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A review by iffer
Ant-Man: Second-Chance Man by Nick Spencer
4.0
Hmpf. So, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Hold the presses. I actually thought that this was funny, and pretty good.
I found the issues to read, not only because I wanted to know more about Ant-Man before Marvel's movie release, but also because I became curious about Scott Lang after reading Brian Michael Bendis's Alias Omnibus about Jessica Jones.
Nick Spencer leverages Ant-Man's (not even the "real" Ant-Man, Dr. Pym) B-list (C- or D-list hero status) to write self-deprecatingly humorous series that makes fun of comic book camp, especially back-from-the-dead occurrences, and anchors it by focusing on Scott Lang's struggles to be a better man, and especially father. This could be another instance of Marvel being surprisingly successful at capitalizing on one of its lesser-known, frequently-thought-of-as-campy properties (e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy). Plus, everyone likes an underdog/redemption story. The subtitle for the trade is even "Second Chance Man." :)
I like the cheesy jokes and pop culture references (which might actually be a detraction later on), as well as how Scott Lang assembles his team out of B-list recovering villains. I think that "older" comic readers (meaning not really that old, but 30s and older) would particularly enjoy this story arc, not only because they might be able to relate to a dude trying to reinvent himself/realizing that he didn't accomplish what he wanted to in his youth/dealing with his ex-wife, but because there are several jokes that revolve around competing with Millenials and wanting a job with health benefits.
While I didn't love the art, it's solid, and, so far, I like the way that Ant-Man is drawn when he shrinks and does things while he's ant-sized, to emphasize that his powers are actually kind of cool, not as lame as the name Ant-Man makes them sound. I think that Mark Brooks could do a better job depicting what the world looks like from the perspective of an ant-sized man, but I think that he gets better with each issue and will continue to get better.
I found the issues to read, not only because I wanted to know more about Ant-Man before Marvel's movie release, but also because I became curious about Scott Lang after reading Brian Michael Bendis's Alias Omnibus about Jessica Jones.
Nick Spencer leverages Ant-Man's (not even the "real" Ant-Man, Dr. Pym) B-list (C- or D-list hero status) to write self-deprecatingly humorous series that makes fun of comic book camp, especially back-from-the-dead occurrences, and anchors it by focusing on Scott Lang's struggles to be a better man, and especially father. This could be another instance of Marvel being surprisingly successful at capitalizing on one of its lesser-known, frequently-thought-of-as-campy properties (e.g. Guardians of the Galaxy). Plus, everyone likes an underdog/redemption story. The subtitle for the trade is even "Second Chance Man." :)
I like the cheesy jokes and pop culture references (which might actually be a detraction later on), as well as how Scott Lang assembles his team out of B-list recovering villains. I think that "older" comic readers (meaning not really that old, but 30s and older) would particularly enjoy this story arc, not only because they might be able to relate to a dude trying to reinvent himself/realizing that he didn't accomplish what he wanted to in his youth/dealing with his ex-wife, but because there are several jokes that revolve around competing with Millenials and wanting a job with health benefits.
While I didn't love the art, it's solid, and, so far, I like the way that Ant-Man is drawn when he shrinks and does things while he's ant-sized, to emphasize that his powers are actually kind of cool, not as lame as the name Ant-Man makes them sound. I think that Mark Brooks could do a better job depicting what the world looks like from the perspective of an ant-sized man, but I think that he gets better with each issue and will continue to get better.