Animal Magnetism
Animal Man has never been a character or series I've gravitated to, but if the first issue of the new series is any indication, things are going to be different this time around. Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman have made a great first impression, deftly combining superheroics, politics, satire and horror in a way that excited me more than any other New 52 title so far.
As with most of DC's ongoing reboot, Animal Man is both familiar and foreign. Buddy Baker is still a liberal political activist with a focus on animal rights, but Lemire has more fun with that than previous writers, casting Animal Man as a kind of hipster icon, even giving him a career as an indie movie star. These little details are not only a crash course for new readers on what differentiates Buddy from other heroes, they also provide further insight into how the public views superheroes in DC's post-Flashpoint world.
In light of the tone Lemire has set, Travel Foreman's art is the perfect choice. While it has a distinct indie feel, it proves to be unexpectedly versatile, going a little more cute and quirky for the early scenes of Buddy's home life, but getting incredibly dark as the book takes a turn for the macabre about half-way through. As a fan of horror movies, I didn't think a comic could ever frighten me, but Buddy's black and white (and red) nightmare scene and the final page reveal involving his youngest child Maxine are genuinely scary.
Any criticisms I can make of Animal Man #1 would be nit picking, but I will say I'm a bit concerned about the introduction of "The Red", which I'm assuming is going to be a counterpart to The Green, another vaguely defined metaphysical concept in the DCU. Hopefully it won't end up like the Speed Force, namely as a deus ex machina that Lemire or other writers can fall back on when stories get out of hand. There's nothing here to suggest that; The Red is barely even mentioned outside of the title, but I doubt we've heard the last of it.
Anyone afraid that Animal Man would lose its identity as one of DC's darker series need not worry. It's clear that DC is willing to let Lemire go pretty dark even without the Vertigo imprint, and that has made for a mature book that should appeal even to audiences with little patience for superhero fare.
