Mama Jane reads a comic: Animal Man - Nightmare fuel in comic form

Animal Man Volume #1 - The Hunt

Animal Man is published by DC Comics and is part of the New 52 range. Animal Man is written by Jeff Lemire and art by Travel Foreman. Animal Man has an interesting story but very very strange art.

OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL!!!

Buddy Baker is Animal Man and has the power to use the abilities of animals to fight crime and in his everyday life, I know if I had the napping ability of a cat I would use it all the time. Animal Man is mostly retired now and Buddy Baker lives a relatively quiet life with his wife and two children. Animal Man doesn't actually have a secret identity, everybody knows he is Buddy Baker and he uses this to support his cause as an animal activist and recently staring in an indie move about superheros called Tights. The story begins when Maxine, Buddy's 4 year old daughter, brings to life all the skeletons and decomposing remains of all the neighbour's buried pets. This leads Animal Man and Maxine on a quest to find "The Red Place" that is calling to Maxine. The Red Place is a kind of like a web of life that connects all living things and warns them that they will need to fight "The Rot". As the story progresses we learn that it is Maxine and not Animal Man who is the true chosen one and it will be up to her to fight The Rot. This is an interesting twist in a super hero story having the hero as more of a body guard than the true saviour. Animal may have to give up his wife, son and even his own life to keep their only hope, Maxine, alive.

Be honest you would totally have a skeleton cat if you could

Now as much as I like the story of Animal Man I have one major problem with this comic that being the art, I hate it. I believe they were going for grotesque imagery but I feel this can be done without using sub-par art. There are eyes that don't appear to have eyelids, faces that look pinched and some panels that are just far to busy. The shading is inconsistent with almost none on one page and then a character completely covered in shading. Animal Man gets covered in "tattoos", which are really a map showing them the way to The Red Place, that look like somebody split ink on the original sketches and they just decided to run with it. Some of the art in Animal Man is done really well, all of the grotesque creatures are wonderfully disgusting, I've never seen anything quite like it before so props for having a villain that is unique and looks exactly like what it is: rotted life.

this is why you go to a professional tattoo artist instead of some guy's kitchen

Animal Man's relationship with his family is really sincere and touching. This is a man that has already given up most of his crime fighting and heroism to be with his family and keep them safe being dragged into something far more serious than bank robbers or car thieves is the last thing he wants. You feel for Animal Man as a father as he doesn't want his daughter involved in the "hero" lifestyle let alone this terror inducing nightmare. I really like the character Animal Man's wife, Ellen, she understands that Buddy and Animal Man are never going to be truly separate and as much as she would like her husband to stay home with his family and pursue his safer causes of animal rights and acting she still supports him when he does decide to put back on the suit

Ignore the talking cat focus on the touching moment

Animal is a good series, it is written well, the characters interact well, the concept of life fighting rot is a great concept because eventually everything dies and rots but I just can't get over the art in this one. I'm just not entirely sure what look they were going for. I think Animal Man is a good story but I would recommend maybe grabbing it in a digital copy rather than letting it take up space in your book case.