Ant-Man #1

Note: ANT-MAN #1 is on sale 1/7/15.

The Good

Let's be honest, not many people can or would say Ant-Man is their favorite superhero. This is something the book realizes. Ant-Man may not be the coolest concept for a superhero but Nick Spencer is going to make you care about the character.

Marvel always excelled at the idea of flawed heroes starting back in the 60s. Scott Lang barely has his act together. He's gone through some tough times despite trying to do his best. Luck just hasn't always been on his side. It's his traits that make him more of a human character. Being able to shrink down and control ants might not sound like the coolest thing but seeing Lang in action, you start to realize there could be something to a series focusing on Ant-Man.

Spencer does an excellent job introducing Lang and his complex past to new readers without drawing things out for older ones. I was personally thrilled to see mention of his time with the Future Foundation. The idea of Lang trying to make ends meet by finding a job as well as try to get visitation rights to see his daughter Cassie adds a different element to the regular superhero comic.

Ramon Rosanas’ art is a perfect fit. While Scott Lang has a deep history in comics, the art compliments the tone of the story in creating the feeling of a new story and world. We see other familiar characters that reminds us of the bigger world Ant-Man is part of but you can easily immerse yourself into this story and not worry about other titles. Readers of a certain other series should be especially happy to see one character that appears here.

The Bad

One of the fears I had going into this series was aspects of Scott Lang would be tweaked to accommodate the upcoming movie. Despite the brief recap on his life, there could be some confusion at the appearance of Cassie (who was dead) and her seeming younger than she was before. Her resurrection happened recently in he pages of AVENGERS WORLD #16. There are some changes to Cassie due to her return. Hopefully this will be addressed more but likely makes her fit what her movie counterpart may be like. It’s also a little strange that Scott was seen as still in a relationship with Darla Deering in that issue of AVENGERS WORLD but there’s no mention of her here despite the changes Scott makes in his life.

The Verdict

Get ready to be able to say you are now an Ant-Man fan. Nick Spencer is taking the (often) down-on-his-luck Scott Lang and showing us what he’s willing to do to be Ant-Man as well as a father. New and old fans can jump into this series that sets up Scott’s new direction and place in the Marvel Universe. While this series is rooted in the Marvel Universe, there is a nice distinct feel to the book making it accessible to all readers. Ramon Rosanas’ art is great at depicting both the human moments as well as the action sequences involving a guy that can shrink down and communicate with ants. You’ll be pleasANTly surprised by how much you’ll enjoy this book.

I always thought Ant-Man looked really cool.

Really excited for this, I'm hoping it will fill the hole in my heart left by Superior Foes ending.

@drellassassin: well...fingers crossed.

Actually I think the whole point of making Scott the main Ant-Man was because he was the least flawed out of all Ant-Men, not that I'm complaining though.

Hopefully they take the time to flesh out Pym particles, the Microverse, and proper foes for Scott. One of the reasons why Hank kinda fell through as a character is because Marvel never took the time to properly develop his mythos, instead focusing on all of his problems.

At any rate, I can't wait to pick this up.

This looks interesting. It seems the Marvel Now version of Scott has a little bit of Eric O'Grady's personality thrown in to keep him relatable. I hope it works (it didn't for Hank Pym in Avengers A.I.) because I actually really do like Ant Man.

Ant-Man (especially Pym, but I like Lang and Eric too) would be in my top five favorite superheroes. That is still pretty good.

I wish this time Ant Man is here to stay(and not as a movie tie in)I have almost all of his appearences in Tales to Astonish,Marvel feature(Hank Pym) Marvel Premiere(Lang)but let's be realistic he isn't(and never will be)Wolverine or Deadpool so I am not sure how many issues this title will be when better MarvelNow titles already cancelled (Elektra,Invaders e.t.c.)...

I was always a fan of Lang since Alias.Loved his relationship with Jessica Jones.

After what Dan Slott did with Hank Pym in Mighty Avengers, I find it hard to care about anyone who ever used the name Ant-Man after him.

This comics cost 5 dollars.

It has to be a six or seven stars worthy issue to get me.

This is one of the comics I'm looking forward to this year. Ant-Man isn't really a character that I care about but I trust Nick Spencer.

I've missed Scott Lang since FF ended.

It's 33 pages, which is over 50% more comic for just a dollar more.

I may get this in trade. The most Ant-Man I have in my CB collection is some issues of Waid's Daredevil where they team up... which is pretty sad.

Also.

Why did nobody make a big deal about Cassie being resurrected? That's a big deal!

Bring back Eric O'Grady.

When did that happen?

I'll pick this up

This

so excited for this series, already added to my pull and a 5 star review by Tony just gives me even more reassurance that i'm totally gonna dig this one. welcome back home @g_man

@cloudguy: my point exactly, I found out from reading the review

It was first mentioned in early December HERE. The funny thing is I read this issue before the AVENGERS WORLD issue. After seeing her here, I went back and dug out my issue. Not much has been shown in comics.

Super excited for this series. Ant-Man has always been my favorite superhero and I've been waiting forever for a new ongoing. Wish this series had more Hank Pym, but I can't really complain since Scott's a great character.

Nick Spencer is writing so i'm on board!

{BASED}

No Hank Pym? No.

It happend in Avengers World #16 tie in with Axis, Doom stole some of Scarlet Witchs power to bring back Cassie.

Yay... can't wait. I love Ant-Man, a bit of a shame that it isn't Eric O'Grady or Hank Pym but whatever.

I can work with what I have.

I can say Ant-Man is one of my favourite superheroes. As a scientist, and as someone who is very susceptible to stress he is very relatable to me. Plus he's a founding member of the Avengers. Not even Captain America can have that claim.

Really excited for this. Hopefully Spencer still has the magic he found with Superior Foes.

Ehh, pass.

Nice

Looks like it's worth a look.

@g_man: okay alright I might read the first issue. I was heartbroken when they killed her after children's crusade.

Looking forward to this

Loved it, but I really do want Ms. Thing back. We should really get her in this book.

Loved this issue. I am 15 and Ant Man has been my favorite marvel character as long as I can remember. So great to see a well written series for the character.

This book was all around fun. At first glance the concept of Ant-Man is pretty ridiculous, and while I do agree that it is in a sense, personally I believe Ant-Man is ridiculously fun and this issue captured that perfectly. From showing how even shrinking and controlling ants can, when used in a creative way, be very helpful as well as useful, you see that Scott's personality, the way he looks at the world, makes his adventures even more fun.

Throw in some classic Marvel "real life issues" like simply trying to be a good father and hold down a decent job, and you've got yourself an awesome comic in the making.

Seriously, if you've had any doubts on whether Ant-Man could be a serious character, pick this issue up and I promise you'll not only realize how awesome he is, you'll see that Ant-Man is truly astonishing.

Really great issue! Poor Scott though, no respect from anyone in this issue.

Just finished reading. Awesome issue, this fill be filling the hole Superior Foes left on my pull list.

This book feels great and its nice to see Spencers writing style acomadating Ant Man so well

Ant man has always been a very respectable super hero. And recent years have really highlighted that. Hank Pym is easily one of the most important Avengers, from his work as a founding member, to everything he did in AI, to being the father figure for most of Avengers academy. He's part of the teams backbone. Eric O'Grady had a shaky start but he went out as a true hero. And Scott Lang had a distinguished career as an Avenger, and he was A BEAST in FF. In that book he proved once and for all that he's a great hero, a great leader and a great parent. After that, no one should be able to disrespect him. And this book just shows more of the same great character, I nearly cried when I saw those last few pages and this is just the FIRST issue. I expect great things from this series.

As a superior foes fan I decided to give this a try. This issue was very good and it's looking like this series has a promising future. If we get 30-40 issues I would call it a very successful run. However, I could see it being done with far fewer.

This was pretty great. The art, the tone, everything really came together here. I relate to Scott on a lot of levels. Before getting custody of my son I went through some of the same crap with my ex wife. Also I know what it's like being the old guy in the room.

I loved this comic but it's bothering me now knowing Cassie was dead and brought back to life less then a year ago and there was no reference to that even when Scott was talking about her info or that the mom didn't bring it up during all that time she spent talking how shes not safe with him and him trying to say he can keep her safe I didn't even know she died when I read the comic.

Never read anything with Ant Man in it before and I barley know about him, this book just did allot right for me loved the story and his geeky relationship with his daughter. I'm curious how Tony Stark will play into his story and what this means for Superior Iron Man.

I've added this to my pull list and I doubt it will leave it anytime soon.

I came for the Beetle...

This was fantastic. Loved everything about it. Definitely getting added to my pull list.

i hope the movie is like this. It doesnt have to be a big over the top action. Something simple and touching might actually be better for the movie.

I loved this book so much. Can't wait for issue 2.

Spencer's style of writing is so great. He is the only writer that actually makes believable internal thoughts.

The only real complaint I would make is Lang's EX was really protective of Cassie because she had died before, but they never explained how she came back. I knew how she came back because I read Avengers World, but without reading that you wouldn't really know how Cassie is alive again or even know she died.

@g_man: If you think about what Darla was saying in Avengers World I think they were trying to imply she was getting sick of Scott. There was also this from an old interview.

First press question, from Marvel.com: Will Darla Deerling from "FF" play a role in the series? "You'll see Darla briefly" in issue #1, Spencer replied.

So I think it's likely they might have just ended up cutting a one panel break up for space, or they changed their mind about the break up and didn't have time to rework the issue to fit her in.