Jeff Lemire's run onAnimal Man(DC, 2011-2014) is a family horror story disguised as a superhero series.Buddy Baker, a second-rate hero capable of borrowing animal abilities, discovers that his four-year-old daughter is the real stake in a cosmic war. Drawn primarily by Travel Foreman, it's the best entry point into Lemire's DC period — and it's best read without knowing anything about the publisher.
Jeff Lemire's run onAnimal Manis a family horror story disguised as a superhero series.It’s also the one that made him go from independent author to screenwriter sought after by major publishers.
Published as part of the relaunch of the DC line in 2011, this run is regularly cited among the best of this period - often by readers who do not like superheroes. This article explains why, what you need to know before tackling it, and how to navigate the volumes.
Who is Buddy Baker
Animal Man is a second-tier character created in 1965. His ability: temporarily borrow the abilities of any nearby animal — the strength of an elephant, the eyesight of a bird of prey, the resistance of a tardigrade. A visually unspectacular power, which explains why he never lasted long at the top of the bill.
His particularity lies elsewhere: unlike most of his publisher's heroes, Buddy Baker is married, father of two children, and his family knows exactly who he is. He doesn't have a double life to protect. He lives in a suburban home with his wife Ellen, daughter Maxine, and son Cliff.
It is this starting point that Lemire exploits. Where a typical run would have sent Buddy facing threats, he puts the threat in the house — and takes it out of the kid.
The device: the girl is the subject
Maxine, four years old
She resurrects the dead animals she finds in the garden. Her powers far exceed those of her father, and she doesn't understand what she's doing. It is her that the forces present want, not him.
The Red and the Black
The series expands a mythology where the animal kingdom — the Red — opposes a force of decomposition. Buddy is just one representative among others, and an aging one.
An overwhelmed father
The whole run hinges on this shift: a hero who discovers that he is no longer the protagonist of his own series, and that his role is reduced to protecting someone more powerful than him.
What the Travel Foreman design brings
This is the element that made the run's reputation, and the one that puts off some readers accustomed to the publisher's graphic codes.
Foreman draws the manifestations of Red in pure organic form: meat, tendons, exposed bones, animal bodies recomposed in the wrong order. On a mainstream superhero series, the effect is violent — not in the amount of blood, but in the refusal to make the creatures legible. You never quite know what you're looking at, and that's the point.
The contrast with the domestic scenes is what makes the whole thing work. A page of family cooking, drawn flatly, followed by a double page of flesh. The run alternates between the two registers until the reader no longer knows which is the setting of the other.
Three things to know before you start
It's a horror book
Despite the superheroic label, the run is body horror. Images of deformed animal bodies are frequent and explicit. This is not a read for young readers.
He meets Swamp Thing
The run takes place in parallel with another series, and the two meet in the middle. We can readAnimal Manalone, but some scenes imply events happening elsewhere.
Aucun prérequis d'univers
The run starts with a general restart of the editor: it is an entry point designed as such. No prior reading is necessary.
The last part divides
After the conclusion of the main arc, the series continues on a more intimate register that some readers find withdrawn. Others consider it the best part of the run.
The crossover withSwamp Thing
This is the only real practical difficulty of the run. Lemire writesAnimal Manwhile another author writesSwamp Thing, and the two series converge on a common event that spans both titles.
Two options are available to the reader. Read onlyAnimal Man: the story remains followable, but some scenes arrive without preparation, and we feel that half is missing. Read the two alternately: it's the complete experience, but it requires purchasing a second series and respecting a precise order between the issues.
My advice for a first reading: start withAnimal Manalone. If the crossover frustrates you by the time it happens, then you'll know that the second series interests you — and you'll approach it with the characters already in mind.
The collection trap specific to runs:a series likeAnimal Manhas undergone several relaunches over the decades, each starting from a number 1. A department can therefore contain three “Animal Man#1” different, published thirty years apart.
Recording the number alone is not enough: you must note the year and the writer, otherwise a collection becomes illegible as soon as you follow several runs of the same character. It's the difference between a shelf and a catalog.
The film within the film: Buddy actor
One element of the run often goes unnoticed and deserves to be highlighted, because it conditions the entire tone: Buddy Baker is an actor. His superhero career has earned him notoriety which he monetizes by starring in feature films, and the run opens with a promotional interview.
This detail, inherited from previous versions of the character, allows Lemire a constant play of mirrors. Buddy is a man who plays a hero for a living, and discovers that he is no longer the hero of his own story. The running gag — people recognizing it for the wrong reason — gradually turns to bitterness.
There is an unexpected continuity there withRoyal City, written five years later, whose central character is a novelist who uses his family as raw material. In Lemire, the man who recounts his own life always ends up discovering himself to be a bad witness.
Lemire's other DC works
The runAnimal Manis not its only visit to the publisher, and it is better to know what is available around so as not to buy at random.
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.— a short series from the same period, about a Frankenstein creature employed by a government agency. Lighter, frankly pulp, with no thematic connection with the rest of his work.
Justice League Dark— he takes over this team of supernatural characters after his debut onAnimal Man. The tone is closer to the classic team book, and there is less consensus overall.
Green Arrow— his run on the archer, with Andrea Sorrentino on the drawings, is the one that launched their collaboration. It is an interesting entry point toGideon Falls, because we see Sorrentino beginning to deconstruct the page in a general public setting.
If you only read one DC title from Lemire, pick upAnimal Man. If you read two, add theGreen Arrowfor the meeting with Sorrentino.
What this run changed for Lemire
Animal Manis his first long-form series for a major publisher, and it comes just afterSweet Tooth. The connection is obvious once we see it: in both cases, an inadequate adult protects a child with a nature that surpasses him, in a world that wants this child.
The difference is the costume.Sweet Toothtreats the subject in an independent post-apocalypse, drawn by the author;Animal Mantreats him as a mainstream superhero, drawn by someone else. The success of the second showed that Lemire could transpose his obsessions into any setting - which opened up Marvel, then Valiant.
For a reader who discovers the author through his independent series, this run is the clearest demonstration that his writing does not depend on the editorial context. The failing father, the key child and the rejecting community are there, under a cloak.
Formats and where to find the run
The run exists in soft issues and collections. Editions bringing together several volumes have also circulated, as well as collections crossing the two series for the crossover.
This last point deserves attention: some editions of the crossover contain the numbers of the two titles in reading order, others only those ofAnimal Man. Check the list of numbers on the endpapers before purchasing — it's the only information you'll know what you're holding.
On the second-hand market, this run remains very accessible: it benefited from large print runs linked to the general relaunch of the publisher, and the collections are easy to find. This is the opposite of Lemire's independent series, whose first issues become rarer - a run from a major publisher almost never has the same rarity profile as a creator-owned title.
In French, the run was published with a clean division, which does not overlap with that of the American collections. As always, do not mix languages on the same series otherwise there will be gaps or overlaps.
Questions fréquentes
No. The run begins as part of a general relaunch designed as an entry point, and Buddy Baker is a sufficiently marginal character that no cumbersome past weighs on the story. This is one of the rare runs from a major publisher that we can recommend to someone who has never read superheroes.
It's not obligatory but it's better. The two series converge on a common event, and certain scenes ofAnimal Manassume facts that occur in the other title. A first reading ofAnimal Manonly remains coherent; the full experience requires both.
No. Despite its classification as a superhero series, the run is body horror, with explicit representations of deformed animal bodies. The contrast between the family setting and these images is precisely the desired effect, and it is disturbing by construction.
By the year of publication and the screenwriter, never by the number alone. The series has undergone several relaunches starting from scratch, so much so that the same number 1 can designate three different objects published decades apart. This is the typical case where a catalog needs to record more than the title and number.
It's the one that has the most consensus, with his work on Moon Knight at Marvel.Animal Manhowever, has a decisive advantage for a new reader: it is the more autonomous of the two. No knowledge of the editorial world is required, the character has no cumbersome past, and the run forms a whole with a clearly identifiable beginning and end. You can read it like you would read an independent graphic novel, which is not the case with most runs from a major publisher. with his work on Moon Knight at Marvel.Animal Manhas the advantage of being the more autonomous of the two: no knowledge of the universe is required, and the run forms a whole with a clearly identifiable beginning and end.
Three number 1s for a single character
Save the year and writer with your numbers, and never confuse two runs of the same title again.