Marvel Pick Of The Week – April 20, 2016

The Marvel Pick of the Week for April 20, 2016. Spoilers lie ahead, so beware!

Pick Of The Week: Astonishing Ant-Man #7 by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas

Scott Lang is in trouble. Again. His daughter has gotten mixed up in the fight between Hench (Uber but for hiring super villains) and Lackey (Lyft but for hiring super villains), and getting to the bottom of it is going to involve a throw-down against the new Plant Man, a tough meeting with insubordinate employees Grizzly and Machinesmith, and a serious reevaluation of who his daughter really is.

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I’m not sure if Scott Lang’s reinvention from Science-Guy-With-Larceny-Past to hilarious Sad-Sack-Charmer was Nick Spencer’s idea or Paul Rudd’s, but it’s genius. It has fit perfectly within Spencer’s strengths – the lovable amoral losers in Superior Foes Of Spider-Man were written with perfect pitch, and both volumes of Ant-Man have been beautiful extensions from this tone. What this book does a little better is to appreciate shrink-powered Lang’s capacity for growth. The first part of the issue has him working out how to be a grown-up and maintain a civil relationship with Darla Deering even though they don’t date anymore. The later parts involve his decisions about working with traitorous employees because adults don’t get to just burn bridges when their feelings get hurt. I don’t know that he will suddenly have a terrific handle on psychological boundaries, but it’s fascinating to watch him stumble toward that in a way that Boomerang and Shocker never could. Even the part where he sees that his daughter has made a huge mistake – he’s going to save her, he knows that without question, and he can accept his role in her decisions but still says, “What have you done?” in a way that makes it clear he knows she still has the final say in what she’s doing. Letting a child grow up is a skill many parents don’t develop; whether Ant-Man gets good at it or not, Nick Spencer is sure to make the attempt compelling, and Ramon Rosanas’s art is going to nail every comedic beat along the way.

Honorable Mentions:

Captain America: Sam Wilson #8, because I think Kobik’s plan is pretty good if we work off the boiled-down version: “Give them a town the could live in and have nice lives in. And doggies!”

New Avengers #10, for a final page that warms the heart of any New Mutants fan.

Howard The Duck #6, for this insane little squirrel from the Weapon-Plus program (the gang calls him Wolverteeny).

Catch up on previous Picks here!