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Animal Man #1
Script: Jeff Lemire
Art: Travel Foreman, Dan Green
Price: $2.99/$1.99 digital
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Story:
The concept of Animal Man could easily result in all-around silliness: a man named Buddy Baker is tapped into the planet's wildlife, and he can use this connection to possess the abilities of any animal he chooses.
Goofy? Hang on a sec.
Instead of traveling the world punching bad guys and delivering monologues about saving the pandas (although these tasks do fall under his job description), Buddy's primary role is as a husband and father of two. Jeff Lemire is a writer who knows how to bring out the intricacies and subtle quirks of his characters through traditionally mundane situations, such as the kitchen scene in this issue, and he delivers in spades with just about every line of dialogue here. The Baker family feels like a complex and and fascinating bunch – who just happen to have a super-powered father.
But Lemire doesn't settle for a simply fun, suburban superhero tale. After a shocking event during what Buddy expects to be a routine job, the book spirals into full-on horror mode; Buddy has a doosie of a nightmare, giving him his first glimpse of what could be his most horrifying challenge yet.
And that last page...yikes. Let's just say there's something wrong with the Bakers' youngest daughter, Maxine.
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| Anyone else get a Captain Kirk vibe here? |
I can't imagine a better artist for this creepy tale than Travel Foreman. His extra-thin lines and untraditional page layouts give the book a slightly off-putting vibe, which is absolutely perfect given the dark places that this story is headed.
Having said that, Foreman's style definitely takes a little getting used to. He uses much more negative space than most comic artists – too many artists feel the need to fill every centimeter of the page – allowing the characters to pop off the page. There are also several downright strange facial expressions to be found, but they help define their characters in a unique way, so I'm all for it.
Oh yeah, and Buddy's nightmare sequence? Gorgeous and terrifying all at once. This book is worth a purchase for those few pages alone.
New-Reader Friendly?
I had never touched an Animal Man comic before, and I felt like I knew everything I needed to know to enjoy this story. Lemire also slapped on a clever "interview" with Buddy Baker on the first page that essentially sums up the character's history to this point. So there you go.
Next: behold the awesome power of Batman #1!
