Animal man is back.  His last ongoing comic was a vertigo book before vertigo.  Back when DC was experimenting will format and story using their mainstream comics.  I’m happy to say that this is still in that vein.

It is written by Jeff Lemire.  One of the new crop of writers making a buzz.  And I’d have to say it is quite deserved.  He is quite deft at writing dialogue, and his characters are well defined.  With a little dialogue I had a good feel for his wife, daughter and son.

The art is by Travel Foreman.  My only critique is that he should get a real first name.  Other than that his pencils are slim and refined.  It probably helps that he has a great inker.  The lines are crisp and tight.  The B&W flashbacks were effective and the red blood really popped and had impact because of it.

I’m looking forward to this book.  I think it might have a great point of view with the whole ‘animal activism’ thing.     A —–   Don

I’ve been a long-time Animal Fan since even before Grant Morrison gave him Vertigo-cred, and this seems to be a worthy successor to that series. I’m not a fan of the current version of his costume (where’s the orange and the goggles and the jacket?), but since this book has the potential to straddle everything that was cool about the character in the past, from his Vertigo leanings to his superhero-with-a-family stories and his escapades with the Justice League, the quality of the writing and art has me sold for at least a few more issues.

The apparent tie-in with Swamp Thing is handled well, too – nothing that makes you need to read both books to understand what’s going on, but I have a feeling those of us who do will see a little more to both books. As long as they continue to take what worked with Animal Man (family stuff, cool powers, a little weirdness) and leave what didn’t (bearded shaman stories with a LOT of weirdness), Lemire, Foreman, and Green should have an excellent book going.

– A     Ed