mattdic
asked:
You've been over this, but I just made it to Ant-Man 1 and I can see both sides. I understand the need to streamline, but it was very jarring for two reasons. 1.) It was so immersed in the MU with relatively obscure characters like Prodigy (who is even a Young Avenger!) and Victor, much more so than in other #1s that streamline and 2.) so much of what was jettisoned (or yes, just not shown) was so relatively recent. It wasn't brushing 20 year old things under the table. Strong issue though!

All you need to know about Prodigy or Victor to understand their role in that issue is that they’re superhumans with particular talents who are up for the same job that Scott is after. That’s a very simple buy-in once you’ve gotten past the notion that your lead character can shrink himself.

Whereas all of the deaths and resurrections and other byzantine connections are something that a reader coming to the book fresh would have a lot of trouble untangling–and that’s before they even could relate to it. It’s like hearing a long time soap opera fan describe the history of a character. That person already has an emotional investment in the stories they’re recounting, so it’s all important and makes sense to them. But to you, it’s a long stretch of nonsense that sounds complicated and foreign, and it immediately makes you think, “Well, if I have to know all of that stuff, maybe I’m better off finding something else to do with my time.”