Page 45 Review by Stephen
"That thing earlier was just the setup. There was no way to beat it."
"You mean like the Kobayashi Maru?"
"The what?"
"From Star Trek."
"Oh, you're of those."
Stark's arched eyebrow there by Ramon Rosanas is priceless. I think he's a John Byrne fan which is no bad place to start especially since Scott Lang's first appearance as Ant-Man was drawn by Byrne and now reprinted in ANT-MAN: SCOTT LANG along with his subsequent team-ups with Iron Man against the Hulk and Hawkeye, Spider-Man and The Avengers en masse against the Taskmaster, all of which will be revisited in this much more modern incarnation.
So yes, this is the Scott Lang Ant-Man who will feature in the forthcoming film, not the original Hank 'Who Even Am I Today?' Pym, he of the multiple identities, mental breakdowns and size issues whose early exploits in TALES TO ASTONISH made me chuckle heartily.
This too made me chortle but I expected no less from the writer of THIEF OF THIEVES VOL 1, EXISTENCE 2.0 / 3.0, FORGETLESS and MORNING GLORIES. He's gone for the HAWKEYE model of self-deprecation on the protagonist's front for Scott is a clot and always has been, even in FF: FANTASTIC FAUX (highly recommended).
He's a failed thief so ex-convict and ex-husband, but his redeeming feature right from the start has always been as a doting dad. Spencer wisely focuses in on this - his relationship with his daughter and understandably less than enthusiastic ex-wife - so that there are as many "Awww" moments as there are in Grant Morrison and Chas Truog's family-centric ANIMAL MAN which itself comes highly commended and in three volumes. See also G. Willow Wilson & Adrian Alphona's current run on MS MARVEL.
Scott's also an ex-corpse, and explaining that gap in your CV is never easy.
Nevertheless - in spite of all the above - he does get an interview with Tony Stark for the job of Stark Industries' Head Of Security. Stark turns him down immediately. Nevertheless does get the chance to hack Stark's security alongside the likes of Prodigy. He fails that too. Nevertheless he decides to do what he does best which is steal the password instead by breaking into Stark's private apartment at night. He gets caught.
"Tony, I, uh… I don't know what to say."
"Hey, if I saw what you just saw for the first time in there, I'd be speechless too."
Oh my god, that really is a knob gag!
Don't worry, it'll all go over the heads of your young ones, but if any doubt at all we've the MARVEL UNIVERSE ANT-MAN DIGEST for your youngest.
What follows is a move to Miami to maintain contact with Scott's daughter Cassie and a decidedly dippy attempt to start up a small business by selling his skills as a thief on a giant billboard:
"Ant-Man Security Solutions: Who knows how to not get your stuff stolen better than the guy who used to steal your stuff?"
Inset is a thumbs-up portrait of Iron Man, declaring: "I'd hire him".
"And no, for the record," Scott says, "I don't think Iron Man will mind. Regardless of what happened, us superheroes gotta stick together!"
Iron Man's alter ego Tony Stark sits still, fingers pressed together, in front of a laptop snapshot of the billboard held aloft by his lawyer: "Sue."
