DC Relaunch: Animal Man

Every once in a while, you get a character that no one really cares about or acknowledges. They stay to the back of our mind, if that, awaiting a time to be mocked in lew of a positive building on the character and his/her abilities. And then that one story comes along and changes everything. Despite an appearance during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Animal Man was a nothing character, and Grant Morrison was given the character to do with as he willed. The run itself is legendary, overshadowing other works starring the character. All the same, Animal Man is just a simple guy.

Buddy Baker, or Animal Man, had powers bestowed upon him by aliens to be able to tap into any animal and gain its abilities. While at first, this was limited to nearby animals, soon Buddy Baker learned how to tap into the larger network of animals, into something called The Red. Much like the Green for Swamp Thing, the Red is like an index and interconnected network of all animals in the world and the universe as well. Through this, Buddy is able to use the abilities of not only animals that are nowhere in his vicinity, but also animals he may have never had contact with. However there have been numerous times where his connectedness to the Red has either rendered bad situations or problems in his ability to connect to this.

Buddy is a family man. One of the things that have been unique about his stories has been his connection to family. Buddy has a wife and two young kids. Throughout the years, and even in his first stories, he has been relentlessly devoted to them, which is impressive considering the Amazonian like superwomen he often shares ranks with. His children have run up against the superhuman community as well, and writer Jeff Lemire promises no changes from past habits with that regard. Animal Man is about the superhero struggle and how that affects and envelops the family.


Jeff Lemire has been turning heads and impressing, first with his large Essex County, continuing on with his current creator owned work Sweet Tooth, and more recently with his Atom stories with Mahmud Asrar that ran as backups to Adventure Comics and his current Superboy run with Pier Gallo.  Artist Travel Foreman joins Lemire on the book. Just from the bits of art and covers that have come out, there's alot of promise here artwise. Foreman has had some notable work prior to this, working with Duane Swierczynski on the Immortal Iron Fist and with Michael Avon Oeming on the Ares mini-series.

Where to look for some great Animal Man stories? Look no further than the classic Morrison run. Or if you do want to look further, I'd suggest checking out 52, where he had a very interesting story that involved him with Adam Strange and Starfire making their way halfway across the universe back to Earth.

Animal Man Book 1 by Grant Morrison & various artists
Animal Man Book 2: Origin of Species by Grant Morrison & various artists
Animal Man Book 3: Deus Ex Machina by Grant Morrison & various artists.

Later on today, we'll check out the biggest magical team up you've ever seen... the Justice League Dark