Pages

Sunday 16 February 2020

The Astonishing Ant-Man, Volume 1: Everybody Loves Team-Ups Review (Nick Spencer, Ramon Rosanas)


The only astonishing thing about the first volume of Astonishing Ant-Man is Nick Spencer’s ability to write so much about so little – and I’m not just talking about Ant-Man’s size either!

This is the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man who’s started up a security firm in Florida with a pair of moronic Z-list villains, Grizzy (just a weirdo in a bear suit) and Machinesmith (a robot hacker who’s gay for no reason). They’re up against some more Z-list villains who’re using an app for villainous lackeys. There’s some lame soap-operatics with Scott still trying to be a good dad to his newly-resurrected daughter Cassie and I’m running out of energy just summarising this rubbish book!

I’m honestly trying to find some redeeming quality but I can’t come up with anything. These weren’t so much stories as they were half-baked premises: a retirement home for superheroes/villains, a reality show with his ex Darla Deering, a team-up with Sam Wilson/Captain America to battle a Giganto, and a “hi-larious” basketball game with real-life comedian, Paul Scheer.

None of the pathetic attempts at stories were at all interesting while none of the jokes landed and the humour was actually just extremely irritating – Scott’s still a mess, har har, repeat ad nauseam… Spencer’s still got literary diarrhea and nearly every page is smeared with his bland writing.

The framing device towards the end shows Scott back in the slammer except Spencer never explains how he got back there – shoddy storytelling. And what was the point of giving some rando techie the Giant Man gear?!

So Ant-Man is still microscopically fun to read! Utter trash, I definitely didn’t love The Astonishing(ly Dull) Ant-Man, Volume 1: Everybody Loves Team-Ups!

No comments:

Post a Comment