Comics Review: Marvel Now! Point One – Ant-Man
Issue: Marvel Now! Point One – Ant-Man
Name: It’s Art
Published: 2012 by Marvel Comics
Creators:
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Michael Allred
Colorist: Laura Allred
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Characters:
The Good: Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Cassie Lang
The Bad: Doctor Doom (Victor Von Doom), Demodex
The Undecided: Darla, Darla’s Date
My Reading:
Marvel Now! Point One is a set of stories that feature some of the personalities of the Marvel universe and is basically a kicking off point for titles. This issue contains 6 stories with this one, It’s Art! featuring Ant-Man as the lead. Scott Lang is Ant-Man, in this incarnation of the hero, and he had a daughter, Cassie… Doctor Doom killed her.
It’s a pretty straight forward and brutal opening. It’s been months since her death and Scott is finally able to get back to work, and for now his work is focused on revenge. To get his damage started, he’s shrunk down to microscopic size and is riding on an eyelash of a woman named Darla and they’re headed into the Latverian embassy for an art exhibition. After a quick fight with a Demodex mite and a race to stay ahead of a group of hunter/killer drones Scott approaches his target and strikes…
What did I learn:
- The Ant-Man persona has been handed off to other people since it began.
- Doctor Doom is still one of the most evil people in the Marvel Universe in 2012 as he was in 1962 – maybe even more evil.
My Thoughts:
This short story is a bit dark. Much moreso than the Ant-Man I’ve read from 1963. That Ant-Man was Hank Pym and while this one is Scott Lang which is the Ant-Man familiar to anyone who’s seen the movie, it seems the suit and the shrinking gas can be passed on to others. The heart wrenching recounting of Doom killing Cassie is well told and emotional and the art is nicely detailed. I find it interesting though that this 8 page story seems to convey so much more than the longer ones from 1963 even with what I’d say is a quarter of the words. It’s interesting how comics have changed in 50+ years. The bottom line though is that I’m not sure drawing a mustache on a piece of art is a proper revenge for someone killing a daughter – hopefully he gets more vengeance.
My Rating: B-
This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop.