Ant-Man: Ant-iversary

It may look like a random miniseries commissioned to promote the character’s upcoming movie, but “Ant-iversary” is actually here to celebrate the character’s 60th year of existence.  Which is why we have four generations of Ant-Men tackling their own troubles while also getting ensnared in a cross-time caper.  So gasp in amazement as Hank Pym’s movie date with Janet Van Dyne gives way to a team-up between his most fearsome foes.  Glare in disgust as Eric O’Grady contemplates grave robbing to get some more of those sweet, sweet Pym Particles he needs to fuel his shrinking powers.  Tremble as Scott Lang and his daughter Cassie transport an imprisoned Ultron to be shrunk down and hidden away before things go wrong.  And let your eyes go wide in amazement as Zayn Asghar, the Ant-Man of the future, works with his predecessors to stop the threat of… well, that would be telling.

This miniseries was illustrated by Tom Reilly and written by Al Ewing.  No points for guessing which of those two served as my main reason for picking this up, though both make this an anniversary worth remembering.  Ewing does his best to channel the writing style of the various eras (yes, even the future) to a fun extent and the stories are full of clever “How are they going to get out of this now?” situations appropriate to each character.  Reilly is also capable of channeling the different styles of the eras in question.  He’s particularly good at making the style of Pym’s era look retro without looking “old,” and channeling “Irredeemable Ant-Man” artist Phil Hester for O’Grady’s story.

It would just be a serviceable story if that was all this comic has to offer.  What makes it truly enjoyable are the details the creators invest in each story.  Ewing actually finds four different ant-agonists to team up against Pym from previous Marvel stories.  We also get to see O’Grady bugging Zayn for information on how “Lost” turns out in his era.  There’s even a two-page spread that illustrates how the villain of the story conquered the Marvel Universe and was subsequently disposed of, complete with footnotes referencing future event comics.  You can see that Ewing and Reilly really went the extra mile here when they didn’t need to, and that’s what makes this an anniversary story worth celebrating.