DCnU - Animal Man #1 from DC's New 52

Here goes my third review of DC's "New 52," Animal Man #1. Full disclosure: As acclaimed as it was, particularly under the pen of Grant Morrison, I never really read Animal Man's previous series, although I know enough about it understand the character pretty well, I think.

The new series opens with a one-page interview by "The Believer" with Buddy Baker, Animal Man. I saw that, and immediately stopped reading on my Android, figuring this was one better read first on the larger screen of my home PC.

Appropriately enough for DC's Everyman Hero, the issue then moves to Buddy's home life, as he discusses the interview, finances and his daughter's desire for a pet dog with his family.

This part was charming, well written, and the art suited it very well. Jeff Lemire's dialogue has a very real feel to it, and Travel Foreman executes this well also. In fact, the slight smile on Ellen's face as Buddy kisses her before he heads out to play super hero at the hospital salvaged that character for me. In the rest of the scene, Ellen comes off as almost shrewish at times - giving Buddy a hard time no matter what he says. But that kiss just before he leaves looks to me like this is just the nature of their very loving relationship.

Then, Buddy reaches into the "Morphogenetic Field" and flies off. No mention of "the Red" in the whole issue. "the Red" was, later in Animal Man's last series defined to be what he taps in to to channel animal powers, and it was a field that surrounds a planet, much the way Swamp Thing taps into "the Green," representing plant life the world around.

I have to say. I am not a fan of Animal Man's new costume, although I think that might be mostly
due to the headband-hood thing. He looks better when he takes that off, which happens almost immediately.

Buddy faces a problem that suits his family focus. Someone has a gun on the children's ward of a hospital, and wants his daughter back. His daughter who was lost to cancer three weeks earlier. The man has had a break with reality, cannot accept his daughter's death and believes the doctors have just hidden her from him.

It's tragic, and resonates with family man Buddy, who still has to stop the man. He tries to talk him down, but still does have to use his powers, this time referring to reaching out to the "Life Web" but still no "Red."

As the situation winds down, Buddy's powers have an unexpected side effect. As a doctor is called to check him out, we see the mysterious figure in red who supposedly appears in all the New 52 #1s hanging around observing.

The side effect is temporary and seemingly non-threatening, so Animal Man heads back home to see his family. That night, he has a disturbing dream, all in grey of his family being hunted by someone. Then, in a shock of color added to the dream, he sees a river of blood, and the dream gets even weirder. He then wakes up to find Ellen missing from bed, and follows her and the kids out to the yard, where his daughter Maxine's desire to have a pet of her own has caused her to manifest some kind of power. Some fairly creepy kind of power.

Overall, this story is a significant change of pace from the first two I reviewed. Justice League and Action Comics were fast-paced super heroics. Animal Man is a much more dialogue-driven book. If you are looking for super-heroes battling it out, this is not the book for you. It is clear right from the get-go that we can expect Animal Man to spend at least as much time out of costume as in, and that his family will be tremendously important supporting characters.

Jim Lemire's writing fits the character like a spandex jumpsuit. He writes very good character interactions, and the priority that Buddy gives his family shines through in this book.

Travel Foreman's art for the most part is also well suited to the book. My only reservation was that sometimes his facial expressions are a little overdone. When Buddy is going to head off to help the police at the hospital, the expression on Ellen's face goes well beyond irritation at Buddy missing dinner into borderline homicidal rage. He seems to have a good grip on subtle facial expressions (particularly, as mentioned above, with Ellen) and dramatic ones, put to good use in the dream sequence, but maybe could work a little on the territory in between.

For now, Animal Man stays on the pull list. It is one of the books that is currently on an issue-by-issue basis. This is not because of any inherent flaw in the book, just that my preferred super-hero action to home life ratio skews more to super-hero action than it looks like this book will. If your taste skews more the other way, then this book could absolutely be your perfect cup of tea.