Animal Man #23 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh & Francis Portela (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Buddy can’t tell which he finds more repulsive—supervillains or the tabloids.

The Review: When Lemire first took over Green Arrow, I couldn’t help noticing that most of his initial steps on that title were to tear down the parts of Oliver Queen’s life already set in place.  At the time, it seemed like a way for Lemire to assert his vision and direction on the series, to show he was fully in control.  But now I’m starting to see that Lemire simply places a great deal of faith in the stories that can arise from ashes.

If you look at how his run of Animal Man started, we have somewhat similar circumstances.  Lemire very quickly established Buddy’s contentment of being father to two rambunctious kids, husband to a good-natured (if occasionally exasperated) wife, a dependable C-list superhero, and an exotic C-list actor.  Just as quickly, however, Lemire disturbed this peaceful status quo with the first appearance of the Rot and the revelation of Maxine as the Red’s avatar.  No one can deny the story that followed was a deeply compelling one, even because of its destructive power.

Animal Man #19 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Buddy pisses off the higher-ups and loses guest access to the Red.

The Review: While both Lemire and Scott Snyder transitioned from their Vertigo projects to mainstream ones at around the same time, it’s increasingly clear that Snyder has become one of the major architects of the DCU, while Lemire has been relegated to the position of a respected demigod within the publisher’s creative pantheon.  Even that position has grown shaky as of late, with declining quality in both Justice League Dark and even his pet title, Animal Man.

After the dismaying downhill spiral on Rotworld, it’s time for both Lemire and his hero to regroup and find their way back to what made this series so compelling in the first place.  Sadly, one of those things seems to have gotten wrecked for a while to come: the Baker family dynamic.  The death of Cliff has clearly driven a wedge between Ellen and Buddy that feels impossible to dislodge, yet this also introduces a new, compelling conflict of its own.

Animal Man #13 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Timothy Green II (pencils), Joseph Silver (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: Buddy discovers his world can cross its overpopulation problems off the list.

The Review: One complaint everyone pretty much has about Events from either of the publishers, one I join wholeheartedly on, is how many titles they end up invading.  Sometimes—who am I kidding?—almost all the time, there’s no actual reason to squeeze them into the plot.  But you can’t deny that there’s no better way to give a storyline an epic, important feel.  When one title has a world-spanning conflict no other title notices, why should you do any different?

Such is the rock and hard place we have in Rotworld.  I’m rather charmed that Lemire and Scott Snyder continue to claim that this dystopia their stars have entered is anything more than an alternate reality, as if there’s even a chance none of this grimness will reverse course after several issues.  Can we truly believe that once this arc ends, we’ll have other heroes sitting around, reminiscing about the time Hawkman turned into a deformed, flesh-eating zombie?

Animal Man #0 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Steve Pugh (art), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: And now you know why Animal Man never channels the powers of a chicken.

The Review: Considering the popularity of this series, you can’t deny Lemire has done a good job making its star accessible to people who’ve never heard of him in their lives (read: most people).  That said, it’s always been obvious that longtime fans, particularly those of the Morrison era of Animal Man, had an “in” on the character the rest of us do not.  In that sense, these #0 issues can handily even the field between old and new readers.

Here we see Lemire integrating both old continuity and the new mythology he’s laid down, and the effect seems very unified and sensible.  Like Action Comics #0, you don’t see much in this issue that previous ones haven’t alluded to already, but Lemire clarifies some of the reasons behind certain changes and developments.  You get a sense of that these past events tie into the current “Rotworld” arc, but only in the vaguest terms.

Animal Man #11 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Alberto Ponticelli (pencils), Wayne Faucher (inks), Lovern Kindzierski (colors)

The Story: I’m not sure you want a makeover from two yellow Coneheads in leotards.

The Review: To be perfectly frank, Animal Man has been in desperate need of a major upgrade in power set for a while.  Lemire made that clear every time he had Buddy face off against the Rot, only to quickly find himself overwhelmed, outmuscled, and just downright ineffective.  Granted, he’ll probably never be capable of his daughter’s feats, but you’d think at such a critical time, he should have more options than channeling the strength of a gorilla, or whatever.

So when the Totems offered to give Buddy a newer, better body last issue, it was about time.  At first glance, however, we don’t see any radical changes.  He certainly doesn’t look any different, though he says he feels “stronger…more pure…”  The Royal Tailors give him “limited species-shifting abilities,” and we see a bit of that here, as he transmogrifies in and out of several half-man, half-animal forms, similar to his bolstered powers in the Red.  But it’s not totally clear how this mere shapeshifting ability is more beneficial than his normal channeling powers.