Dave-El here and this is my blog, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, now fortified with tasty dates and raisins.
I'm actually starting to feel better for the first time in days. I still have a little congestion in my chest but its breaking up. And my face doesn't feel like a thousand needles are sticking in; it's down to just a dozen or so. I would almost say I felt great but I know better. Nothing good ever comes from anyone saying they feel great. So I'll just hedge my bets and stick with "feeling better".*
*As I post this, the status of my mother-in-law as relayed in posts from Monday and Tuesday remains unchanged. I'll update as the situation changes.Right now I feel like doing a post about comic books.
We have now seen the human-sized trailer for Marvel's Ant Man movie coming out in July. Has Marvel finally overstepped itself? Is little itty bitty Ant Man going to be the downfall of Marvel Studios' sterling reputation? Or like Guardians of the Galaxy, will Ant Man show that truly, Marvel can do whatever they want. They're Marvel, dammit!
Well, Marvel the movie machine, perhaps. But what about the everlovin' blue eyed enterprise we used to call the Marvel Comics Group? Can Ant Man work in today's wacky, crazy world of comics retail? It seems Marvel's betting you will take to Ant Man in comics form and you'll pay $5 for it. Really, $5!
Above is one of the many, MANY variant covers for Ant Man#1. Variant covers really get the collectors out there salivating so I guess Marvel's expecting to jump start Ant Man's run with a plethora of varying face front art. And maybe people will take to what they find it underneath one of those covers.
The art fits in well with the tone of the comic but what really shines here is Nick Spencer's scripting. Nick has a wicked sense of humor that dovetails with an equally wicked nasty streak to create some really good stories. I've read Morning Glories trades and have sampled Superior Foes of Spider-Man and Nick's too brief run on the Jimmy Olsen solo series he used to script. Despite his talent, Nick really hasn't caught on to the big time yet. But maybe with the tie in of the movie and the hype of the variant covers for the first issue, maybe Ant Man will push Nick to a bigger audience. I would dare say he would make a strong contender to write Spider-Man if/when Dan Slott chooses to leave.
I do have buried somewhere in my Fortress of Ineptitude a couple of digest reprints of the Irredeemable Ant Man by Robert Kirkman. Those were some straight up messed up comics and I mean that in a very good way. This was with Eric O'Grady while the new series returns the Ant Man helmet to Scott Lang. Still, if you can find that series or those digests, do yourself a favor and read 'em. Really good stuff.
My first exposure to Ant-Man was not in the comics but in the classic Saturday Night Live sketch where Ant-Man portrayed by Garrett Morris explains to the Hulk (John Belushi) that he can shrink down to the size of an ant while retaining his human strength. This leads Hulk to tell the other assembled heroes, "Hey, guys! This is Ant-Man! He has the strength of a human!" Funny stuff!
Here we are, nearly 40 years after that sketch that sacrificed Ant-Man on the altar of comedy, we have a new Ant-Man comic book that'll set you back $5 and a major motion picture starring Ant-Man coming to theaters near you.
It's a crazy world we live in.
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