Customer Reviews

Irredeemable Ant-Man - Volume 1: Low-Life (v. 1)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Take a complete jerk, make him a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and then give him an Ant-Man suit, and what happens?

The answer is: THIS BOOK, and Robert Kirkman carries through with this premise very, very well.

At first, I thought Eric O'Grady, the man who eventually becomes the irredeemable Ant-Man would be completely unrelatable, and, just a giant jerk. Well. . . he IS a complete jerk, but the strange thing is that I found myself sympathizing with this guy. He may be selfish, and he may be greedy, but at the core of his character is just an average guy who's trying to make a way in life. There's a chilling repetition of panels that made me feel so sorry for him. The characterization is incredibly deft.

Everything is plotted very well, from Eric's life as a SHIELD agent, to his experiences with the Ant-Man suit, to the death of his best friend, and then his adventures as the Ant-Man. There's a great style of humor in the book. For example, SHIELD agents have to train to say "Blast!" instead of an "F***!", because they're going to be out there in the public with field work. There's also a great talking ant who appears in the beginning of every issue to recap the story for us. That ant is fantastic.

All in all, this is a great unconventional superhero book. If you're looking for a laugh with insightful and relatable characters, something that deviates from the norm of blockbuster comics and does it well, then this is for you.

A funny and different "hero". The new Antman basically stole the costume and then misuses it. Among the best moments is how he uses his powers to hit on women or spy on them naked in the shower. The kind of stuff a lot of real guys would probably do if they had those powers.

For the light overall tone, this Antman really is irredeemable as his actions help get his best friend killed and seriously injure another former friend. In some ways, that takes one out of the overall amusement from his bad boy behaviour, but it's still worth the read especially at the collection price.

This is a fun book, if overrated. The Irredeemable Ant-Man is indeed irredeemable, I'll give him that, but he's also, if amusing, somewhat boring: he doesn't change or grow at all throughout the story, so there's never a point after the first chapter where there's any real question about what he's going to do (which, once he acquires the Ant-Man suit, mostly involves spying on women in the shower). There are a several good moments, one of which that was particularly memorable involving his strength to size ratio and a domestic intervention. Mostly, though this book worked better for me as a sort of superhero Forrest Gump: this little guy getting into trouble, flitting from situation to situation, ending up unseen in other Marvel events. The fact that most of this story was in flashback helped facilitate this.

So the book is fun, but it's not without its flaws. The digest-sized binding occasionally made it difficult to read dialogue too close to the spine. Also, the art was serviceable but not impressive, and there wasn't much sense of Ant-Man's scale. From panel to panel it seemed to change: he'd be nearly the size of a shower head, and then the next panel be smaller than an ant (or are helicarrier ants just gigantic? If he's smaller than an ant, why not show him that way? If he's an inch or two tall, how is it possible more people don't see him?

Such things aside, this is a good book, fun and amusing and recommended to most fans of Marvel Comics.

I bought this on a whim, interested by the premise. Someone who isn't a villian, but not a hero either, in possession of super-human abilities (in this case, a new and improved Ant-Man prototype suit).

It definately did not disappoint at all. It was very interesting to follow the low-level agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and much more interesting to follow the story of someone we aren't rooting for. Eric O'Grady may not be evil, but he's still scum. What I love about this series is it is aptly titled. Eric O'Grady is completely irredeemable in his actions, and you can't feel sorry for him. But you're not exactly rooting for his opposition because they aren't perfect either. For a trade this has a great price and I recommend that you pick up the first paperback. Robert Kirkman has outdone himself and I can't wait to continue with this series.

Name: The Irredeemable Ant-Man Volume 1: Lowlife
Publisher: Marvel
Writers: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Phil Hester (pencils), Ande Parks (inks), Bill Crabtree, Val Staples (colors)
Collects: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #1-6
Price: $9.99

Being a fan of other Kirkman works, I requested this book through an inter-library loan to check it out. I was a bit surprised and disappointed to see it when it arrived, as it was the new "digest" size (about the same size as most Manga books), but it all reads the same, right? I would not be at all surprised to see Marvel publish more and more books in this format, though, what with the costs of shipping books on the rise. Anyway, on to the review...

This character is solely a creation of Robert Kirkman, and because he is in good graces with Marvel right now, he was given the opportunity to try to launch a new comic featuring a new type of hero - an unlikeable hero. Although I found the story to be pretty good and definitely entertaining, evidently it did not reach a wide enough audience, as the book was cancelled after only two initial storylines.

Without giving too much away, what I'll tell you is that the central character is a lazy, self-centered, low-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent by the name of Eric O'Grady. During a fouled-up guard duty assignment, he and his partner discover a new suit of Ant-Man armor that has been created by and is being tested under the authority of Hank Pym. They end up accidentally "stealing" the suit and later Eric ends up keeping it. The story takes placed over the course of several months, and is told in a combination of flashbacks and present-day scenes, and is narrated (in places) by a talking ant. The choice of chronological presentation didn't do much for me, but the story was, thankfully, entertaining throughout.

Eric really is a pretty unlikeable prick, and a coward as well. He ends up using the suit to escape his problems, to pick up women and for voyeurism. Despite the detestable nature of the central character, I did find myself rooting for him. Kirkman really gets you to keep hoping the guy will turn his life around for the better, at some point, which is a good compliment to the strength of the writing. Kirkman also throws in some typical humorous moments, which also added to the enjoyment of the reading. Another strength of the writing was how Kirkman thoroughly embeds the events of this storyline into the continuity of the Marvel universe at the time the story takes place. Though these events are not central to the story of Eric O'Grady, Kirkman ties this character into the Marvel universe nicely by showing us Eric's reactions to other S.H.I.E.L.D. happenings by giving us glimpses of Eric's reactions to stuff like Wolverine's capture and de-programming and the assault on and destruction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier by Hydra and Elektra and her army of re-animated heroes and villains (events that all took place a couple years back in the Wolverine storyline "Enemy of the State").

Art by Phil Hester is pretty solid all around. His character designs (the new Ant-Man suit in particular) are all really nice, and he does an equally fine job whether drawing actions scenes or facial expressions. Colors by Crabtree (Kirkman's accomplice in his work on Invincible) are also nicely done.

All-in-all I have to give this book a pretty solid recommendation. It's not your typical book, which I think only adds to the appeal. I enjoyed the story and will definitely be looking to read the other trade as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Writing: 8/10
Artwork: 7/10
Cool Factor: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

First, I must say that I do recommend this book. But as other reviewers have mentioned, Robert Kirkman's first volume of The Irredeemable Ant-Man tends to be a bit over rated.

I did not find the writing to be as funny as I was led to believe it would be, based on other reviews; though, it does have some memorable moments.

No, if I were to recommend this on only one feature of the story, it would be Kirkman's characterization of Eric O'Grady, the Ant-Man. I imagined that I would find the character a kind of incorrigible scoundrel, whose bawdy acts would would elicit a kind of smirking disapproval from me. Well, I was wrong. Kirkman creates a character so thoroughly loathsome that I found little pleasure at all in reading his exploits.

In Eric O'Grady, Kirkman has created a creature so detestable, the best phrase I can think of to describe him is "[...]". If I had to provide another word, it would be "coward". He is the kind of slippery, lying, a-hole who if your sister, or cousin, or niece were to end up dating, you'd never be able to prove to them that he was the biggest jerk on the planet until it was too late. And even at that point, he would simply sweet talk his way out of any consequences, and never EVER admit any responsibility for his actions.

This is the kind of piece of crap that Eric O'Grady, the Irredeemable Ant-Man, is. Just prepare yourself for it before you read this comic. Robert Kirkman should win an award for so perfectly capturing the heart of a scumbag in this little collection. He's done a really remarkable job here.

This is an entertaining book about an amoral, selfish guy who stumbles across a superhero suit waiting to be stolen, and goes for it, becoming the Ant-Man, but using his powers for lame purposes, like scamming on women.

I agree with other reviewers who had said that the idea of the book is better than its execution... Part of the problem lies with the shifting tone of the main character... Author Robert Kirkman seems to be laying the groundwork for making Eric the Ant-Man into a real hero -- he is outwardly portrayed as a self-centered jerk, but he also has heroic impulses, at one point saving SHIELD Director Nick Fury's life, as well as that of a SHIELD agent who is trying to arrest him. While this makes his character more sympathetic, it undercuts the idea that this is a super-dude who, while not actually a villain, is actually a jerk. Also, Eric just doesn't really feel like enough of a jerk even though he does cheesy, juvenile things like use his size-changing power to sneak into women's bathrooms and watch them naked. He seems more amoral clueless than immoral and unlikeable.

All in all, though, this is an entertaining book, and after I finished the first volume, I was instantly ready to pick up the second book and see what happens next. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

i picked this book up on the strength of robert kirkman's writing and the buzz surrounding it from the friendly folks at my local comic shop. this book was a favorite of several people i talked to, and it was one of two comics i've ever bought where the clerk offered a money-back guarantee if i was disappointed. and like with the previous one, i admit i was at least a little disappointed. but it's hard not to be somewhat disappointed in cases like this where the book is hyped as much as it was for me.

the high concept is a good one. some jerk gets ahold of superpowers and abuses them rather than becoming a superhero. it's competently written, often amusing, and the ability to shrink lends itself nicely to mischief. the art by phil hester pretty distinctive, but it's very muddy, and the reduced-size digest format doesn't do it any favors. my only real complaint about the writing was the reveal at the end of the first chapter and the subsequent explanation in the second. the last page of the first chapter would have been much more dramatic if all the background about how ant-man ended up in the suit had been revealed beforehand. there's a very dramatic scene (and panel specifically) that would have been extremely powerful if it had immediately preceded the last-page reveal of ant-man. instead, the explanation that follows in chapter two is rather anticlimactic.

so if you've heard any hype about this book, try your best to ignore it; kirkman fans tend to be rabid. but there's definitely something here. it's a nice book that suffers from somewhat muddy art and a significant missed opportunity at the beginning.