Today, I’m happy to have my son, Connor, return to the blog for yet another of his graphic novel reviews. Thankfully, this is becoming something of a regular occasion, and I personally will be enjoying it for as long as it lasts.
Animal Man, Vol. 1: The Hunt by Jeff Lemire
Genre: Superhero Comics
Series: Animal Man #1
Publisher: DC Comics (May 1, 2011)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Length: 144 pages
Connor’s Rating: 2 stars
I had no idea what this book was about when I got it. My dad told me the basics about Animal Man though: he can talk to animals and use any of their powers he wants. It sounded pretty cool, so when dad told me he really didn’t think I’d like it too much I wondered why. Now I know why. This book was not my thing at all, one of the first New 52 books I have thought was BAD.
Animal Man is a retired superhero who lives with his family and tries to be another normal guy. His wife and kids know he is a superhero, but he has put his past life behind him. Now, he spends most of his time doing ordinary stuff and trying to help his young daughter control the Animal Powers she inherited from him. Only problem is her abilities catch the attention of weird, scary monsters from some other dimension called The Red, who come to ours looking to steal Animal Man’s daughter.
Nothing about this book worked for me. The story was pretty lame, being about an ordinary guy using animal powers to save his family. I didn’t like Buddy Baker very much or his family. And a story about a guy trying to save his family is something even I have seen a million times. Don’t even get me started about The Red, because it did not make sense and was boring.
What was worse than the story was the art. Weird and violent. I’m not saying it was bad, because I’m not an artist, but I didn’t enjoy it at all. Other people might love this stuff, I guess, but not me.
As you can tell, I didn’t like this book at all. It made me dislike Animal Man more than like him and wasn’t fun to read at all. The art wasn’t my thing, and there was too much violence. Hopefully, if you try this book, you will enjoy it more than I did. And I am sorry this review is so short, but there wasn’t anything I really wanted to say about The Hunt.
Well, I hope you liked this review, and if you are on Goodreads, friend me any time to ask questions about my reviews.
About Connor (In his dad’s words):
Connor is a preteen who enjoys graphic novels (DC Comics are preferred), superhero movies (Captain America is his favorite), watching episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl as well as the NFL, NCAA football, and the NBA on t.v., will happily accept any and all caps (because you just can’t have too many caps), and whose favorite music revolves around pop favorites of the moment such as Cake by the Ocean (Clean version because dad is still alive) as well as anything by Fall Out Boy — except for the new Ghostbusters (I’m Not Afraid) song which Connor denies they were ever involved with. And, no, Connor did not have any input into my paragraph about him. Being a dad does have it’s privileges. 🙂
bookwraiths.com 
Always thought ‘Animal Man’ was a hard sell when you had characters like Vixen and Beast Boy around too. Can see what you mean about the art. Looks rather crowded in the frames.
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