Today’s Zippy, about the comics:
(#1)
Ant-Man goes on, in fact.
From Wikipedia, with the background:
Ant-Man is the name of several fictional characters appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Ant-Man was originally the superhero persona of Hank Pym, a brilliant scientist who invented a substance that allowed him to change his size. Hank Pym was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27 (Jan. 1962); his first appearance as Ant-Man was in Tales to Astonish #35 (Sept. 1962).
After Pym retired his Ant-Man identity, successors Scott Lang and Eric O’Grady have used Pym’s technology to take on the role of Ant-Man.
(#2)
And now there are several recent developments: a hardback novel, a comics series, and a film, as described in The Hollywood Reporter of 11/18/14:
‘Natural Enemy’ acts as another entry point into the small world of the insect-themed hero
With Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man less than a year from release, it’s time to start building up the stature of the company’s premier miniature hero. In addition to a new comic series launching next year, Marvel announced plans Tuesday for Ant-Man: Natural Enemy, a prose novel centering on the character.
Written by crime novelist Jason Starr, Marvel describes the novel’s Scott Lang as “an ex-con, single parent and part-time superhero
Digression for two linguistic points here: the term prose novel; and the dangling modifier in the last sentence.
The prose novel. The term is a retronym (apparently used only in the Marvel superehero context), to refer to what we used to call simply a novel (for a long work of prose fiction). But now such a work has to be distinguished from what’s called a graphic novel (I’ve pointed out elsewhere that this term is frequently used for artistic creations that are not fiction) — and from other graphic forms, like comic books.
The dangler. That last sentence has a SPAR (a subjectless predicative adjunct that requires a referent for the missing subject)
written by crime novelist Jason Starr
that fails to find that referent via the subject of the main clause, Marvel. On the other hand, that referent (the novel) is the topic of the discourse, and I’ve noted often in the past that discourse topicality makes an intended referent easy to find.
On to the film. The hardback novel is set for release on July 7th, virtually at the same time as the Ant-Man movie (world premiere in Los Angeles on June 29th, general release in North America on July 17th). On the movie, from Wikipedia:
Ant-Man is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the twelfth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed, with a screenplay written by Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish and Adam McKay & Paul Rudd, and stars Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas. In Ant-Man, Lang must help defend Dr. Pym’s Ant-Man technology and plot a heist with worldwide ramifications.
The theatrical poster:
(#3)
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