A Strange Journey For A Strange Man
It's amazing that in just 3 issues, Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman have brought Animal Man back to the forefront of DC, with their majestic work on the new volume of Animal Man. As Buddy Baker and his daughter Maxine delve deeper into uncharted territory, will they be able to survive the encounter of the Totems? Can this series get any better than what it is right now?
Let's jump into reviewing Animal Man #3.
The Good
Travel Foreman stole the show with his interior art, first of all. From the cover art, to the interior work on the book, his art is meant to make you squeamish, and he does it with ease. The way he manages to showcase the Life Web, and its mysterious wonders, is something to stare at in awe, and in some cases, it's something to stare at in fear. As the issue progresses, Foreman is doing a fantastic job with the depictions of everyone involved in this issue. From the invasion of the Life Web by the Hunters Three, to the action scenes with Buddy fighting said enemies, and even to the scene of the undead pets of Maxine defending Cliff and Ellen when one of the Hunters invade their home, the quality of Foreman's pencils shine through in this issue. It would be downright criminal to not mention the coloring of Lovern Kindzierski, who's also doing the inking, to spectacular results that compliment an already stellar showing of art from Travel Foreman. Jeff Lemire, for his part, has done an amazing job as a writer in this issue, I cannot stress this enough. He's doing it all here, solidifying once more the villainy in the Hunters Three, reinforcing the importance of Maxine as the next coming of Animal Man (or Animal Girl, technically), and even taking the time to highlight Buddy's family by showing Ellen and Cliff dealing with Maxine's dead pets, while taking the time to play Slaughterhouse Valley 6. The mentioning of The Green, which automatically refers to Swamp Thing and the Parliament of Trees is an added bonus, thus solidifying the impending crossover between these two great books, made by two great creative teams.(Animal Man by Lemire, Foreman, and Kindzierski, Swamp Thing by Snyder, Paquette, Ibañez, and Fairbairn.) Add a wicked ending to boot, and you got a book that makes waiting for the next issue a pain to endure.
In a nutshell, this book keeps getting better and better. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone saying otherwise.
