With the ever looming presence of Ant-Man’s cinematic debut on the horizon, let’s dive back in to Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas’ aptly titled “Ant-Man” as Scott Lang settles into his new digs down in sunny Miami and his hunt for a real job begins anew. Is this series just a flash in the pan to drum up popularity for an upcoming film or are we seeing the return of “Ant-Man”?
Written by Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Ramon Rosanas
• Ant-Man’s starting a new life– a bold new adventure– and you know what that means…
• He needs to borrow some money!
• Also, an old enemy returns… kinda. Sorta. Maybe?
Okay, so that intro was more than a little unfair, I’ll admit, but with the marketing for Ant-Man the film, it’s not surprising Marvel would use this opportunity to push “Ant-Man” the comic, right? Thankfully, Marvel, in their infinite wisdom, has entrenched “Ant-Man” in the indie comic stylings that has been popularised with many of their ‘street level’ heroes in the last few years with Nick “Superior Foes” Spencer and Ramon Rosanas taking the helm. Last issue, Spencer and Rosanas introduced us to this new era of Scott Lang as he battled the most dangerous villain of all: being a middle-aged divorced dad with no job. This issue sees Lang follow his ex-wife and daughter as they move to Miami, but in that somehow not creepy 90’s family film about a down-on-his-luck divorced dad kind of way, not in a creepy way,
As mentioned, Spencer and Rosanas firmly place this series in the indie comic influenced style that has prevailed throughout Marvel’s publishing line over the last couple of years with series like “Hawkeye”, “Daredevil”, “She-Hulk,” etc. Between Spencer’s humour focused writing and Rosanas’ almost European style artwork, the series reads like a superhero comedy with some action and character drama added in as flavouring. However, the problem comes when asking what “Ant-Man” brings to the table to make it stand out against the plethora of titles that immediately spring to mind when this type of style at Marvel is brought up. In short: what makes “Ant-Man” worth your time?
Well, for one, Nick Spencer has shown in the past with “Superior Foes Of Spider-Man” that he can juggle the mania of the Marvel universe with on-point humour and character writing and that’s in full effect here. Much of the humour in this issue stems from just how ludicrous the Marvel Universe can be; from a guy in a bear suit trashing your offices to a guy in an ant suit applying from a bank loan, Spencer nails the sense of humour in this issue. On top of that, Spencer peppers the issue with Lang’s narration which brings an aloof insight into the character’s mindset as he has to deal with stuff like… well, a guy in a bear suit trashing your offices. However, outside of this issue’s humour, the plot coasts along on the same “superhero needs work, badly” track that we’ve seen many series from Marvel travel down in the last few years.
This is a shame because Spencer does bring a lot of humour to the mix and Rosanas adds a level of visual comedy to the art to compliment that, but there’s not a lot here that brings any stand out flair to “Ant-Man”. This isn’t to say “Ant-Man” is bad, mind you, what it wants to do, it does well, but what it wants to do is almost blend into the crowd. Only the artwork really shines here as there are moments, few and far between, where Rosanas uses Ant-Man’s powers to bring an inventiveness to the page. Like a page early on where panel by panel he pulls the “camera” back as Ant-Man is held against the wall to illustrate the size difference between Ant-Man and the bear guy, Rosanas seems to have fun in drawing sequences unique to this character. However, these sequences are bordered on either side by sequences where Ant-Man stands around or sits and talks about how terrible his life is right now which, frankly, feels a little derivative and more than a little uninteresting.
Continued belowIt’s disappointing as when the book is funny, it’s really funny, but it simply can’t skate by on that alone. There simply is no spark to the main plot here and it just kills the momentum gained by the humour in the writing, especially the narration captions, and the inventiveness of the action in the artwork. While books like “She-Hulk” and “Ms. Marvel” because they play into the strengths of the creators on the books in a way that takes them away from a Marvel house style, this seems to be a title forced into that mould instead of being allowed to exist in its own right. The continual comparisons to other books at Marvel seems unfair, I know, but that seems to be what “Ant-Man” wants me to think about when it plays into that style so heavily, seemingly to ride the wave generated by them.
While this could have been a genuine revitalisation in the interest in “Ant-Man” as a character, Spencer and Rosanas seem to have shot themselves in the foot by adhering too closely to structure created by preceding series rather than letting their own creativity loose on the series. Which is a little ironic seeing as those series were about breaking away from adhering too closely to writing or artwork styles. What that leaves us with is an “Ant-Man” series that isn’t actually that bad so far, but simply frustrating in how evident the DNA of other series is in its construction. This is certainly a funny comic with an inventive take on using the unique powers of the lead character to stag action scenes, but unfortunately nothing about this series screams “must read”. In fact, for anyone who isn’t a die hard fan of the character or was hoping for a spiritual successor to “Superior Foes Of Spider-Man”, this one seems to scream “trade wait”.
Final Verdict: 6.6 – There are some strong elements in this issue, but not enough to make this a must read comic.
