybe fighting giant psychic ants isn't good honeymoon material?

I love the standing-up ants!

Batzarro said...

Iguanas...the ant's deadliest enemy, apparently. I thought they only ate MY GARDEN!

BEMaven said...

I would have opted for a giant aardvark.

BEMaven said...

I would have opted for a giant aardvark.

Lord Crios said...

At the start i've thinked to an anteater.

Rick said...

Someone didn't do their homework. Iguanas are folivores, specialized herbivores that feed on leaves. They might ingest an ant or two that happen to be on leaves the iguana is munching on but they are hardly an ants most deadly enemy. Of course animals that are specialized to feed on ants such as ant-eaters, aardvarks and flickers (a species of woodpecker) would look pretty silly trying to eat a giant ant-man with their long sticky tongues. What kind of dramatic ending would it have been for Professor Thorne to be licked to death?

It's also rather amusing that Prof. Thorne in his ant form laughs off bullets but is completely vulnerable to toothless iguanas.