Latest Obsession: The Irredeemable Ant-Man

Meet Eric O’Grady, a.k.a. The Irredeemable Ant-Man, the world’s most unlikeable super hero. Most super heroes, while flawed, tend to be brave, noble and selfless fighters for justice and the better good. Eric O’Grady is none of those things. He’s self-centered, perverted, cowardly and only acts with his own self-interest in mind. He’s what you might call a dirt bag.

And I absolutely love him for it.

The Eric O’Grady Ant-Man was created in 2006 by Robert Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame) and was featured in his own 12-issue series, The Irredeemable Ant-Man, with the “irredeemable” moniker naturally being a play off of the commonplace superlatives used, usually in a more positive fashion naturally, to describe Marvel’s superheroes, such as The Incredible Hulk or The Invincible Iron-Man or The Amazing Spider-Man. As expected from the name, he was intentionally created to be a change of pace from the rest of the super heroes. While most heroes’ powers come about organically or as a reward for their efforts, Eric O’Grady stole his.

Season Wrap-Up: Sankarea

I previously wrote about my obsession with Sankarea after the first episode had aired, so think of this as the follow-up to that post with my final impressions on the show.

Sankarea remained one of the better shows of the season, but my enthusiasm tapered off a bit in the second half along with some of what made the series great to begin with.

The thing that made the first half so well done was the pacing and direction. While we all knew this would be a show about a girl who becomes a zombie, it certainly took its time getting to that point by delaying the inevitable, introducing us to the characters and the setting, and most importantly, establishing the connection and burgeoning relationship between Rea Sanka and Chihiro Furuya and the issues they are dealing with on a daily bases. This was especially true for Rea, whose father’s obsessive and semi-incestuous nature is the driving point for her wishing for death or release in the first place. It wasn’t until about four or five episodes in that Rea died and became a zombie, which worked for the show because it then gave us a nice comparative glance at Rea’s two “lives” before and after her death. The pacing was spot on, the visuals were impressive, the tone was serious when necessary and light-hearted at the right moments, the lighting and artistic flairs were used to great effect, and there was a general sweetness to the interactions between Rea and Chihiro.