Astonishing Ant-Man - Issue #13 + Whole Series Discussion *spoilers*

[penthotal]

She actually debuted in Captain America, during Ed Brubacker's run.

Was the one in Cap Tombstone daughter? Otherwise she was another person with the same identity, when I read Superior Foes (some time ago at this point) I was under the impression she was a new character (not the first women to be the Beetle but another women being the Beetle)

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Was the one in Cap Tombstone daughter? Otherwise she was another person with the same identity, when I read Superior Foes (some time ago at this point) I was under the impression she was a new character (not the first women to be the Beetle but another women being the Beetle)

Elizabeth Vaughn was a Beetle (MK II armor) in the Thunderbolts army. Leila Davis was a Beetle (MK III tank armor) before Vaughn also in the Thunderbolts.

[ian0delond]

Was the one in Cap Tombstone daughter? Otherwise she was another person with the same identity, when I read Superior Foes (some time ago at this point) I was under the impression she was a new character (not the first women to be the Beetle but another women being the Beetle)

the same character.

[penthotal]

the same character.

Thanks you.

[alton]

As has already been noted this run was actually quite long by modern standards with an artificial #1 issue squeezed into the middle because of Secret Wars. I half expect the story to kick off again down the line so I am not convinced it got cancelled either. This is how Marvel do things now. Manageable stories with beginnings, middles and ends. It could have gone on longer but did Spencer want to do more? I am not sure.

I think the proof of the pudding would be the actual sales numbers which I don't have. Fearless Defenders ran 12 issues and should have been the perfect hand off to the female characters of MCU or the perfect capstone to the Fear Itself event. I believe the sales numbers for Fearless dropped steadily and finally got its plug pulled. With Ant Man/ Astonishing I suspect the same thing was happening which is why we got the weird restart in the middle. I generally follow only the offbeat characters like the Lang variation and currently I am following Black Panther, Mockingbird, Cap Wilson, and Cap Rodgers, Drax just finished up as well. Basically I needed to see more time spent in Scott's insect sized world with and without the insects. What I got were too many background characters wheel spinning interpersonal relationships and a dead slow pace that did nothing for me.

[Digifiend]

We got the "weird restart" in the middle because EVERY book got a new #1.

[Xhatch]

I loved this series. From Ant-Man #1 all the way to Astonishing Ant-Man #13 it was great with some brilliantly fun, stand out moments during the entire series. Great characters and humour. Great story. The last issue didn't feel rushed as the series was building to that issue the entire run of Astonishing.
And it was great to get a happy ending. Even if we never got another series, the ending let's the reader use their imaginations on what the adventures of Ant-Man and the Stinger would be like. But thankfully it leaves the series open for a continuation.

I'm going to pick up Deadpool's new mini series when it's collected as Ant-Man is in that too. I'd hope Marvel will give Ant-Man some sort of book in the future as he's a great character.

I'm sad to see Ant-Man end as it was the only Marvel title I was still buying in print. However, I'll be picking up Hulk in December so I'll be back to at least 1 Marvel title in print then!

Finally, to my fellow Ant-Fans, thanks for all the nice discussions we've had here on the boards over the course of the series!

[alton]

We got the "weird restart" in the middle because EVERY book got a new #1.

Were the other books also selling low which is why they had to be restarted? Without the numbers I couldn't say. Or was it just a ham handed insertion of Secret Wars that caused it?

[JKtheMac]

Were the other books also selling low which is why they had to be restarted? Without the numbers I couldn't say. Or was it just a ham handed insertion of Secret Wars that caused it?

Marvel had a rule that every book in the MU had to end with secret wars. It was a part of the premise. There were two titles that managed to avoid that fate and I believe the reasoning was related to the fact they were not really aimed at MU readers, indeed I don't think either was high selling but they were not selling to the same people. I don't think it was ham fisted. Marvel wanted a clear line. They were doing a soft reboot. The universe was now not the same one as before. Many things seem identical, many stories were capable of continuing, but the overall project was more important. So the numbering of Ant-Man back to #1 was a consequence of this. The story didn't really shift, the background didn't appear to change even though deep down the narrative was taking place in a new reality.

[Digifiend]

Two titles avoided that fate? I'm not aware of any - every book set in Earth-616, Earth-1610 (Miles Morales), and Earth-65 (Spider-Gwen) ended, even the ones that had only just launched a few months earlier (which included Ant-Man, several spider titles, and Squirrel Girl). The Disney theme park based titles are always minis, so whatever was running at the time was over before SW ended anyway, and that just leaves the cartoon adaptations and the Star Wars books.