ANT-MAN: LAST DAYS
“” (22 pages)
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
Colors: Jordan Boyd
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Covers by: Mark Brooks; Q Hayashida
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
This is the absolute final issue of ANT-MAN. No, for real. The sub-title is self-explanatory. Keep in mind that the Incursion has come. No one can prevent it. jk…Rowling!! Scott Lang will reappear when All-New All-Different Marvel takes off in October as the ASTONISHING ANT-MAN!!!
Scott finds himself in the most embarrassing of situations. He’s wedged pretty solidly underneath the massively obese Slug, crimelord of Miami. Scott has gone back to pilfering but sees it as a Robin Hood act since this one-ton butterball is a bad guy. How did he find himself in this situation?
Glad you asked! Scott visits his financial backer Mary Morgenstern at Valhalla Villas, a retirement home. She is the proprietor. She scolds Ant-Man for his failure at his security business. Scott recaps events of the previous five issues. He pleads for a second chance when she throws something completely unexpected at him: she is hiring him to retrieve a precious artifact belonging to her.
Back to the present. News of the Incursion is broadcast based on the claims of the Cloaked Clairvoyant. After finally setting himself free from the bulbous lawbreaker, he dodges bullets, punches a few goons, and makes his escape on a jet-ski. Scott delivers the goods to Mary. She informs him that it is an Asgardian object. He begins to put two and two together given her mysterious nature. She drops another surprise on him: a Golden Age costume. He recognizes it and looking at an old photo realizes she was Miss Patriot!! After hanging up her threads, she hit the convention circuit until interest petered out. The retirement home serves as a dwelling for the heroes (and villains) of old [no pun intended!] to live out their days in blissful remembrance.
Mary assembles all the senior citizens. Scott is still completely oblivious to her intentions. Mrs. Morgenstern (real name Morgan) uses the magical relic to rejuvenate all the residents. Miami sees an unexpected resurgence of characters from a by-gone era. Mary finds the notion of parading around in skin-tight outfits to be ridiculous and outdated but she and all the others paved the way for the modern greats: the Avengers and the FF, to name a few. She even praises Scott on his established career even if he disagrees. Mary decided to remain elderly since the past was too much to bear the first and only time. Third bombshell: she tells Scott that she is the Cloaked Clairvoyant that has the media abuzz. Mary assures Scott that the Incursion is imminent and that finality awaits them all.
Scott pays a visit to his ex-wife Peggy. He desperately wants to see his daughter Cassie. Peggy puts him in his place since he has made zero effort to communicate since her time in the hospital. Even though he is at a loss for words regarding his urgency, Peggy bursts his bubble by telling him that Cassie went on a school excursion to Atlanta.
The best way to celebrate the end of existence – drink til you drop! Instead, Scott hits a nightclub. He immediately regrets his choice of venue. He’s about to depart when he spots the Beetle. He tries to take her down but she blasts him.
She mocks his attempted arrest and suggests he party like no tomorrow since it is literally the last night on Earth. They make googly-eyes on the dance floor, suck back a few, zero in for the eventual kiss, and eventually do the horizontal mambo!!
There is no morning after regret, well, not on her part. Scott contemplates the speech Cap gave him when he became a full-fledged Avenger – never sleep with the enemy!! PPPFFFTTT!! That sure as hell didn’t stick!
Beetle knows that Ant-Man never bagged a hotter woman. She muses in keeping him on the regular. Scott thinks that this is the best way to have a proper send-off. His thought remains incomplete. Fade to white…
Wayback playback: Miss Patriot! Patriot! Golden Girl! Dr. Fear! Leopard Girl! Thunderer! Human Top! Sun Girl! These are the first-timers from Timely Comics, later Atlas, and eventually Marvel.
80’s weekend: This decade was definitely Scott’s childhood.
- The Corey Hart song is “Sunglasses at Night” since Slug always sports shades.
- The “Crockett and Tubbs vibe” is relating to Miami Vice, quintessential TV show!!
- Cocoon – movie directed by Ron Howard. An alien object (of the same name) makes extremely old people very young again.
Knocking the 90’s: Mary seems a little bitter that she faded to glory as the sands of time sifted more quickly – “If your name didn’t have ‘blood’ in it somewhere, or you weren’t wearing giant shoulder pads, nobody cared.”
I know who you are/I am/you are! Scott is sarcastically referred to as Dolphin-Man when he is ‘cornered’ on the yacht. He responds with his own barb: Contingency Preparedness-Man. Beetle mockingly calls him Ant-Dad.
I’m in Miami, trick! EDM (electronic dance music for all you whippersnappers) and Axe® body spray permeate the city culture.
Nick Spencer’s humour is so irreverent. Only he can pull off the right amount of self-degradation, harsh criticism, and backhanded compliments :-D Ant-Man may acknowledge his off-scale super-hero status but others sees redeemable qualities. Scott is no all-American dad but his efforts remain noble despite the various fumbles. Mr. Spencer gives a deserving nod to the legitimately established originators of yesteryear. He also sets up the next stage in Scott’s screwed-up life: siding with criminals. Glad to see that SUPERIOR FOES of SPIDER-MAN doesn’t remain a footnote in recent history.
Ramon Rosanas highlights Ant-Man’s astonishing abilities as he leaps over bullets and delivers a pint-size punch. He is far too kind to the Slug who should be ginormous in his spread. The same applies to Mary Morgenstern. She has aged very gracefully for an eighty-year-old(?) woman. The funniest scene, bordering on kinky/bizarre/unusual is Scott keeping his helmet most likely before and after doing the deed with the “female Beetle”.
Jordan Boyd travels through time as he splashes a completely different colour set for the costumes of yore. The mishaps are appropriately indicated in dark tones whereas the good stuff comes out bright.
Travis Lanham spices up the captions by adding ants. This is extremely clever! They diminish in number as Scott’s day goes from bad to worse until that ultimate score >_<
As stated earlier, this now completes the first (mini) run of the series. There were a quintet plus the annual plus this done-in-one. That amounts to lucky number seven. No way in hell Scott would be left in comic book limbo. Ants have six legs and two antennæ. Hence, I give this ‘last call’ an 8 out of 10.
