Why Essential Ant-Man is the Best Book Ever

I can't pick up my comics until Saturday due to scheduling issues, but I've passing the time with "Essential Ant-Man", which my roommate found and bought me.

It is, I firmly believe, the greatest Marvel Silver Age compilation ever.

Why?

1. Communists. Lots of communists. Often for no real reason.

2. Cross-dressing communists.

3. The fact that Hank's first semi-psychotic episode is mentioned way back in Jan's first appearance and 43 years later, he still hasn't gotten proper therapy.

4. How Hank and Jan's relationship is pretty much summarizable as:

Jan: Hank! Notice me! I love you! I'm hot, young, rich and throwing myself at you!
Hank: ...oh look, particles.

5. The fact that this exchange actually happens in the comic:

Jan: "MMM...It's WORTH being ill to have you hold me in your arms like this, Hank..."
Hank: "Poor kid...the fever's made you delirious!"

6. The fact that this exchange occurs while riding home on the back of an ant.

7. And that Hank's other forms of transports include a tiny catapult and rubber bands

8. And that the aforementioned exchange ends up followed by the best line ever: "You and your old ants! I'll bet if I had six legs you'd like me better!"

9. The fact that villains can pick up Ant Man when he's the size of a paperclip, reach down and take his helmet off. I find this the most amazing thing ever, as my hands shake, so if I tried it'd be *squish*.

10. For that matter, even when they pick him up, they always decide to kill him in silly ways like using mind control to make him walk into a river. They never just go squish.

11. Hank's former wife Maria and Janet Van Dyne only look alike if you're freaking delusional.

Oh wait. Right.

12. How in every issue after the first, they explain that Hank's clothes shrink with him because they're unstable molecules worn for precisely that reason.

But the very first issue? His first time shrinking? His clothes still shrunk. I think he's keeping those molecules for other reasons.

Kinky.