Marvel has decided to invest a lot of effort into Ant-Man as a character in recent years, between both the movies and a renewed interest in him as a comic book character, but it still remains to be seen where this new focus will take the character.  Although fans have generally been excited about most of what has come out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the interest in the new Ant-Man movie has changed between an interest in the film versus disappointment in the first trailer.  The same can be said about this series, that the first issue was an unexpected surprise, but that the second issue reminded many of the Hollywood maxim “not to judge a series by its pilot.”  While not exactly a letdown, the second issue was a lot more mundane and didn’t seem very interested in challenging the character that had come before, rather simply repeating a lot of the same.

This third issue sets up the series as a mix of somewhere between the first and the second issue, not a standout but also not exactly old news.  As the cover promises in this issue Ant-Man faces off against Taskmaster, and this forms the majority of the plot of the issue.  For those that pay attention, there is a bigger story going on, only the fun action sequences between the two are enough of a distraction to forget about it until the end, tying into both Scott’s past as a parent and as a hero/criminal.   Some of the dialogue between Taskmaster and Ant-Man is pretty fun, but other parts of their battle come off a bit lame (super-villain apps?).

While this issue seems to find a bit better ground to stand on for the series, it also shows that the direction isn’t entirely set.  Not every superhero comic has to be completely serious, but neither so can it be all jokes.  It is somewhere in the middle that this series found its heart in the first issue, but it equally needs to be more serious when required as opposed to sacrificing pacing for dialogue which is not really funny and therefore only distracting.  This series at times borders on being a fairly typical comic, but it verges on being something better at times as well.  It is this potential which will bring the readers back, but the creative team seems to be squandering the interest in this title while it figures out how to use what it has.

Story: Nick Spencer Art: Ramon Rosanas
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Read