Animal Man, Vol. 2: Animal vs. Man
Lemire made a name for himself with the wistful, melancholy graphic novel Essex County (2007) and edged closer to mainstream success with the thrilling comic book Sweet Tooth. He is currently proving to be a superstar of DC’s New 52, most notably with the superhero-horror mash-up Animal Man. The second volume has a more scattershot approach to its narrative, jumping around quite a bit between characters and stories, though this is all in the service of expanding the hugely satisfying mythology. Family man and superhero Buddy Baker plunges into the Red, a conceptual world that joins all things of the flesh, to reach the pinnacle of his power; his daughter, Maxine, potential savior of humanity, learns the background of the great war with the Rot; and Hellblazer John Constantine drops in for some guest shenanigans. It’s plenty to juggle, and readers starting here will likely be lost, but for those willing to commit, Lemire makes the human end and the mythological end come together and sing. Meanwhile, the art team mixes gorgeously muscled superhumans with gnarly, flesh-squishing grotesquerie. --Jesse Karp