Author:
Jeff Lemire
Artist:
Travel Foreman
Artist:
Dan Green
Cover Artist:
Travel Foreman
I am a big animal lover and of course, a horror fan, so being that DC Comics announced Animal Man as one of its “Dark” titles, I was all over it.
Prior knowledge of the Animal Man character is not a pre-requisite of buying this book. In just a few pages you have a great deal of information about the character.
The story starts with Buddy Baker (Animal Man) reading an interview he just recently finished. In the interview he talks about how his superhero gig is winding down and how he now spends his time to focus on his acting career and animal rights, etc. We are then introduced to Buddy’s wife and two kids. As Buddy talks to his wife about his semi-retirement, his daughter asks for a dog as the kids bicker back and forth.
Buddy leaps into action and dons the Animal Man outfit to take down a patient who is wielding a gun at the hospital. We learn why the man is armed and it is not your normal run of the mill “bad-guy” sequence.
At this point I was waiting for the “Dark” part of this comic to show through...then it finally did, in dramatic fashion.
After Buddy confronts the armed man, his eyes begin to bleed. Shortly thereafter he has strange dreams of dread happening to his family. Wicked imagery and an interesting ending fuel my fire to see issue 2.
The book reads like a vertigo title and definitely sets up the series for something special to come. Obviously this title will not outsell DC’s big guns, but lets hope they keep this one around.
