Comic Book Review: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #8

The Revolution always enjoys the latest issue of The Irredeemable Ant-Man. I know that this title is getting miserable sales numbers. And that is rather unfortunate because Kirkman is doing a far superior job on this title than he is doing on the better selling Ultimate X-Men. Of course, we all know if you slap an “X” on the cover of a Marvel comic book that it is going to sell well despite the quality of the final product. I’m confident that The Irredeemable Ant-Man #8 will be another good read. Let’s hit this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Cory Walker

Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Ant-Man being offered a job with Damage Inc. Ant-Man says thanks and that he will think about the job offer. Ant-Man then takes the stolen jewels in the Black Fox backpack and leaves.

We cut to Eric trying to sell the stolen jewelry to a pawnshop. The pawnshop owner asks if the jewels are stolen. Eric says they are. The pawnshop owner gives Eric $10,000 dollars for the jewels and tells him to come back if Eric gets anymore. Eric then asks if the pawnshop owner knows where Eric can get a really good fake I.D. The Pawnshop owner tells Eric he can help him with that.

We then shift to the next day with Eric accepting the job with Damage Inc. Eric gives his new employer his driver’s license which has his picture on it and the name on it is “Derek Sullivan.” Eric is told that he will be working with the new search-and-rescue divisions of Damage Inc. That they will enter battle scenes shortly before the battle is over in order to rescue anyone trapped or injured.

Eric then asks his new boss if the black haired girl he met yesterday is in the building today. The boss says try the second floor. We cut to Eric hitting on the black haired girl. The girl asks if Eric’s codename is Ant-Man. Eric says no, that it is a praying mantis costume. That his codename is Slaying Mantis and that he made the costume and his sister chose the color red for the costume and that is why it is not green like a Mantis.

Eric then asks the girl to go get a cup of coffee with him. She agrees as long as Eric buys and that he also admits that everything he has said has been total bullshit and he was just trying to act cute to get a date.

We cut to Eric and the girl at a diner getting coffee. The girl’s name is Abigail and her codename is Visioneer. That she has limited psychic ability that allows her to find people who are trapped. Eric introduces himself as “Derek.” Eric then asks when he can have another date with Abigail.

We zip forward two weeks later and see Eric moving into his new apartment. Abigail comes over and Eric tells her that she will be able to meet his sister real soon. Abigail says she will believe it when she sees it. The two start making out on the sofa. Suddenly, there is a big explosion. Eric looks out the window and says that there is a brawl between a super hero and a super villain. Eric says this should be cool to watch. Abigail then asks Eric since he is a super hero isn’t he going to join the fight? Eric begrudgingly agrees.

We shift to Ant-Man heading to the fight. Ant-Man thinks how he is not ready for this. We see She-Hulk battling Mister Hyde. Ant-Man joins the fight and promptly gets punched out by Hyde. Ant-Man plays possum and poses like he is knocked out until She-Hulk and Hyde carry their battle down the block. Ant-Man then gets up and says he is in the clear and out of here. We cut to Eric arriving back at his apartment and telling Abigail that he defeated the villain.

We cut to later that night, with Eric asleep in bed. We see Black Fox sneaking into Eric’s bedroom. Black Fox wakes up Eric and puts a gun to Eric’s head. Black Fox demands to know where his stolen jewels are located. Eric says that he already sold them for $10,000. And that Eric only has $2,000 left over.

The Black Fox snaps and calls Eric an idiot for selling the jewels for only $10,000. That the jewels were worth over $100,000. Black Fox tells Eric that he will do whatever it takes to keep Black Fox from killing him. Eric says that he assumes he owes Black Fox $100,000 and that Eric doesn’t want to die. Eric tells Black Fox that he has an idea.

We hop to the pawnshop. We see the pawnshop owner asleep at his desk. Ant-Man yells in the owner’s ear to wake up and don’t move. Ant-Man says that he is currently miles away, but he has top secret SHIELD tech pointed at the owner’s head. That a week ago the owner purchased some stolen jewels that belonged to his employer. That he will melt the owner’s brain with the SHIELD weapon if the owner doesn’t give back the jewels.

The owner says that he already sold the jewels for $150,000. Ant-Man tells the owner to put the money in a bag and set it out back of the pawnshop or else he is dead. We cut to Ant-Man telling Black Fox that they got $150,000 and that Ant-Man is keeping 20%. Black Fox says Ant-Man did a good job, but that Ant-Man won’t get more than 10%. Ant-Man counters with 15% and a ride back to his apartment in Black Fox’s fancy car. The Black Fox agrees to the deal.

We zip to later that same night. Eric is asleep in bed and Abigail comes walking into his room. Eric wakes up. Abigail is dressed in some lingerie. Abigail gets in the bed and tells Eric that she broke in. Eric responds that he thinks he thinks he is falling in love. The two get ready for some S-E-X. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #8 was a fun read! I love the tone and mood that Kirkman has brought to this title. Ant-Man is clearly a humorous title, but Kirkman doesn’t play only for laughs. The charm of this title is that it is actually a rather dark and depressing title.

Eric is a pathetic character who has made a mess of his life at every turn. His moral compass is badly broken and he manages to take the wrong choice whenever he faces a critical decision. Yet, the fact that Kirkman has a nice sense of humor and liberally spreads in humorous comments in normally serious situations makes this title a fun read.

Kirkman gives the reader an excellent mix of action and dialogue. This keeps the issue from being a slow read and it gives it a nice pace. Kirkman also gives us a well plotted issue. We are beginning to see the next stage of Eric’s journey. Kirkman has a clear vision for what he wants to do on this title and each issue logically builds off of the previous one.

Kirkman serves up plenty of well crafted dialogue. There is plenty of very humorous dialogue. Kirkman also has continued to be committed to developing Eric’s character. Kirkman has made a nice effort of performing a character study on Eric. Each issue, Kirkman manages to flesh out Eric’s personality just a bit more. Eric is well developed and is an engaging character.

Eric’s new name for his super hero persona is hilarious. Slaying Mantis. I love it. It is idiotic things like this that spring forth from Eric’s mouth that make him such a great character.

The combination of well done dialogue and strong character work creates some excellent chemistry between characters. The scene between Eric and She-Hulk, the scenes between Eric and the Black Fox and the scenes between Eric and Abigail all had excellent flow and chemistry.

The scene with Eric and She-Hulk was flat out hilarious. The banter between these two characters was great. And Kirkman used this scene to show that Eric is no hero. That Eric is basically a coward who would much rather duck out of a serious fight. This is so different from your typical tough guy hero that you see in most titles on the market. Eric views the Ant-Man suit as not a tool to battle villains, but merely a toy to be used for his own personal enjoyment and gain.

The scenes with Eric and Black Fox were classic. Plus, these scenes show that Eric is most definitely not a true hero. Eric has no problems using his Ant-Man suit for personal gain. And Eric is always looking for a piece of the action as he negotiates for a larger cut of the money they steal from the pawnshop owner.

I dig how Eric is using the Ant-Man suit because it is a more realistic take on what an average Joe would do if he came across a super powered suit like the Ant-Man suit. The average guy would do the same kind of things like spy on hot chicks in showers, play around with the Ant-Man suit like it was a toy and definitely use it for their own personal gain. Out of all the Marvel super heroes, Ant-Man is the most pragmatic and normal of all of them. And Ant-Man is certainly the Marvel hero who is the easiest for the reader to relate to.

The scenes between Abigail and Eric were great. I love these two characters together. It is nice to see Eric finally find a girl that digs him. However, since it is Eric, he manages to screw up even a good thing like this by building their relationship on a foundation of lies about who he is.

I dig the new wrinkle to Damage, Inc. The concept of a special rescue team that swings into action near the tail end of brawls between metahumans is pretty cool. I like this direction for Ant-Man and it should provide plenty of fodder for future storylines. Plus, it will be cool to see Eric occasionally flash his heroic nature that we so rarely see.

Cory Walker supplies some solid artwork. I am not a huge fan of his style of art, but it isn’t terrible. I find it slightly above average.

The Bad: I have no complaints with this issue.

Overall: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #8 was another good read. Kirkman continues to surprise me with an excellent effort on this title. I wish that more people would give this title a try. It is such a superior read to many of the titles that post much larger sales numbers.