Ant-Man's 60th birthday party looks fun, actually

By Zack Quaintance — For Ant-Man's 60 year anniversary, the character is getting a new series from two of Marvel's most interesting creators: writer Al Ewing and artist Tom Reilly, with a first issue due out June 8.

The book will be a limited series, with each issue focusing on a different guy who has held the mANTle (sorry) of Ant-Man, from Hank Pym to Scott Lang. The series will also culminate in a new person becoming the Ant-Man of the future, and Ant-Man of the future will have a slick new design, which you can check out below:



The coolest thing about all this, to me, is that Marvel is teaming a pair of creators who’ve worked on what are probably my favorite two books from the publisher in the past I-don’t-know-how-many years, with Ewing having written Immortal Hulk and Reilly being the artist on The Thing, which isn’t over just yet but has been phenomenal through its first four issue (seriously, can’t recommend it enough). This being a limited series with a clearly defined scope? Wow, this book is really checking all my boxes. If Reilly tinges the art in each issue with the stylings of the time period the character first appeared? Well friends, my head might just explode like that Vince McMahon meme.

Check out the canned promo tweets from Ewing and Reilly via Marvel’s announcement below:

"For Ant-Man's ant-iversary, we wanted to go BIG with the world's smallest hero -- burrowing an ant tunnel right through his sixty-year history and far beyond, from the wild and wooly 1960s all the way to a future you'll have to see to believe!” Ewing promises. “You'll find out how Henry Pym, Scott Lang and Eric O'Grady impacted each other's lives in ways they never knew themselves -- but who's the mysterious final member of this Ant-tastic Four? Tremble with ant-icipation, true believer -- the answers are coming soon to a hill near you!"

And now Reilly:

“I’m very excited to work with Al again, this time to celebrate, and add to, the legacy of Ant Man!” Reilly says. “Several different people have taken the name, and Al’s written a fun story that gives them all a chance to shine. I also look forward to working with Jordie Bellaire again, her colors elevate any book that she’s on. There’s lots of inspiration to be taken from Ant Man’s rich artistic history, and there’ll be plenty of room for both of us to experiment in this series. I can’t wait for everyone to check it out!”

There’s also a variant cover for each Ant-Man:

While Ant-Man might be a small hero, this book looks like it’s going to be huge! I’ll see myself out…once again, Ant-Man #1 is due out June 8.

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.