Animal Man #1

The reader is reacquainted with Buddy Baker, Animal Man, through a one page interview with him at the beginning of the issue. He's a vegan and spokesman for animal rights. He's just starred in a movie called "Tights" about a washed up superhero. And he's become a youth icon with his image emblazoned on t-shirts and posters. But mostly he's still just a family man.

When I first read about The Red in Swamp Thing, I naturally assumed they were speaking about the source of animal life just as The Green is the source for plant life. But I didn't make the connection that Animal Man would be using it in its stories! And since the two titles are basically sister books, that means Animal Man is also learning about The Rot.

Animal Man was cuckolded by a trinity of Rot Creatures!

This happens in a dream he has after a night of being Animal Man. During the hostage situation where he took on the abilities of a variety of animals, he began to bleed from his eyes. But the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him and Buddy said he felt fantastic. So he went home and used a cat's ability to nap to fall asleep.

After dreaming about Maxine hiding from the Hunters and hurting her brother and mother, Buddy wakes up with a start to hear Ellen yelling from the backyard. He goes out to find Maxine playing with some new friends.

His daughter Maxine has tapped into The Rot the same way that William Arcane has. Well, maybe not the exact same way! At least she's going about it in a cute way.

Animal Man #1 had a nice steady set up. We get to see Buddy with his family which is important. And we get to see why he keeps going back to the Animal Man persona even though he's always been a kind of reluctant hero. He just finds it fun. But no matter what he's doing, his wife Ellen is still the thing, the person, that keeps him anchored and satisfied. The reader also gets to witness how Buddy's powers work and he even explains one of his weaknesses: if he's around one animal too much (like a pet), he loses his connection to the other animals in the Life Web.

A truly well-done first issue of Animal Man that explains everything the reader needs to know about him in a well written story. While Swamp Thing relied on some really heavy exposition, Animal Man is relying on the story and character interaction. Swamp Thing did have a longer and more confusing history to deal with, so hopefully Swamp Thing will fall into this kind of pacing now that it's gotten the majority of the back story out of the way.