Ant in Captivity
Written By:
Nick Spencer
Art By:
Ramon Rosanas, Jordan Boyd
Lettered By:
VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover Price:
#3.99
On Sale Date: August 31, 2016
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE
BOTTOM**
When I was a kid, I went to camp for a week at the
end of the summer, on this island called Shelter Island that is all the way on
the East end of Long Island. This was more of a secular humanist camp, it
wasn’t about surviving in the woods or archery or skinning a bear or any of the
stuff people normally equate with summer camp, but it still put me
uncomfortably close to nature. I remember one year there were these giant,
furry red and black ants marching along the side of the gravel path to the
dining hall, and though I didn’t interact with them (I am not suicidal!) I have
been in mortal fear of ever seeing them again. Well, thanks to the internet and
having to review a copy of the Astonishing
Ant-Man, I did a search for these big, hairy ants, and found out they are
actually wasps, but commonly known as Velvet Ants. The females are wingless,
doubtlessly what I saw at camp, and don’t normally attack people but are
equipped with a very painful sting capability. They also squeak when
threatened. So now I am like ten times more terrified of these bugs I saw when
I was seven years old than I was yesterday. But Astonishing Ant-Man isn’t too scary, so let’s take a look at issue
#11 together! Shall we?
It’s a good thing that this is the first issue of Astonishing
Ant-Man I’m reviewing, since it’s the end of an action-packed arc that fairly
well defines the series! So after failing at a heist of purple industrialist Darren
Cross, which resulted in a failed rescue attempt from Cross’ office by Scott’s
daughter Cassie and some employees of Scott’s security company, Scott is in
prison. He’s being given some medicine that nullifies his Pym Particles, so he
can’t change size or command ants anymore. At the hospital, Darren Cross’ son
Augustine is convalescing after being completely wrecked, albeit accidentally,
by Crossfire’s plasma gun during the fracas that ensued in saving Scott. And
look who shows up, but Crossfire—Darren’s cousin, actually—and Darren greets
him with the traditional handshake of grabbing Crossfire by the throat and
slamming him against the wall. Crossfire says he’s got a gift for Darren—the
driver of Ant-Man’s heist van (which is actually called the Ant Van), Hijacker,
currently being held against his will against a palm tree, which he is probably
very against. Hijacker immediately blabs some stuff about Ant-Man’s lab, which
intrigues Cross…but we’ll have to see why in a future issue.
On an island where pterodactyls just fly around and
stuff, Power Broker, the guy who began a supervillain-for-hire app that sort of
started this whole mess, is sweet-talking his investors who are having none of
it. Seems they invested billions in him, and he’s squandered everything. This
doesn’t seem to bother Power Broker, who goes to sip his margarita when Cassie
Lang, who was all tiny on his drink straw, goes big, knocks him out, and
carries him back to Miami. At prison, Scott gets some visitors: his old
employees who sold him out to Darren Cross, Ms. Morgenstern who funded his
whole enterprise, and Darla aka Ms. Thing, who got Scott busted by not
explaining that drone cameras were following her every move, including the
illegal ones, for a reality show. Which is now doing great numbers and has
turned Scott into a television star…though if he has the lifespan of most
reality show stars, then his tenure is doubtlessly over already. In the end, we see all of this is being told
to Scott’s lawyer, the Sensational She-Hulk!
So uh, this was like five pounds of gumballs in a
ten-pound bag. Which, by the way, is too many gumballs. Unless you’re a
distributor or something. Point is, not a lot happened in this issue, but it
did serve as a good wrap-up for people who had been reading the series
regularly. So I hope you were! Otherwise, this is an awful book to jump in on,
and it has a ton of characters with story-relevant back stories, so don’t
bother. The whole thing is reminiscent of the Superior Foes of Spider-Man, and
that’s not a bad thing. Looks like a new arc starts with issue #12…either that,
or the series ends. In any case, I’ll see you then! Probably.
Bits and
Pieces:
6/10
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