Animal Man #23

The Team
Writer Jeff Lemire Artists Steve Pugh and Francis Portela

Animal Man is still having a few problems recovering from a major disaster recently. After the Rotworld crossover, which featured a very disappointing ending this title made a harsh decision. Reading all the installments after the crossover story, it is still hard for readers to get on board with the yarn Lemire is spinning. With a strange detachment shedding with the Animal Man Annual #2, it seems the writer may be winning back the audience that he chased away. This new issue makes a few choices that will still leave readers scratching their heads after the last two issues. It is frustrating to try to figure out whether this series will ever get back to the level of greatness that it started with.

There is a really interesting reveal towards the second half of this issue revolving around the new villain. Readers should see him coming if they are paying close enough attention to the surroundings of the background. In many ways that reveal towards the end also takes away as much as it adds to the story. It is maddening to see the one point of brevity featured in these pages ripped out of the series. On one hand I understand why Lemire is doing this from a writing standpoint, however on the other side of the coin how much tragedy can the Baker family take. Animal Man is married for a reason, and taking all of that away from him is no the way to write this series, writer Grant Morrison proved that when he took control of the character. At some point the narrative needs to be resolved on this plot thread.

Steve Pugh and Francis Portela capture the artwork quite well in these pages. The two artists complement each other quite well within this installment. Maxine’s experience with the Rot is handled by Portela quite well. The penciller captures a beautiful sense of idealism that is wholly absent in modern superhero comic books. The giraffes, long horned sheep, and pirate parakeets look incredible. As do the backgrounds that are highly detailed with bone marrow and such. Pugh’s darker style suits his half of the book quite well. Many figures are draped in a strange amount of shadow that add some tension to the story at hand. He is a lovely horror artist whose pages seem just as inspired as his opposite. When absorbed together it almost seems as if these artists are two different sides of the same person. This is the highest compliment that can be given to a comic book with multiple art teams.

With a higher level of focus and rebuilt foundations of the Baker family this title can get back on track. Unfortunately it is unlikely at this point that Jeff Lemire is heading in that direction. After so many issues of character development torturing these characters on and on just feels mean spirited. The writer has stated that this point in the story would function as his worst nightmare. Eventually all nightmares end, and Animal Man will still exist. What will the family or the readers even gain from reviving the fallen Baker from the dead. This book has some serious problems right now that may not be fixable in the foreseeable future.