Atom Ant

Jun01
on June 1, 2015
Posted In: Insect Characters

Atom Ant is a cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera, It originally costared in The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show. First aired in October 2nd, 1965 on NBC, lasted for 2 seasons with a total of 26 episodes of 30 minutes.

Atom Ant was able to fly, had super strenght, speed and invulnerability. I can still remember his catchphrase Up and at ’em Atom Ant! in brazilian portuguese, from the time I actually watched the cartoon, some time around the 80’s: Lá vai a triônica, Formiga Atômica!

The character appeared in many other shows from Hanna-Barbera and you could probably see him in some crazy Cartoon Network show or rerun.

atomant

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Ant-Man

May25
on May 25, 2015
Posted In: Insect Characters

The Ant-Man from Marvel debuted on Tales to Astonish #35 on September, 1965.

Scientist Hank Pym invented a substance that allowed him to change size. The Ant-Man mantle was passed to others as Hank retired that identity to assume yet another super-hero names, but that is a story for some other post.

Ant-Man can reduce his size to the size of an ant and use a special helmet to control the insects.

Marvel Studios has an upcoming live-action movie about the character to be released on July, 2015.

Let’s hope for the best!

antman

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Yellowjacket

Mar23
on March 23, 2015
Posted In: Insect Characters

This is not the Yellowjacket from Marvel. His first appearance was on his own title, Yellowjacket Comics #1, on September 1944. It survived 10 issues then moved from publisher to publisher, with sporadic apparitions.

He fought crime using the ability to control yellowjackets while wearing an amazingly discreet yellow striped costume.yellow-jacket

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Red Bee and Michael

Mar16
on March 16, 2015
Posted In: Insect Characters

The Red Bee first appeared in Quality Comics’ Hit Comics #1 on July 1940.

He used a weird costume, trained bees and a stinger gun to fight nazis and gangsters.
He had a favorite bee named Michael, who lived in his belt buckle.

His series lasted 24 issues…

red-bee-and-michael

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Blue Beetle

Mar09
on March 9, 2015
Posted In: Insect Characters

The Blue Beetle was supposed to be the first insect-based character of my gallery, but he became the second after I watched the documentary Superheroes: a never-ending battle, where someone explains the inspiration for the hero with two words: Green Hornet.

Anyway, the original Blue Beetle appeared in Fox Comics’ Mystery Men Comics #1, on August 1939. He also had comic strips and even a radio serial, none lasting long. Jumped from one publisher to another, being reformulated multiple times.

The original character used a bullet proof costume and made use of a compound named Vitamin 2X that gave him super-energy. Then he had super-powers granted by a supernatural egyptian scarab amulet. After that he was a Batman-like character with lots of gadgets. And now he is a teenager that uses an alien armor.

The incarnation I knew was part of the Justice League. He was most notable for being the base character for Nite Owl in Watchmen. Other than that, I never liked it so much, maybe because of the comical approach it had. The only story I really liked the hero, he decided to be a serious detective, but then he was murdered in the end. Lame.

blue-beetle

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