Ant-Man #5, by Nick Spencer (writer), Ramon Rosanas
(artist), Jordan Boyd (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer), Idette Winecoor
(designer) – I was going to admonish Scott that riding a white blood cell
wasn’t sanitary, but I guess something that destroys bacteria would be about as
sanitary as it gets. So maybe I should be warning the white blood cell that
Scott’s not sanitary.
Darren Cross is back among the living, and was pretty happy
stomping Ant-Man, until his son mentioned that Cassie Lang was right there on
an operating table. At which point Darren decides to kill her first, but Scott
manages to prevent that by getting smashed through a wall. Things are looking
bad for Scott until the Pym Particles in Cross’ new heart cause him to shrink,
and have to be saved by his needy, idiot son. Seriously, Augustine is more
desperate for Daddy’s approval than Harry Osborn was, and that’s pretty damn
needy. Anyway, Dr. Sondheim got one of those extra hearts Cross had ready into
Cassie, but her body’s rejecting it, so it’s into the bloodstream for Scott,
and he saves his daughter. At the hospital, Sondheim averts the wrath of Peggy
by telling her Scott saved Cassie from a myocardial infarction, by getting in
touch with Sondheim after Cassie called him for help. Peggy is so terribly
grateful, she actually encourages Scott to spend more time with Cassie. So
naturally Scott gets all, “This is my fault! I am a danger to my loved ones!”,
and resolves to bail.
We’ve got at least until July before anything happens with this,
and that’s assuming that Annual is going to follow up on this, rather than be
either a movie tie-in or some Secret Wars junk. So I’m going to hope this is
one of Spencer’s fake outs, like the ones he was so fond of in Superior Foes of
Spider-Man. You know the ones. “Oh, we aren’t really here for Silvermane’s
head!”, or “That isn’t really Boomerang getting his ass beat”. Scott seriously
just opened his business and hired two employees, so now he’s going to pack up
and move to Montana? Come on.
Real talk here: If Scott was to blame for what happened to
Cassie, it was either because he rescued Dr. Sondheim from Cross the first
time, which is how Cross wound up dead the first time, or because he tried to
remain an active part of her life while continuing to be a superhero part of
the time, which is how she got exposed to all the Pym Particles. But if he
hadn’t saved Sondheim, Cassie would have died anyway, and who knows what Darren
Cross would have gotten up to. As for the Particles, it wasn’t like Scott knew
that was happening, and Cassie has been risking her neck for years as a
superhero. Ultimately, while Augustine might have liked the symmetry of using
Scott Lang’s daughter to revive his father, it was the Pym Particles that made
her the choice. Sticking it to Scott was just a bonus.
During the fight with Cross, Scott makes a Zoolander reference, then says Cross would have missed that. Would that be true? That movie is 14 years old now, and I think the gap between Cassie's age in that first story and her current age is smaller than that. She's still in high school now. Oh well, Scott was dead for awhile, he can be forgiven if he got a few things mixed up.
Rocket Raccoon #11, by Skottie Young (writer), Jake Parker
(artist), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (color artist), Jeff Eckleberry (letterer) –
Now, THAT might be enough guns that even Cable thinks it’s overkill. Hmm. Nah,
probably still not enough.
Young and Parker opt to skip Rocket’s heist of the Book of
Halfworld entirely, and jump right into his escape, involving a motorcycle that
turns into a rocketpack, and a lot of musing by our hero about how Life
encourages us all not to look back on our pasts, but to keep running. As Rocket
doesn’t know his past, his response is, “Nerts to that,” but he can’t get the
case open to read the book. Which is when the other raccoon, the one we saw
around the end of issue 4 shows up. Her name is Captain Sale, and she isn’t
Blackjack O’Hare or anyone else posing as a member of Rocket’s species. She has
the key to the case, and she’s willing to share, to even let Rocket have first
crack at the book. Which he does, and before he’s finished reading, he decides
he’s finished, period. He leaves the book with Sale, and he and Groot leave, only
to learn that because he didn’t pay his court fees, he’s once again a wanted
felon. So he’s going to jail, but it appears he’s going to bust out just like
he did in the first arc, so no worries.
Well, assuming we’re meant to take the Book of Halfworld as
true, Young is stating that the Mantlo/Mignola mini-series did take place,
based on some of what Rocket mentions reading. Still doesn’t explain why he
doesn’t remember, or why there are other modified raccoons like Sale around.
Also doesn’t tell me whether the Abnett/Lanning stuff persisted, because the
way the Guardians are now, it doesn’t seem likely. I don’t think current
Star-Lord could ever have been a great hero who felt he disgraced himself and
gave up on life, you know? He was just a disgrace, period.
I think this arc got rushed. Skipping the
heist, the quick arrival of Sale, and the fact any differences are put aside
quickly, that Rocket takes one page to read the book and decide this
whole quest was a mistake. It feels like there should have been another issue
in there, but maybe that’s just me thinking issue 12 would have been a logical
endpoint. With the looming presence of Secret Wars and all the changes it’s
bringing, though, I can’t help suspecting it’s to blame. It is possible Young
was trying to make a point. Rocket’s spent a lot of time being defined by his
past, either claiming he was the only member of his species like it was a badge
of honor, to cover up the loneliness and uncertainty he felt about that. Or
he’s running around like a lunatic trying to find the truth about himself, but
in the process making his current situation much worse by pissing off everyone
and everything around him. Of course, it’s easy for someone who already knows
their past, for good or ill, to tell someone who doesn’t, “Don’t worry about
it. Focus on now.” It’s not wrong to want to understand things about yourself.
Though I was never clear on what Rocket actually thought his
past was. Apparently he didn’t think it was anything like the ‘80s mini-series,
but what did he expect? A planet of just intelligent, talking raccoons out
there somewhere? His people were wiped out by the Kree, or the Skrulls? That
they were the product of tampering by the Celestials? That he has a family
waiting patiently for him to return someday? Did he honestly believe his life
was mundane before he got mixed up in criminal enterprises/saving the universe?
In the initial motorbike scene, was Parker doing an Akira
homage with the bike and Rocket’s clothes? I suspect so, but I’ve never gotten
around to watching Akira, so it’s all kind of second hand knowledge, from
pictures on the Internet. And lots of people have spiffy red motorcycles. I did
enjoy some the subtle body language Parker works into the issue. Rocket’s slackjawed
expression when Sale responds to his ‘Nah, I’m not buying this time,’ with,
‘I’m afraid I don’t understand. Have I tried to sell you something?’ The panel
before, Rocket’s standing very straight, with his gun arm extended fully
towards Sale. But at Sale’s response, he moves closer, his shoulders seem
drooped a bit, and the gun isn’t wielded so menacingly. Rocket’s sure it’s
another fake, but the response throws him some, and he hasn’t switched fully to
the anger he’ll show in the next few panels. Also, when Sale offers Rocket the
key, there’s something slightly sad about the set of her eyes I can’t quite
parse. I think she’s disappointed at how hostile Rocket’s being, maybe also a
little tired now that her search is over.
Also, I’d like to compliment Eckleberry on the sound effect
for the rocketpack ignition on pages 4-5. The way it follows the contours of
the exhaust trail, and the size of the letters mimics the size of the exhaust.
So the initial “BOOOOOOOOM” is large, as the rocket initial ignites, and then
the letters shrink and move a little farther apart for the “oooooomshhhh” as it
settles into a smoother cycle. I’m not describing it well, but I liked it at
any rate.
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