Buddy gets a chilling vision of the future while on his search for Alec Holland. It looks like the fight with the Rot is far from over.
The Good
If you've been wanting to jump onto Animal Man, and you haven't picked up previous issues, this is a pretty good place to start. Sure, you may be a tad confused as to what happened to put these folks on the road, but this is where the new story arc starts, and you, as a new reader, shouldn't have too much trouble adjusting to what is happening in the book.
I'm super-stoked (sorry for using the word "stoked") for the Animal Man/Swamp Thing crossover. These characters will work so well together, and it's nice to see some of the not-so-famous DC characters working together. We don't need to have Superman jump into an issue to validate this is a good book. Animal Man stands out on it's own and so does Swamp Thing. Again, I'm "stoked."
I love the villain "the rot." It's so creepy, and what makes it even better is that it's hard to pin-point what the rot truly is. Yes, it's a physical villain, but how do you fight something that's more of an infection than a guy in spandex? It's probably, out of all the new 52 books, the most innovative, creative, and coolest villain introduced.
Buddy's trip into the future was probably the best part of the issue. We get to see Swamp Thing and Animal Man, and once again, the Rot is so creepy. We get a few pages of a rot-filled world and everyone trying to fight it off. Great looking art by Steve Pugh during that scene.
The Bad
There's a change in art for a few pages, and the faces become a bit dissimilar.
I was going to complain the book was only 20 pages long, until I realized that most the current Marvel/DC books are 20 pages long. What happened? I thought comics were 24 pages?
The Verdict
I'm still loving the heck out of this book. This is a great place for new readers to jump in on and I cannot wait for the Swamp Thing and Animal Man crossover that is bound to happen. I'm a huge fan of the rot and I loved the adventure into the future Buddy takes where we see a rot-infested world. There is a change up in artists for a few pages in this issue, and it's a tad distracting, but overall, I highly recommend this issue and series.