Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
The Astonishing Ant-Man #1
Marvel Comics
Spencer, Rosanas & Boyd
"Astonishing Ant-Man" launches with a book that is very much the same as the previous volume in tone and character focus. Writer, Nick Spencer, continues his story by giving his unique wit and sarcasm to the lead, Scott Lang. Lang is living his day-to-day life as he struggles to get his company off the ground, battles his ex-wife as a means to have a relationship with his teenage daughter while dealing the normal super-powered villains. The comic is a dense read, but provides just enough action to keep the comic flowing. I recommend giving this a look if you like character focused books, but don't mind a little over-the-top snark in your characters.
Scott Lang is trying to get some clients. He gets thrown into a meeting with a potential client, but under the watchful eye of his financier. His ex-wife's current husband also attends the meeting much to the dismay of Lang. Things don't go very well for the job prospect but for reasons that you might not expect.
A rival of Lang's is approached by another character (also looking for money) with an app that uses analytics to determine if a villain is in the area in order to take out a selected super hero. As a trial, a bad guy is contacted to tangle with Ant-Man. It's a clever hook and the comic presents this well.
The book is a good read because it mixes the real-life drama with the ridiculous high concepts, such as the villain finder app. The comic is wordy at times as it seems like Spencer wants to slip in as many jokes as possible. The book builds characters well as a result, but the glut of dialogue reads like its unnecessary. Spencer also refers to a lot of events that occurred in other comics, but with no footnotes. This is kind of annoying, especially for a first issue.
The artwork is good. The book has an old-school look to the pencils and inks. The comic doesn't try to present an epic look to the characters. After all, the comic is dealing mostly with day-to-day life, even if the main character is wearing a costume the whole time. There is one sequence where there is a high school basketball game and the player's uniforms have no numbers, names or anything else on them, which was odd. Also, the game winning shot is blocked via goal tending, which is against the rules, but I guess comic writers and artists aren't necessarily concerned with the accuracy of sporting rules. The artwork is a nice companion to the story.
"Astonishing Ant-Man" is a fun read. The comic is a character-centered story where Scott Lang and his personal life are the primary focus. The plot in this comic is hatched from the angle where old grudges come back to haunt Lang. The book has some interesting ideas in here as well, such as the villain-finder app. Overall, if you like books that are character focused and you don't mind some sarcasm and snark then this is the book for you. I recommend checking this out.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
