Irredeemable Ant-Man - Volume 1: Low-Life

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 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.

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.

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.

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.