Ant (character)
Ant is a comic book superhero, created by Mario Gully. She first appeared in the eponymous series Ant #1, published by Arcana Studio.
Ant has also appeared in the Image Comics series Ant, Savage Dragon and Spawn.
Publication history
The Ant comic was published by Arcana Studio in February 2004. The creator and artist, Mario Gully, has stated that the concept of Ant was created while he was incarcerated in 1996 for attempted armed robbery. Gully says that one day he was looking through a barred cell window and a tiny ant crawled in from the outside. He later vowed to change his life and make something out of himself. He then created Ant.Vol. 1 (Arcana Studio, 2004)
The first volume, published by Arcana Studio and titled "Days Like These", ran for 4 issues before moving to Image Comics. Gully worked with co-writer Matt Nixon in the first volume.Plot
The original Arcana miniseries followed 8-year-old Hannah Washington, a lonely young girl continually tormented and bullied at school. Her father, apparently an accountant—and later on, a blue-collar employee—by profession, is made a suspect in an armed robbery and is taken into custody. To escape the harsh realities of her life, she writes in her diary stories of an alter-ego: an adult version of herself who is a superhero known as Ant.Hannah appears to know more about the world than she ought to and often has the personality of an emotionally unstable young adult, and her new principal takes interest in her as a result.
She ends up unintentionally dropping her diary, and it is read and returned by her friend Stephen, who later on appears as "Gadget Man" in Ant's Cockroach battle, the events of which are followed whenever Hannah's diary is read or written into.
Hannah's father was released from custody but eventually, his home gets raided as the authorities apparently have the evidence they need to put him away. Hannah is found foaming at the mouth, having a seizure on the floor.
The son of the man he allegedly killed pushes for the death penalty—which would normally be too severe a punishment, but due to his influence, his demands are met and Hannah's father is sentenced to death.
Hannah's mother, Betty, working as a cabaret dancer, had left many years ago and she makes an unwelcome step back into Hannah's life, since Hannah's father requested her to. However, after reading her diary Betty comes to the conclusion that it was a mistake to leave.
Meanwhile, Ant is beaten by the Cockroach and loses her exoskeleton. Stephen rescues her and gives her a can which recharges her blood-sugar and her exoskeleton grows back. She then defeats the Cockroach.
Hannah finally manages to obtain information using Ant to clear her father's name—it turns out that the murdered man's son, and Betty's rich lover, was the actual culprit; but he is shot dead by the police when he is about to kill Betty, who has just discovered his guilt. Hannah's happiness at getting her parents together is short-lived, though. When told by the policewoman Inez that it is impossible for Ant to have helped Hannah as she had said Ant was who she would be in the future, she blacks out, and eventually ends up awakening in a straitjacket confined possibly in a sanitarium somewhat into her middle teens. The news of her revival brings forth a visit from her mother, who is in bereavement when informing Hannah of her father's apparent demise. This piece of info shocks Hannah. She manages to escape, leaving behind one of the cans she used to regenerate her exoskeleton in her story, which leads on to the second volume.
Vol. 2 (Image Comics, 2005–2007)
The second volume, published by Image Comics and titled "Reality Bites", featured heavy hitters such as Spawn and the Savage Dragon as co-stars, featuring an Invincible plush doll. This series ran for 11 issues.Issue #8 became infamous for a scene where a stripper removes her underwear, exposing her posterior. The creator later apologized for the scene.