Animal Man has quietly become one of the best books of the New 52, and recently, the book wrapped up its first major crossover, Rotworld. And Rotworld ended in a truly terrible place for Buddy Baker. Note: You won’t want to read this preview without having read Animal Man #18.
Animal Man, as tackled by Jeff Lemire’s writing and Steve Pugh’s artwork, is largely about the walls Buddy Baker has constructed between his family and his superheroics collapsing, both under the strain of Buddy’s day job and as the Red, the source of his powers, and its politics have inevitably pushed their way into his life. He’s always been a family man, a regular joe, and that’s slowly been destroyed by the Rot.
Buddy narrowly managed to save his daughter… and wound up, in the process, losing his son, Cliff.
Buddy hasn’t taken this well, but as we can see, his family hasn’t fared much better…