There were some decent reads in the first wave of DC Comics’ New 52 #0 issues — “Action Comics” #0, “Animal Man” #0, “Green Lantern” #0 and surprisingly “Green Arrow” #0 kept my attention. Hoping “Swamp Thing” #0 tops them all.
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September 9, 2012
Tonight’s Homework — “Swamp Thing” #0
Posted by yourfriendandy under Geek | Tags: DC Comics, kano, photo, scott snyder, swamp thing |[3] Comments
September 10, 2012 at 10:09 am
Update: It did.
September 12, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Animal Man is my favourite DC series right now (along with Blue Beetle and Team 7).
What makes Animal Man so special is the way Lemire deconstructs the superhero mythology. For example:
1) Superheroes tend to monopolize the attention of the reader, while Animal Man is constantly upstaged by the supporting characters of the series.
2) Superhero comics usually don’t give much importance to the private life of their main character (they tend to focus only on the “costume on” part); in Animal Man, on the contrary, the private life of Buddy is the main theme of the series. In fact, it is rather infrequent to see Buddy with his costume on.
3) Buddy is not perfect, and is not perceived as perfect by other people: in fact, in the 11th issue, when he tells his wife “It’s going to be okay”, she replies “Don’t give me anything of that superhero crap, Buddy.” That cut and thrust perfectly enlightens the philosophy of the series.
September 12, 2012 at 6:50 pm
I too am loving “Animal Man” — it along with “Swamp Thing,” “Batman,” “Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E.” (also written by Jeff Lemire) and “Aquman” top my New 52 list. They’re all awesome and at the top of my stack each month.
Based on your reasons for liking “Animal Man,” I think you’ll really dig “Aquaman.” All three of these points are relevant to that book, too (obviously it’s a little more “superhero-y”), but the main one is he’s the co-star in his own book and is a man of very few words. It works damn well. Give the new HC a shot if you have an extra $20 — totally worth it.
Also, like Animal Man, Aquaman is a character typically scoffed at based solely on his character name which is unfortunate.
If you do check it out, report back on what you thought!