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Review: Ant-Man & Wasp #1

By | November 11th, 2010
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Written and Illustrated by: Tim Seeley
Cover by: Salvador Espin

Two of Marvel’s smallest heroes must join forces and get over one BIG elephant-in-the-room! Eric O’Grady once STOLE the Ant-Man suit from Hank Pym. But now, Eric is the only one who knows about a secret AIM plot to steal Pym’s greatest invention! Can the two men get along long enough to save the soul of the former GOLIATH, Bill Foster? Tim Seeley, creator of Hack/Slash brings us the big story of the two smallest Avengers! And make sure you check out this adventure before the astonishing events of AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 next month!

I picked this up because Eric O’Grady is the man, and the idea of pairing him up with the temperamental, hyper-intelligent Hank Pym is too good to pass up. Did it end up being worth the purchase?

Find out after the jump.

There are very few characters that I would absolutely buy a comic for, yet somehow, Eric O’Grady is one of them. This character was created by Robert Kirkman and Phil Hester in the series Irredeemable Ant-Man, and he quickly became a favorite of mine because of just how much fun he was. He was the type of guy who would his powers to do lascivious things, which, let’s all be honest, we always wondered why that type of thing didn’t happen more often.

Then he joined the Initiative and then the Thunderbolts and now he’s a member of the Secret Avengers. He’s getting a lot of reps, but most writers never seem to capture him in a way that brings me back to the awesome of his solo series.

Until now.

Tim Seeley (famed for his series Hack/Slash for Image Comics that I’ve shockingly never read) does an incredible job with O’Grady, capturing all of the things that make him such an awesome character. He’s a rogue, he’s a scoundrel, he’s kind of self-absorbed idiot, but deep down, he wants to do something, anything, right. That characterization is key, and Seeley’s grasp on him is pretty much spot on. The idea that he’d sit down to play Wii with his friend Black Fox (a master thief) immediately after kicking out a one night stand using the “oh my god, Doctor Doom is attacking my apartment!” act isn’t just hilarious, it’s O’Grady in a nutshell.

He also nails Pym, a man looking for retribution for the things he regrets in life. This issue tackles two of the biggest, as this book opens with the opening of six “Janet Van Dyne Centers for Women,” centers for domestic abuse that Pym is opening as atonement for his controversial past with his ex-wife. The other big issue is where the plot as a whole derives from, as a Sleepwalker comes in and steals an artificial heaven Pym developed for former assistant Bill Foster (a man killed in Civil War by one of Pym’s creations) for AIM.

The plot slams these two characters together in a very entertaining way, and the back-and-forth between the trying WAY too hard O’Grady and the obviously annoyed Pym is fantastic to watch. I mean, you have a guy who is trying to do everything right (Pym) dealing with O’Grady who does everything wrong, highlighted by hitting on every woman he runs into in this book (namely Tigra as well as Veil and Finesse from Avengers Academy). For a first issue, it packs a ton of entertainment into it, and it shows that Seeley has an excellent grasp on these characters, their supporting characters and the friction that the history between them naturally causes.

Seeley the artist is no slouch either, as he excels at the moments loaded with superheroes as well as the more casual ones. The art accentuates the funny, as Seeley gives us some laugh-out-loud moments from just the art. His art is very detailed and scenes are obviously well thought out, and everything just works. I know that’s not the most analytical look at art ever, but from every standpoint a book can work visually, this one does.

The only negative I can say about this book is the fact that it’s a $3.99 book that ultimately will probably have no effect on the day-to-day business of the Marvel Universe. For some readers, that may be a deterrent. For me? Anytime I can read a book about Eric O’Grady being “rickrolled” by a geriatric master thief, I’m going to take it, no matter the price. Bravo Tim Seeley. You’ve done well sir.

Final Verdict: 8.5 – Buy


David Harper

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