Animal Man #6

The tagline to Buddy's movie sounds like a Stormwatch plot.

Nearly this entire issue is an excerpt from "Tights", the movie Buddy Baker starred in about the washed up super hero who can't move on with his life.

John Paul Leon does the art for this section.

The story isn't anything surprising. It's about Chas, middle aged man who just can't keep up with his world changing around him. He can't move on from his persona, Red Tornado, so he's caught in a cycle of drinking, nostalgia, and going from job to job searching for something he'll never find. His wife is divorced and has a new, wealthy man in her life. His son has gotten to an age where he just seems embarrassed by his dad's past exploits as Red Tornado. Chas feels everything slipping away from him so he gives Red Tornado one last shot and promptly ends up in the hospital from a severe beating. His ex-wife and son plead with him to stop. But there's nothing else for him. He either dies quickly as the hero he sees himself as or he dies a long, miserable death from loneliness and unfulfilled dreams.

I wouldn't mind more of Artist Leon and less of Artist Foreman.

After that panel, Cliff's battery dies on the device he's been streaming the movie on. The family is still in the RV and on the run from the Rot Monsters. But Socks has a plan!

While scanning this picture, I suddenly began craving Indian food.

This is the kind of comic that I don't mind being inserted into story arcs. I don't need a story to wrap up as quickly as possible. And one that takes its time while telling stories is worth it. One that takes its time because it's just padding pages with more action scenes is annoying, especially when there seems to be a decent story trying to emerge. I'm looking at you, Supergirl. I just wish the movie, Tights, had been unconventional. This was a story that's been told before. Just making it about a Super Hero isn't enough of a spin.

But since that was the story the movie told, I have to believe that there is a reason Buddy wanted to star in this. Is this what Buddy actually fears? Is this why he stays in the Super Hero game and not just because it's 'fun'? But because he can only truly find himself inside the costume. Outside of it, he's just another husband struggling to stand out in a mundane world.

So what's going to happen now that Maxine is taking center stage?!