The Last Days of Animal Man #1 - DC

I was a huge fan of this original series. Especially the Grant Morrison issues. He really was the one responsible for bringing this character out of the closet . . as it were . . and back into the limelight. He brought him up to date and reintegrated him as an essential character in the DC Universe. However, ever since Grant left that series, it seems as if everyone has been on this quest to deconstruct this character. Especially in the last couple of years where he's appeared in 52, and Countdown, and as part of an ensemble in a couple of minis. It was great to see him again, but it just didn't seem like anyone realized the potential that this character has. Which, unfortunately, had me worried when I saw that Gerry Conway was going to be the writer for this book. Not to take anything away from Gerry's talent . . he's been around a long time, and has contributed a lot of work, and classics, to the DC Universe, but . . he's never really been thought of along the lines of the groundbreaking writers such as Grant, or Alan Moore, or even Keith Giffen. But, that may all change with this series. Really though, it depends on how this one plays out. It's set in the near future, and we come into Buddy's life as he's really having problems connecting with the Earth's morphogenetic field. In fact he's completely lost touch with the Galactic morphogenetic field that he's been using the last couple of years. Essentially I see this series going one of 2 directions, either this will be used as a foundation for reinventing and invigorating this character, or . . this truly will be the chronicle of the Last Days of Animal Man . . quite literally. I would really much prefer to see him reinvented and brought back out of the closet. And if Gerry can pull that off . . it would be incredible. Unfortunately, I think the other possibility will be the actuality. And that's sad. But . . . there's still hope, so . . we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, we'll get the privilege of some fantastic Brian Bolland covers, and . . Chris Batista does a pretty good job at the interiors. It really has an overall feel for the old book. Personally, I can't wait to see how it all plays out.