Scott Lang gets his own solo comic in Marvel's new "Ant-Man" series.(Photo: Marvel Comics)
Marvel Comics' smallest hero is about to become a very big deal.
While movie fans will have to wait until July to watch Ant-Man on the big screen with the first teaser trailer airing tonight during ABC's premiere of Marvel's Agent Carter Scott Lang gets his own solo ongoing comic book beginning on Wednesday with writer Nick Spencer and artist Ramon Rosanas' Ant-Man series.
Spencer's not only psyched to be part of the large Marvel machine gearing up to release the Ant-Man film which stars Paul Rudd as the helmeted title hero but even better, he's getting to write a good guy with a sordid past who's a lot more of an everyman than the likes of fan favorites such as Captain America, Thor and Iron Man.
"Marvel's going to spend millions of dollars telling people who Ant-Man is," the writer adds, "and that's only going to be good news for our book."
Spencer sees the Ant-Man comic as a spiritual successor to his acclaimed run on Superior Foes of Spider-Man, which combined themes of redemption with a strong sense of humor.
His new series, however, has more of a traditional hero's journey, and Spencer gets everyone up to speed quickly in the first issue chronicling Lang's career as a burglar that broke up his marriage, his theft of Hank Pym's Ant-Man suit (which uses the technology of super-shrinking Pym Particles) to help save his ailing daughter, Pym giving him his blessing to keep the outfit and become a hero, and Lang's allegiances with the likes of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four over the years.
Lang's been a part of many team books without having a solo series, and Spencer feels the new comic is a long time coming for a man who was created from the classic, old-school Stan Lee Marvel mold back in 1979.
"What's really interesting about him isn't his powers or his origin it's who he is as a human being," Spencer says of Lang. "The idea of a guy with a checkered past and some very bad habits wanting to be a better man and be a hero for his daughter is very much what attracted me to the character."
Spencer's priority with Ant-Man was reconnecting the foundation of the hero with the rest of the Marvel Universe and reminding folks that he's not Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man who helped found the Avengers back in 1962, "so that they weren't like, 'Hold on, I thought this guy created Ultron?' "
The first Ant-Man appeared in 1962, but Scott Lang has been a part of the Marvel Universe since 1979.(Photo: Marvel Comics)
He also wanted to set up a status quo that put a spotlight on what makes Lang special while also seeing a move to Miami following an adventure involving Iron Man and a gig at Stark Industries as well as a new job and interactions with his teenage daughter, Cassie, and ex-wife, Peggy.
Lang is originally from Coral Gables, Fla., so the move south made sense in terms of continuity, yet Spencer is passionate about expanding the Marvel map and getting characters out of New York City, "where there's a superhero for every block at this point," says the writer.
Plus, Miami's bold primary colors and penchant for art looks like something out of a comic book, according to Spencer, and the port city's history of Mob ties and crime lends itself to superhero storytelling.
The supervillain Taskmaster makes an antagonistic appearance in the third issue, but as soon as Ant-Man No. 2, trouble comes and finds Lang. "He's got some stuff in his history that he'd rather not deal with," Spencer says, "and that goes from the personal in terms of his past romantic relationships to villains he's crossed path with and mistakes he's made in his own career.
"He's got it coming from all sides, really."
Spencer loves Ant-Man's various abilities, from becoming bite-sized to communicating with thousands of ants his biggest challenge lies in coming up with new ways of using those powers, he says. "It really forces you to get creative."
Lang is one of three guys to call themselves Ant-Man, a group that also includes Pym and Eric O'Grady, and the fact that he is a Marvel legacy character comes into play in the new series.
"That has pluses and minuses," Spencer says. "Certainly the other guys who've worn the helmet will be factored into his story here."
There's still a question about if Lang still has some of his own extended family in Coral Gables "Who knows, wait and see," Spencer teases but Cassie plays a key role in Ant-Man and will be in nearly every issue.
Spencer is focusing on the dad at first, but the daughter's own short-lived career as the size-changing Stature will be dealt with sooner than later. (Killed in battle by Doctor Doom five years ago in an issue of Avengers: The Children's Crusade, she was recently resurrected during Marvel's Axis crossover.)
Scott Lang's daughter Cassie plays a major role in the new "Ant-Man" comic book.(Photo: Marvel Comics)
A big part of why Cassie became a hero in the first place was because she wanted to honor her father's legacy after he was thought dead, Spencer says. "Now that he's back, obviously her feelings on those things might change a bit and she might have different thoughts about it."
Although Cassie will be much younger in the Ant-Man movie, the cinematic take on Scott Lang will delve into his path to do right by his family. Spencer is excited to see that, and he also hopes that the film "drives people to want to check him out elsewhere."
Because of the increasing mainstream appeal of the character, Spencer is keeping new readers in mind when crafting Ant-Man as well as Marvel fans who may not have been exposed to Lang over the years.
In thinking about his audience, the writer says, "it's very important that you feel like you're getting in on the ground floor, and you can pick this book up and immediately get invested in his story."
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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2015/01/06/ant-man-comic-book-exclusive-preview/21321837/
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