This doesn't surprise me. While I enjoy IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN and feel it was been Kirkman's best work at Marvel (eat it, MARVEL ZOMBIES!), it's sales have been nothing short of abysmal, selling well below the Top 100 at #140 or so with under 20k sales, which for a big two book is death. Most new books, circa mid 2006 or so, have been given more time to find an audience, but if the sales tank don't go beyond #12. Despite all sorts of pandering hype, NEXTWAVE ended at #12. So has BLADE. I suspect HEROES FOR HIRE may not be able to avoid that axe, too.
This is some improvement from earlier years, where books had 7 issues or less to prove themselves or be cut. And to be fair, Kirkman's MARVEL TEAM-UP had been a basement seller for it's last 8 or so issues, yet Marvel let him end it on his terms at #25. Few comic title launches these days actually make it to 25 issues.
IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN is a quirky book in which a character who is unlike 99% of the type of people who become legacy heroes stumbles onto the armor of Ant-Man, and hyjinks ensue. In an era where repeating what sold before, again and again until we all die, is usually the name of the game, Kirkman tried something different here. Alas, unique titles usually do not sell well. The latest cookie cutter Avengers spin-off from Bendis will sell 200k copies, but anything original usually struggles to outsell Archie. It's a cruel reality, but all too common.
I'll enjoy these last few issues of ANT-MAN. Hopefully Kirkman saw this end coming and his story reflects this somewhat. It would be a shame to lose Eric, though, because he is a unique character. I just would hate to see a future writer butcher him.