Customer Reviews

Irredeemable Ant-Man - Volume 2: Small-Minded (v. 2)

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

 

 

Eric O'Grady (AKA the Irredeemable Ant-Man) continues to amaze me.

His lies are remarkably masterful, and he always gets away with them, in the end. If he were to use his skills for malice, he would be an astounding super-villain, but he doesn't. He only uses his powers to get by in life, and that is strangely relatable.

Here, he uses his talents to join a super-hero group and even garner a new love interest. Later, he gets caught up in World War Hulk, and hilarity ensues when he fights the not-so-Jolly Green Giant. Concluding the book is his finally getting caught by his arch-nemesis. . .

At the heart of these stories, however, is Eric O'Grady's utter character. This is a man who constantly lies, but he only does it to get by. Particularly interesting is the fact that Eric in this book admits all his faults. He admits who he is, and he wants to be a better person, but can't. HE CANNOT. This is a man who is helplessly trapped within his character, and that was amazingly insightful to read.

The humor continues as well. When Eric befriends the Black Fox, they have a hilarious pastime together. Superhero-ing to Eric continues to be nothing but "fun and awesome," and it is just so amusing to see him shirk all responsibility for the sake of his well-being.

A great book if you're looking for some laughs, a great book if you want strong characters, a great book PERIOD.

Name: The Irredeemable Ant-Man Volume 2: Small-Minded
Publisher: Marvel
Writers: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Phil Hester, Cory Walker (pencils), Ande Parks, Cory Walker (inks), Bill Crabtree, Val Staples, Bill Crabtree (colors)
Collects: The Irredeemable Ant-Man #7-12
Price: $9.99

After enjoying the first volume of this series, I definitely was looking forward to the second installment to be collected. The truly detestable, self-centered "hero," the funny situations, and the cornucopia of Marvel heroes and villains that made the first collection so much fun to read were all (thankfully) back again in this second volume. Eric O-Grady still lies like a dog, still carries on his voyeuristic adventures is ladies' bathrooms, and still hides in the face of danger. But you know what I enjoyed the most in this series? The character development taking place in the central character. By the end of the book, Eric is definitely a bit more likeable, and shows a lot of promise for the future. I don't want to spoil this for any other readers, but I will say that the guy starts to show some potential and is starting to make the right choices. He really wants to do better for himself and for the people he really does care about (however few that number is) and he's giving it a good try. The last page of the book has a blurb about seeing him showing up in the pages of Avengers: The Initiative. I hope this is true (I haven't yet read any of that series, but I intend to) because I do like this character and I would like to see more development, there.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this series as much as the first, if not more. I like the new character design, as it is completely different from the old (read - cheesy) Ant-man costume, and much more powerful and utilitarian. Eric's exploits in the book include spying on Ms. Marvel while she showers, fighting the Hulk from the inside out, falling in love, joining Damage Control, and befriending an old C-list villain. All of these scenes are capably illustrated by Cory Walker (of Invincible fame and a good friend of Robert Kirkman) and Phil Hester (of Green Arrow fame) and nicely colored by Bill Crabtree (also of Invincible fame and a pal of Kirkman) and Val Staples. The pieces of this book just fall together rather nicely, and that is a very rare thing. It's too bad this series was cancelled, as it was a hoot to read and I can tell Kirkman was enjoying himself while writing it. On a positive note, the series' short duration makes it easy to read and absorb the entire history of this character.

Give this book a try if you like fun stories or are a fellow fan of Robert Kirkman. You will not be disappointed. And, at only ten dollars, it's a good buy, too.

Writing: 9/10
Artwork: 8/10
Cool Factor: 9/10
Overall: 8.6/10

Ant-Man is one of the best things I've ever read. Eric O'Grady really has a personality that makes the book worth reading. I really enjoyed this series all the way through and I look forward to following the adventures of Ant-Man in the Initiative and the Thunderbolts.

Ant-Man is one of the best things I've ever read. Eric O'Grady really has a personality that makes the book worth reading. I really enjoyed this series all the way through and I look forward to following the adventures of Ant-Man in the Initiative and the Thunderbolts.

Robert Kirkman is got to be my favorite writer right now everything I've read by him (Battle Pope, Walking Dead, Marvel Zombie's) is just awsome and this is no exception!

This follows up the first book were we learn the new Ant-Man is on the run for stealing Pym's new Ant-Suit. This takes place during what I think is called the civil war marvel story arc, I don't know cause I never read any of that (only picked this up cause of Kirkman and the idea of a crappy superhero), but not knowing any of this never took away me enjoying this book! But now I'm going to start to read the Avengers Inititive just to see what happens to him.

If you liked vol 1 I think you'll like this a little better. It's got everything that makes Kirkman a good writer great character development, action, humor, a little emotion and a couple gross moments!

In the second volume of "The Irredeemable Ant-Man," the series winds down (darn) and our anti-hero goes through some inevitable character growth (oh, well) and his career goes in some unexpected directions. But along the way, he gets into all kinds of trouble, makes friends with several seeming low-lifes and the Marvel Universe is given several cheerful, teasing tweaks. This is a fun, enjoyable book, worth checking out. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

The second (and final) collection of Kirkman's mature Ant-Man retelling does its best to bring the saga of Marvel's most unlikable superhero to a successful conclusion. Without using a single zombie, Kirkman continues to showcase an encyclopedic (the Black Fox!) and tongue-in-cheek approach to the Marvel Universe. Ant-Man provided a much-needed counterpoint to the epic struggles of the mainstream titles, and I'm sorry it is gone. Hester's art wouldn't work in many comics, but here it does a good job complementing the (dark) humor of Kirkman's script.

Cory Walker's art is the only saving grace for me in this book. His stylish art helps out Kirkman's mostly tedious writing. Don't get me wrong, Kirkman's Invincible is a great, fun read but Ant-Man feels like a tired premise. The title says it all. This Ant-Man is indeed irredeemable, which is adds to the character's detriment. He doesn't redeem himself. The story plods along and Phil Hester's artwork for most of the book doesn't help matters.