Animal Man Vol. 1: The Hunt (The New 52) [Paperback]

This volume contains issues 1-6 of DC comics, Animal Man, part of the new 52 relaunch that started in September 2011.

Animal Man is Buddy Baker, a man given the power to take on the characteristics of any living animal on our planet. This trait gave him a unique perspective on the creatures of our planet leading him to giving up eating meat and being a vocal animal rights activist. Buddy lives in San Diego with his wife Ellen, and two kids, Cliff and Maxine. Buddy is semi-retired from the superhero business and was never really a big hitter like some of the icons of the DC universe (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash just to name a few) and was a Hollywood stuntman and even started an acting career in independent films.

One night, when Buddy decides to play superhero again, he has a very bizarre reaction. Also, his daughter Maxine starts to show signs that she is her father's daughter with some disturbing powers of her own. This leads the Baker family on a journey into the Red, the source of Buddy and Maxine's powers, as well as the embodiment of the life force for all living animal life on earth. The Red is being threatened by the Rot, the embodiment of un-life, the force that wants to feed on all life.

Jeff Lemire does an amazing job at reintroducing Animal Man that old fans can appreciate and new fans can ease in to. He does take influence from previous writers and their great runs (Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Jamie Delano) but this is a fresh start for the Baker family and the Animal Man mythos and terrific one at that. Taking a "has-been" of a superhero and pitting him in a fight against the forces of life and death is monumental but Lemire does a great job of not making this battle too overwhelming and gives a great supporting cast to care, fear, and root for.

Travel Foreman's art is visceral, sometimes overly surreal, and above all fantastic! The content he draws can get pretty unnerving and seem too graphic for some. A lot of "flesh horror" where people's and animal's bodies and organs are twisted and contorted in ways that reminded me of 80's style horror movies. David Cronenberg and Clive Barker come to mind. View at your own discretion. John Paul Leon's art in the final chapter/issue is superb as well as a nice break in the action but reflects a subconscious concern of our protagonist.

This is a great story for superhero and horror fans alike, but with not an overdose of each element. This book is a sign to a DC fan like me that this "relaunch" is a GREAT thing. Bring on Animal Man's sister title Swamp Thing Vol. 1: Raise Them Bones (The New 52) and the next volume of Animal Man!

Animal Man is one of the best of the DC "New 52." Since most of us don't have the baggage of knowledge of old Animal Stories, the task of re-booting the story is admittedly easier than the challenges facing the Superman re-boot.

LeMire delivers! Animal Man, a former super-hero, is now an animal activist struggling with the challenges of being a family man. It all takes a turn when he has a horrific nightmare...

The artwork for this title is perfect for the subject matter. The detailed nightmare scenes perfectly convey the story. I don't know how they'll be able to keep this book on schedule- this artist must be on some serious stimulants.

Inventive, solid story, fresh art style, atypical hero with character development and story twists.

A must-read of the DC New 52.

DC's New 52 was met with both criticism and joy when it released last year. Many of the titles in the release were disappointing, but "Animal Man," written by Jeff Lemire and illustrated by Travel Foreman, is one of a small handful of titles that actually lived up to expectations. "Animal Man" isn't as widely known as many of DC's other heroes, which might have actually helped this title be such a breath of fresh air when compared to other New 52 titles.

Personally I had never even heard of Animal Man until I was offered this volume of issues #1-#6 of the New 52 era through Amazon Vine. I decided to give it a whirl and have to admit that I am now a fan of Buddy Baker, aka Animal Man. His power allows him to call on the different traits of animals (I'm assuming there's no limit to which animal traits he can call on) and use them to fight for justice. He takes on some of the physical traits of the animals that he calls upon as well.

In this version of his story, Jeff Lemire shows us an Animal Man who is more content with leading protests and heading up animal rights campaigns instead of slugging it out with baddies on the streets of San Diego. His young daughter, on the other hand, wants to be a fighter just like her father used to be. The only scary thing about it all is that Animal Man knows that his daughter's power is even greater than his.

When his daughter starts to flex her animalistic muscle, it attracts the attention of an ancient evil that plans to use her to bring down the entire world. This volume ends with Animal Man and his family fleeing this ancient evil, setting up a showdown in later issues of the comic.

Travel Foreman brings gore to the forefront with his illustrations in this volume. If you're squeamish or can't handle rotting corpses or zombie-like creations, stay away. I had my doubts about this book when I first got it and flipped through the pages, as the artwork leads one to believe that this is nothing more than a blood and guts goofest. However, Lemire makes the story work amidst all of the gore.

Overall, I'm excited to see how this tale ends. The ending left things wide open, and hysteria is chomping at the bit.

Recommended, although only for older audiences, as some of the action might scare youngsters.