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Ant-Man #2 Review: A Case For Second Chances

By Nick Tylwalk

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If things weren’t going right for you as a super hero, would you be tempted to slide to the other side of the law? What if it was in a way that no one would really know, essentially a victimless crime?

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Not too many super hero comics tackle this question, but Ant-Man #2 does. It’s a fitting place for this kind of exploration because Scott Lang already has a checkered past, and as we’ve seen, things rarely go right for him.

Even when they do, at least relatively speaking, there’s usually a catch. Nick Spencer gives us one of those situations here, as well as a super villain fight that’s played mostly for laughs thanks to a case of mistaken identity. And since Scott has been the beneficiary of second chances more than once (taken literally that makes no sense, I know), he even tries to do the same for someone else.

Oh wait, there are actually two fight scenes in this issue, including one that is with a character I just assumed was an obscure one from Marvel history. Props to Spencer and Ramon Rosanas, who gets to show off a bit more of his action chops, for making him up. Or maybe it, as the case may be. Also, the next issue might give Lang a bit more than he can handle if the person on the last page turns out to be an antagonist.

This issue might not have been quite as much pure joy from beginning to end as the debut, but that’s only because you’re expecting it to be fun, which it is. I’m just hoping this book doesn’t get derailed too badly by Secret Wars, because I don’t remember seeing Miami on Battleworld …

SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT!

For  a reason unknown to him, Ant-Man is in a tuzzle with a villain in a bear suit named Grizzly. Turns out the guy is simply upset at what another Ant-Man did to him during the Siege — and it definitely couldn’t be Scott, because he was dead at the time.

We flash back to see Scott trying to get a bank loan to start his own company, Ant-Man Security Solutions. He tries demonstrating to the bank officers how vulnerable he is by cutting the power and disabling all their safeguards, but that only releases the Midasbot that’s down in the vaults.

Who is Midasbot, you might say? A Nazi robot with serious strength and the ability to spit out gold, which is how the bank makes so much money, apparently. Ant-Man tries bargaining to get the loan if he stops the robot, but when it starts threatening innocent civilians, it forces his hand. After luring Midasbot back into one of the vaults, Ant-Man is able to take it apart from the inside pretty easily.

Standing with tons of money and the security systems still down (because he disabled them!), Scott briefly considers taking enough money to help start his business and get a nice home, but he says he wants to be someone Cassie can look up to. Surprisingly, Mrs. Morgenstern, who appears to be in charge at the bank, says she’ll invest in his start-up as a 50-50 partner. She also ominously reveals she was the one who trapped the robot in the vault in the first place.

That night, Scott sneaks back into the bank to return the money he took; he justified that “loan” because the money came from Nazi gold. He gets a storefront and a billboard for his new business, and we return to the present to find him eating lunch with Grizzly. The villain is distraght when he finds out he was actually seeking Eric O’Grady, who is now either dead or an evil robot. Scott offers the directionless bear-man a job with his new company, figuring he could use the muscle, as long as he isn’t planning on “revenge-murdering anyone else.” Always a good idea to ask that of prospective employees, no matter what HR says.

In the final scene, Ant-Man gets his first call from a prospective client, but it’s from the Taskmaster, who has him in the sights of his rifle …

Favorite Moment: Scott’s billboard has a hilarious picture of the Superior Iron Man giving two thumbs up and saying, “I’d hire him!” Ant-Man assures the reader that Iron Man won’t mind, but when Tony Stark sees it, he has only one word for his employee: “Sue.”

Final Thought: Spencer and Rosanas are off to a great start here. I think this can fill the void in my comic-reading life that will exist when Mark Waid and Chris Samnee wrap up their Daredevil run and Matt Fraction and David Aja finish up on Hawkeye. Though truth be told, this book has more humor than either of those.

Next: Previously ... Ant-Man #1 review

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