Animal Man (New 52) Vol. 1: The Hunt by Jeff Lemire

Animal Man (New 52) Vol. 1: The Hunt by Jeff Lemire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paperback, 144 pages
Published May 8th 2012 by DC Comics

New 52
Animal Man: The New 52 (Vol. 1)

I am a complete noob when it comes to Animal Man, never having come across him or knowing anything about him. This is my first introduction to him and this book seems to be taking place parallel to Swamp Thing Vol. 1 which I just reviewed the other day. Holland doesn't appear in this but he is mentioned and an imminent meeting between the two is mentioned. This volume jumps in with where Buddy Baker is with his life now so it took me some time to get the lay of what was going on with him and his family. The plot concerns The Red being invaded by The Rot, having already read Swamp Thing I understood the plot but here in Animal Man the whole premise of The Red, The Rot, and ever so slightly, The Green, is explained in full detail. These two books definitely need to be read together to get the whole story. One without the other is only half a tale. I like Buddy, but his wife is completely annoying. The art is totally whacked out. It's pretty gross with everyone's guts on the outside and veins and bloodstreams and things representative of life chains roaming around, nothing is perfectly clear, but it suits the theme of the book and pairs well with the psychedelic "green" life art in Swamp Thing. I'm certainly continuing with both these series which are totally unrelated to the DC Universe at this point but pretty cool horror-type stories.