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Ant (Hannah Washington) is a comic book superhero She first appeared in Ant volume 1 #1 (March 2004), however, the comic was with Arcana Studios at the time. Ant was created by Mario Gully and is currently published by Big City Comics.
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Comic
The Ant comic was published by a small independent company Arcana Studio in March 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" and turned it into a run away hit.
Vol. 1 (Arcana Studios)
"Days like these" Published by Arcana Studios, sold out in 9 days and is an amazing feat for a then unknown comic book and creator. The book later was on ebay demanding as much as one-hundred dollars for a good condition issue#1. There are 4 issues to the first volume and then Ant was moved to Image Comics.
Story
The original Arcana mini-series followed 8-year-old Hannah Washington, a lonely young girl continually tormented and bullied at school. Her father is 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 should 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 dropping her diary, and it is read and returned by her friend Stephen, who appears as "Gadget Man" in Ant's Cockroach battle, the events of which we follow whenever Hannah's diary is read or written into. Hannah's father was released from custody but eventually, his home gets raided as they 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 killed pushes for the death penalty - which would normally be a severe punishment, but thanks to his influence, his demands are met and Hannah's father is sentenced to death. We find Hannah's mother, Betty, left many years ago and she makes an unwelcome step back into Hannah's life. However, after reading her diary she comes to the conclusion that it was a mistake to leave. Meanwhile, Ant is beaten by the cockroach and loses her exoskeleton. Stephen later gives her a can which recharges her bloodsugar and her exoskeleton grows back. She then defeats the Cockroach. Hannah finally manages to obtain information using Ant to clear her fathers name - when told this is impossible even as she said Ant was who she would be in the future, she blacks out, outbursts and eventually ends up in a straitjacket. She manages to escape, leaving behind one of the cans she used to regenerate her exoskeleton in her story, leading on to the second volume.
Vol. 2 (Image Comics)
"Reality Bites" published by Image Comics, The new series featured some heavy hitters as Spawn and The Savage Dragon to appear as co-stars in Ant. The first 3 issues sold out and the momentum of the character and the popularity of the creator Mario Gully grew. Some pivotal moments happened in the book such as Ant losing her hand in a fight with the villain Coldburn. Vol. 2 has 11 issues. Mario Gully later moved from the Independent pool of comics to go on and draw for Marvel Comics. He has done works of Treasure Island with legendary writer Roy Thomas, Marvel Adventures Hulk, and Exiles to name a few.
Story
An adult Hannah Washington wakes up in a mental institution, where she's been told all her memories are the result of a coping mechanism described as a "juvenile power fantasy." But, little by little, her fantasies of her life as Ant become more and more real.
Vol. 3 (Big city comics)
ANT: UNLEASHED is due to hit later this year under Big City Comics. Ant: Unleashed is said to be the creator's more mature version of Ant.
Powers
Ant possesses the typical enhanced speed and strength of many bug-based superheroes, but in addition she has antennae which provide her with super-human level weapons and senses. One of the more interesting aspects of the character is her exoskeleton, which appears to be regenerated by use of her blood-sugar. When her armour wears down, it breaks off rather quickly and she must recharge her blood-sugar in order to regenerate it. She seems to use some kind of spray-can with an ant symbol to do this.
