Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Animal Man 7, originally released March 7th, 2012.

Shelby: I am pretty new to Animal Man. After listening to Patrick and Drew rave about it, I knew I had to pick it up. I just got caught up over the weekend, and I’m so glad I did. No exaggeration: reading the first 6 issues of this in one sitting gave me nightmares. I am a grown-ass woman, and I can’t sleep because of a comic book? That, my friends, is awesome. 

Issue 7 opens with the horde of Rot-imals running rampant through the Utah countryside. Meanwhile, things are getting a little stressful in the Baker RV. As they discuss where to head next, Ellen kind of loses it. Think of it as stressed-out-mom-on-vacation syndrome, just…amplified. She sends Buddy and Cliff out for food and a phone charger, and also mostly just to get them out of her hair for a little bit. The boys walk to town while the ladies sit around and play Go Fish. That night, Buddy has a dream (or is it?) in which the world is ruled by the Rot. He meets up with teen-aged Maxine, flying around with Swamp Thing, an elderly shot-gun wielding Ellen, and a mysterious man in a trench coat. Mr. Mystery informs Buddy that this future is what happens when he doesn’t do his job and protect Maxine. She’s bitten, and tumbles out of the air. Buddy rushes to her side, only to discover she’s been infected by the Rot, and is becoming something horrible. He jolts awake, and real-life Maxine lets him know the Rot-imals are on the way. And by on the way, she means outside the RV.

I think the thing I love the most about this title is the family dynamic Lemire has created with the Bakers. My favorite part of this issue is Buddy and Cliff’s trip to town. Cliff is pouty because they have to walk, they can’t fly around and be cool. While in town, he tries to impress a “hot girl” wearing an Animal Man “Evolve or Die” shirt. He tells her he’s Animal Man’s son, and she brushes him off until Buddy shows up, grabs Cliff, and takes off into the sky.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Buddy help his son show-off in front of the snotty hot girls. Plus, let’s talk about that shirt she’s wearing. Turns out, it’s the cover art from issue 1, and you can buy it in real life. I think my brain just broke, and I might have to get one. While this is going on, Ellen is having a mother/daughter moment with her mom, as Grandma freaks out and blames the whole situation on Buddy, who Ellen never should have married in the first place. Honestly, why is it I love seeing this family deal with their “regular person” problems? Oh, wait, I remember: it’s because being able to relate so well to these characters makes their world so much more believable.

Considering the art in this title, maybe I don’t want this world to be so believable. Travel Foreman and Steve Pugh have scared the shit out of me. Buddy’s dream of a Rot-ten future is disgusting and terrifying. Throughout this series, the art has a very organic feel to it; looking at the Rot reminds me of horrible, bloated, disintegrating bits of fruit. I mean this as highly positive. I think this is the most beautiful title I’m reading. Also, I am TOTALLY digging the design of teen Maxine. The snakey blonde dreads, extraneous straps, and modified version of her father’s costume is AWESOME. I always have a running list in the back of my brain of characters I would want to cosplay, and teen dream Maxine just got bumped to the top of the list.

I’m super happy I started reading this title. Great art, awesome character development, horrifying villains: it’s got everything I’d ever want for any reason.

Drew: Man, am I going to miss Travel Foreman on this title. This isn’t to say that Steve Pugh doesn’t do an awesome job here, or to begrudge Foreman his reasons for leaving (this would understandibly be an emotionally draining title to draw), just to say that his art has been a huge part of what has made me fall in love with this title. I’m sure I’ll continue to love Animal Man with Pugh in the artist seat (and that I’ll continue to love new favorite Birds of Prey with Foreman on board), but it’s sad to see him go all the same.

This is about as smooth as a transition as you could hope for, though. Pugh is featured as a guest artist on both this issue and next month’s before he takes over as penciller with issue 9. Moreover, he stepped in to ink the last few pages of issue 5, so he’s already intimately familiar with what Foreman and writer Jeff Lemire are doing with this title. The transition to his art is still a little jolting, as Foreman’s freer line and aggressive inking give way to Pugh’s more traditional detailing, but Pugh manages to capture the “ugly and horrifying but still somehow beautiful” aesthetic Foreman has been mining so well. This is particularly evident in Buddy’s dream sequence, where the designs for the Hunters Three continue to disgust and fascinate me.

I love that the family’s only chance of learning about their situation (via the tv at the convenience store) is lost because Buddy was distracted by a couple of alt-y babes smoking (har har, I mean that literally, guys) by the bus stop. Methinks Lemire has an axe to grind with hyper-sarcastic snotty hot girls (also willing to wager he once had a haircut as ugly as Cliff’s), but then again, maybe I’m just projecting. Anyway, Cliff fails to notice that the zombie-animal horde is headed their way, so we don’t get any warning they’re coming until Maxine “feels” them, which unfortunately isn’t until they’re RIGHT OUTSIDE. (Can we talk for a minute about Maxine’s abilities? I’m not sure it really counts as an “ability” if you can detect animals that are immediately outside of your RV. Normally, we just call that having windows. Man, this is the last time I trust the fate of the world to a four-year-old.)

I also like that  Buddy and Cliff are only on that journey in the first place because they were annoying mom. We get a lot of overblown motives in comic books (saving the day/love interest/Earth), but none as relatable as just needing some space after being crammed in an RV with your family for a couple of days. It’s enough for them to kind of forget that they’re on the run from an ever-growing group of Rot-imals, but Lemire doesn’t want us to forget, so he intercuts the familiar road-trip family drama with scenes of locals meeting their end with the Rot-imals, tightening the screws as he slows down for telling character details and genuinely funny exchanges. My favorite moment of the issue has to be when Socks, former avatar of all animal life on earth, licks his lips at the mention of cat food.

Also, how funny is it that Ellen is snarky about the fact that Buddy is listening to “a talking cat”? I think if I were in the presence of a talking cat, I might defer to his authority in a this-cat-does-things-I-didn’t-think-were-possible kind of way. Maybe Disney movies have taught me to expect too much wisdom from talking animals, but I really think I would be a little humbler when confronted with a thing I thought was impossible. I also like that Ellen’s mom disapproves of Buddy. What is it with mother-in-laws of protagonists? Don’t they know that they’re the good guys?

So what do we think of that dream sequence? It seems very much in the “dream” category, but there’s something about the specificity of future-Maxine that makes me think that that is, in fact, what she will look like in the future. In fact, she shows up with Swamp Thing, which both strengthened this sense of inevitability, but also got me really excited for the crossover. That’s one thing that Pugh is doing better than I think Foreman could have; mitigating the divide between Foreman’s style and that of Yanick Paquette, regular penciller over on Swamp Thing. That dream sequence really feels like it could fit in either title, which is not something I would have thought was possible.

I am so jazzed for the next few issues — partly because I just like this title, but also because I’m kind of ready for some action. We’ve spent the past two issues in a kind of relaxed, character-building mode, which while great, has kind of cooled the momentum that this title had in spades over its first 5 issues. It was a nice breather, but I can’t wait to get back to all the crazy monsters and epic battles for the fate of life on earth. How cool is it that this title balances out those things with tiny, realistic family drama?

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?