Ant-Man's Big Christmas

Ant-Man's Big Christmas is a one-shot holiday special, released under the Marvel Knights imprint of Marvel Comics. The issue was written by Bob Gale, with art by Phil Winslade. It was released in 1999, with a publication date of Feb. 2000. The cover price was $5.95.

The issue focuses on the first Ant-Man, Dr. Henry Pym, and his wife Janet who is also known as the Wasp, and their attempts to bring holiday cheer to a dysfunctional family.

Plot summary

The story begins at Avengers Mansion, with all of the Avengers decorating for the holidays, with the exception Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym. The Wasp invites him to go visit her family for Christmas, but he refuses. As the couple begin to fight, Captain America enters bearing a letter addressed to the "Make A Christmas Wish With the Avengers" program, in which the members of the team reach out to child in need for the holidays.

The letter comes from a 12-year-old boy named Larry Magruder, whose family always fights on Christmas. Larry wishes for Ant-Man and the Wasp to come and make his Christmas merrier. The next day, the Pyms arrive in at Larry's home and introduce themselves to him in his room. Ant-Man says that if the others find out they are there, the focus will be on them and not Larry. After witnessing a family fight, Pym decides to come up with a plan to cheer Larry up.

Using Ant-Man's shrinking gas, Larry shrinks down each of his relatives one after another and then places them in an environment that should show them their rude behaviour. Before coming to his last relatives however, Larry realizes that he acts like a bully and decides to deal with his problems differently, much to the enjoyment of Ant-Man and the Wasp.^[1]

References