Comic Book Review: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #7

The Revolution has really enjoyed The Irredeemable Ant-Man. I honestly didn’t expect to like this title as much as I have. Kirkman really has done a great job creating one of the most unlikable heroes that is sure to worm his way into your heart.

It is too bad that Ant-Man is getting poor sales numbers. I’m sure this title will get the axe in a year unless it suddenly picks up a lot of readers. I’ll just enjoy this title for as long as it lasts. I’m sure that Irredeemable Ant-Man #7 is going to be another enjoyable read. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Cory Walker

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Ant-Man inside Ms. Marvel’s purse and realizing that he has just hitched a ride with a SHIELD-registered superhero. Ant-Man wonders what Ms. Marvel’s secret lair looks like. That it might even have a dinosaur or a giant penny. (Nice Batman reference.)

Ant-Man feels the purse being dropped on the floor. He crawls out and sees that Ms. Marvel lives in a boring looking one room apartment with no windows. Ant-Man hears the shower turn on. Suddenly, Ant-Man’s “Ant-Senses” tell him that a shower is running.

We then shift to Ant-Man sitting on top of the shower head watching a naked Ms. Marvel soap up and shower herself. Ant-Man grins and thinks how you would think that this would get old after a while, but you know…it really doesn’t. We then see a SHIELD agent enter the apartment and call out for Ms. Marvel. Ms. Marvel yells at the agent to leave since she is showering.

Ant-Man panics at the sight of the SHIELD agent. Ant-Man leaves the apartment and flies around to the ship’s bridge. Ant-Man then realizes that he is on a mini-carrier. He is actually on Minicarrier 13 assigned to Ms. Marvel’s Operation: Lightning Storm.

Ant-Man totally panics and says that he has to get out of there as soon as possible. Ant-Man thinks about how this trip turned out terribly. Then he thinks that it may not be a total waste. That he could take pics of Ms. Marvel showering and that they could be worth a fortune. That Ant-Man could make some cash money, baby!

We see Ms. Marvel telling a SHIELD agent that she is leaving on Avengers business. Ant-Man sees this as his ticket off the mini-carrier and jumps into Ms. Marvel’s purse.

We cut to the Mighty Avengers arriving in New York to battle subterranean monsters. This is the same beginning of the big battle scene that we saw in Mighty Avengers #1. Ant-Man is hanging onto Ms. Marvel’s waist sash and wonders which he likes more: Ms. Marvel’s butt or her boobs. (Ooh, tough question.)

Ant-Man then lets go of the sash and says that he wants to get away from here as fast as possible. Suddenly, Wonder Man goes crashing by Ant-Man. Ant-Man looks at all the broken parking meters with the coins inside all over the street. Ant-Man then realizes that this is the perfect time to make some money.

Ant-Man then sees the Black Fox exiting a jewelry store. Black Fox sees Ant-Man and mistakes him for Spider-Man and immediately attacks him. Ant-Man shrinks down to ant-size and then launches his “Ant-Man Special.” This attack is basically a flying nut shot. Black Fox collapses to the ground in pain.

Ant-Man then sees Black Fox’s bag of jewelry and grabs it in joy. Ant-Man then grabs Black Fox’s wallet and finds $600 cash in it. Ant-Man then hears cries for help from a pile of rubble.

Ant-Man shrinks down and sees a young girl trapped under the rubble. Ant-Man grows to full size and lifts the rubble off the girl. Ant-Man tells the girl to move. The girl comments that she can’t move her legs. Ant-Man then pushes the rubbles upward and quickly grabs the girl and dives out of the rubble.

Suddenly, the new Damage Control appears on the scene and congratulates Ant-Man for a job well done. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Ant-Man #7 was another good read. Kirkman continues to surprise me with the quality of writing that we are getting on this issue. I say that because I have not been impressed with Kirkman’s work over on Ultimate X-Men and I really didn’t think that a new Ant-Man sounded like such a great idea. I will readily admit that I’m wrong. Kirkman has turned in strong writing efforts on each issue and has made Ant-Man a very enjoyable read.

The strength of this title is the dialogue that Kirkman crafts and the excellent sense of humor. Kirkman delivers some well-done dialogue that has a nice natural flow to it. Each character has a normal conversational feel to their dialogue. It gives this title a realistic feel to it and makes the various characters well-developed with unique personalities.

Ant-Man’s constantly running external monologue is an excellent tool to give the reader an insight into his thoughts and personality. It also is an effective way to keep the issue moving at an enjoyable pace even when there isn’t much action going on.

Kirkman brings a wonderful sense of humor to this title. Kirkman wisely balances what can be quite a dark title at times with some good place sarcastic and dark humor. This certainly isn’t a “Bwah-ha-ha” title like the old JLU or Ambush Bug. Kirkman does an impressive job of making Ant-Man both a comedic character and a sad character all at the same time.

Kirkman always manages to deliver some funny dialogue in every issue. I liked the Batman references in this issue. Ant-Man’s internal debate about selling Ms. Marvel’s nude pics on the internet for cash money was also funny. And, as always, the intro to each issue given by an ant that brings the reader up to speed on everything that has happened prior to the newest issue is classic!

Kirkman keeps the running gag of Ant-Man watching women shower alive with Ant-Man #7 as he watches Ms. Marvel scrub that grime. Yeah, at a certain point this running gag will run the risk of getting old and played out. However, it isn’t there at this point. And every good comedic story needs a running gag. Much like Kenny getting killed in every episode of South Park up until the gag got old and was dropped.

Ant-Man is a fantastic character. Kirkman has impressed me with his ability to create such an intriguing and completely different superhero in this new Ant-Man. What is so enjoyable about Ant-Man’s character is that he is you and me. He is just a regular guy. Ant-Man acts like your normal twenty-something slacker American male.

Honestly, Ant-Man is exactly the type of hero that your average twenty-something male would turn out to be if he suddenly came across a super-powered suit of armor. I don’t think that your average guy would automatically get superpowers and act like Spider-Man, Superman, or Batman.

I think they would end up doing some of the same stuff that Eric does with the Ant-Man suit. They would check out chicks in the shower and look for a way to make some easy money. Running out and risking their lives in order to save innocent people would certainly not be on the top of their to-do lists.

I dig that Ant-Man is a total louse. He is a slacker with a rather fluid moral code that is full of shades of gray. He is a total scammer who drools over women. He is so unlike your typical superhero that he is quite a breath of fresh air. I hope Kirkman keeps our beloved Ant-Man completely irredeemable for a good long time.

The scene with the Black Fox and Ant-Man sums up the duality of Eric’s character. He is willing to nut shot an old bank robber and then proceed to take the bag of jewelry that the old criminal was stealing and even take the cash from the Black Fox’s wallet. But, then hears the cries of the little girl pinned under the rubble and willingly risks his own physical well-being to save her.

That is what makes Ant-Man so realistic. Not everybody is all good or all bad. I know nowadays in America we want to desperately paint people with broad strokes. We like to take one incident and use that to say how that person is all bad or all good. The fact is nobody is all bad or all good. We are all a mix of both. And so is Ant-Man.

I also liked how Kirkman inserted Ant-Man into the first official appearance of the new Mighty Avengers. That was a cool move since Ant-Man was an original Avenger.

Kirkman ends Ant-Man #7 was the appearance of an all-new Damage Control. We last saw Damage Control in the pages of Wolverine. Damage Control was in the grips of the evil Walter Declun. I’m curious to see how Damage Control has recovered since Declun’s defeat at the hands of Wolverine. Is there a possibility that Ant-Man will get recruited to join Damage Control? I’m interested to see what Kirkman is going to do with this new Damage Control in the next issue.

I found Cory Walker’s artwork to be much better than Phil Hester and Ande Parks’s artwork. Walker creates a much more interesting-looking comic book that is a better fit for a superhero-themed comic book.

The Bad: I have no complaints about this issue.

Overall: Ant-Man is just a flat-out fun read. It is one wild roller coaster ride that Eric is on and the reader has no idea what is going to happen next. Kirkman is doing a great job on this title and it is a real shame that the sales numbers for Ant-Man are just dreadful. Ant-Man #5 sold just 16,900 copies. I think it is fairly obvious that this title is going to get canceled sometime soon.

It is a real shame that a well-done comic book like Ant-Man gets such poor sales while total hack jobs like Ghost Rider #8 and Wolverine Origins #11 get sales numbers of 48,736 and 78,901 respectively.