The Red Crusade
It's still a shame to have lost Travel Foreman, even on cover duties, because Steve Pugh's covers are really just so generic. There's clearly not a lot of thought put into the design, this one especially is just a wild mess without a background and a design too similar to the previous cover.
With Swamp Thing heading to Gotham City practically solo, the two series' continue their deep duality with Animal Man heading to Metropolis with an army to recruit a rumored weapon sealed away by Arcane. Coming off the finale of Frankstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #15, Frankenstein and his army of patchwork soldier arrive to save the day with their rot immunity. It still doesn't make them invulnerable to defeat, and Frank is wary of a full frontal assault on Arcane's fortress, Animal Man or not. Though suddenly I'm realizing I think Frankenstein was the 'green man who's not Swampy' mentioned by Constantine, which is clever. Lemire is really good at utilizing more obscure character, especially ones I love. It's so satisfying to see The Brain and Monsieur Mallah established in the New 52, seemingly unchanged, and unlike in Flash, Grodd's mind control abilities seem intact.
Lemire seems a bit too fond of the prophetic dream trope, he already pointlessly used it once during the second arc, and once again he gives Animal Man a surreal nightmare. This one seems to have much more value than the first, with cryptic words from Cliff after an amazing lead-in the took a right turn into extremely dark nightmare territory.
Pugh's art looks a lot better than it did the previous issue, the fight scenes are crowded, but work very well. Frankenstein and his patchwork army actually look great with Pugh's art, and there's nowhere near the same level of drab colors or overly thick inking. Once again, though, it's the seemingly normal 'present day' dream that looks best in Pugh's work.
In Conclusion: 5/5
This is the best Animal Man issue since Rotworld began, and probably the best Pugh drawn issue. Things are really coming together, with the surprising weapon in Metropolis, and the intriguing side battle with a pocket city of life in the devastated Rotworld. Maxine is finally testing people's nerves, but she's a child, it's really in character for her to be so impulsive and surprisingly carefree but it gets her into some dangerous trouble.
