Post by MC on Jan 19, 2010 23:14:03 GMT -5
Yellowjacket by Anthony Crute
The Cast: Hank Pym / Yellowjacket, Cassandra Lang, Wasp, Giant-Man, Ant-Man, SHIELD
Antagonists Faced: Psycho Man
Stand-Out Character: Yellowjacket
Best Moment: The escape from Psycho Man that saved the world in issue #3.
Yellowjacket is less of a superhero story and more of the story of a damaged, brilliant man who is capable of being one of the greatest heroes the world has ever seen…or crawling into a tiny padded room and screaming for the rest of his life. The pain and desperation Anthony has given voice to from Henry Pym was very well established in this series, spinning in part out of the events of Avengers Assemble and Avengers #1 in the wake of the explosion of the mansion and the effects of the supposed death of Janet Van Dyne had on Hank, though the initial arc in Yellowjacket takes place after the resolution of that mystery. The introduction of his ‘niece’ Cassie Lang, daughter of Scott Lang aka Ant-Man, was a great idea to give Hank some motivation to keep putting one step forward and to answer the call from SHIELD that would kickstart him into the next phase of his life.
Arriving at Central Park, Yellowjacket is presented with a series of strange deaths of civilians with holes bored cleanly through their foreheads, which he quickly determines to be caused by a miniature sun growing into our realm from the Microverse. Anthony doesn’t spare the technobabble when having Hank explain to Cassie and SHIELD what is happening, and the use of his size-changing abilities was handled excellently. The initial failure that he encountered in finding a way to shrink small enough to combat this threat in the microverse was an unexpected way for Anthony to take the story, as Hank almost made a deadly mistake that showed he had not really gotten a handle on everything just yet.
Those interactions with Cassie are good and showing Hank’s failings against his victories is very important in this character, but even more important is showing that Hank is now finding ways to use his failings to make him a better hero and a better man, and not letting them consume him into the dark places he had fallen into before. The rescue mission mounted by Yellowjacket, Ant-Man, Wasp and Goliath was well set-up and executed, even their capture and torture at the hands of the Psycho Man was done in a way to not diminish the heroes efforts.
The resolution was excellent as it utilized Hank’s own mental problems to his benefit, it also showcased the deep and untarnished level of trust between him and Jan, and at the end of the day the moment they shared in Hank’s tiny yet huge mansion was sweet and hopeful. I think Anthony has a handle on these characters that is simply wonderful, especially Pym himself, but don’t think that everything is hunky-dory with our hero just yet, as exposed in the Avengers Assemble anthology Hank’s mental problems may not be over and perhaps have a different origin than we ever believed, as the tiny and cruel little Yellowjacket dogging Pym in secret during the investigation of the Mansion explosion was entertaining and concerning at the same time. I, for one, cannot wait to see where Anthony takes Pym and Co. next, and really want to get to the bottom of this tiny Yellowjacket as soon as possible!
MC
The Cast: Hank Pym / Yellowjacket, Cassandra Lang, Wasp, Giant-Man, Ant-Man, SHIELD
Antagonists Faced: Psycho Man
Stand-Out Character: Yellowjacket
Best Moment: The escape from Psycho Man that saved the world in issue #3.
Yellowjacket is less of a superhero story and more of the story of a damaged, brilliant man who is capable of being one of the greatest heroes the world has ever seen…or crawling into a tiny padded room and screaming for the rest of his life. The pain and desperation Anthony has given voice to from Henry Pym was very well established in this series, spinning in part out of the events of Avengers Assemble and Avengers #1 in the wake of the explosion of the mansion and the effects of the supposed death of Janet Van Dyne had on Hank, though the initial arc in Yellowjacket takes place after the resolution of that mystery. The introduction of his ‘niece’ Cassie Lang, daughter of Scott Lang aka Ant-Man, was a great idea to give Hank some motivation to keep putting one step forward and to answer the call from SHIELD that would kickstart him into the next phase of his life.
Arriving at Central Park, Yellowjacket is presented with a series of strange deaths of civilians with holes bored cleanly through their foreheads, which he quickly determines to be caused by a miniature sun growing into our realm from the Microverse. Anthony doesn’t spare the technobabble when having Hank explain to Cassie and SHIELD what is happening, and the use of his size-changing abilities was handled excellently. The initial failure that he encountered in finding a way to shrink small enough to combat this threat in the microverse was an unexpected way for Anthony to take the story, as Hank almost made a deadly mistake that showed he had not really gotten a handle on everything just yet.
Those interactions with Cassie are good and showing Hank’s failings against his victories is very important in this character, but even more important is showing that Hank is now finding ways to use his failings to make him a better hero and a better man, and not letting them consume him into the dark places he had fallen into before. The rescue mission mounted by Yellowjacket, Ant-Man, Wasp and Goliath was well set-up and executed, even their capture and torture at the hands of the Psycho Man was done in a way to not diminish the heroes efforts.
The resolution was excellent as it utilized Hank’s own mental problems to his benefit, it also showcased the deep and untarnished level of trust between him and Jan, and at the end of the day the moment they shared in Hank’s tiny yet huge mansion was sweet and hopeful. I think Anthony has a handle on these characters that is simply wonderful, especially Pym himself, but don’t think that everything is hunky-dory with our hero just yet, as exposed in the Avengers Assemble anthology Hank’s mental problems may not be over and perhaps have a different origin than we ever believed, as the tiny and cruel little Yellowjacket dogging Pym in secret during the investigation of the Mansion explosion was entertaining and concerning at the same time. I, for one, cannot wait to see where Anthony takes Pym and Co. next, and really want to get to the bottom of this tiny Yellowjacket as soon as possible!
MC