Animal Man #22 Review

ANIMAL MAN #22

by Jeff Lemire, Steve Pugh and Francis Portela

WHAT THE ACTUAL !@#$?

So, the Dark's two big books are getting more and more effed-up by the issue. First, Soule gave us that grisly and completely insane "Whisky Tree" issue in SW #22, now Lemire gives us "Saw: The Comic Book" with Animal Man #22. But among all the death and chaos in Buddy's side of the story, there's a nice emotional side story going on involving Maxine in the Red. Lemire has a tendency to focus on his characters rather than the action, and that has never been more apparent. More than half of this issue is devoted to Maxine's adventures in the Red trying to bring back her brother. It feels like these scenes were plucked out of a little girl's imagination, which was then handed to Lemire, and he made a comic book out of it. And then, there's the Eli Roth gorefest taking place during the rest of the book. These scenes don't have the character beats or emotion that make the rest of the book great, but they're still a bloody good time. 

Francis Portela is the MAN! Seriously, his art during the Maxine scenes is just amazing! Not only does he capture emotion well, but his rendering of the surrealistic (and sometimes nasty) visuals of the Red are breathtaking. With Portela stealing the show, I can't help but feel that Pugh's art is overshadowed by Portela's. Pugh does continue to deliver great work, but Portela just steals the show. 

Animal Man #22 continues the upward trend of Animal Man. The last issue was a gross good time, while this issue balances the horror and the drama flawlessly.

STORY: 4.5/5

+ Maxine's scenes are delightful and imaginative

+ Buddy's scenes are delightful and bloody as !@#$

+ Some good emotion

- The scenes with the Splinterfolk lack the character of Maxine's scenes

ART: 4/5

+ Portela's visuals

+ Pugh nails the gore

- Portela steps up his work, and Pugh falls behind

VERDICT: 4.5/5