Animal Man #2

SPOILERS AHEAD 

What Happened Previously: The Bakers are having money trouble and Maxine wants a pet. Buddy says he can't give her one because he can't bond to any one animal because of his powers. He goes off to stop a dangerous man with a gun that refuses to believe his daughter died at the hospital. Buddys' eyes bleed even though he wasn't injured. Returning home he has a disturbing dream of things to come. He awakes to find his family in the backyard with Maxine surrounded by dead animals she summoned because she wanted a pet.

Story Title: "The Hunt part 2: Maps"

Thoughts: It's hilarious, perhaps unintentionally so (?) how the family reacts to all this. Yes their bothered but once Cliff gets over his shock he wants to film the whole thing. He does inside the house and causally goes outside with a shovel when Buddy tells him to cover up the graves. Ellen just wants the dead animals off her counter tops and for some reason Maxine thinks she can give a skeleton milk. Buddy is miffed that he has a red veiny "tattoo" that won't go away.

Maxine calmly explains that it will go away but it's actually a map of a place they need to go. It's more than a little spooky that she knows so much and thinks dead creatures are "pretty." More so when they find out someone wasn't pleased to find Cliff in their yard with a shovel. He calls them all freaks, hurting Cliff and pissing off Buddy. Until his hand turns into a bird claw, Maxine means it when she says to let her brother go. She doesn't want to turn Mr. Duffy's hand back but does so when Ellen tell her to. Only it doesn't come back the same.

Ellen doesn't take this well and is scared someone will take Maxine away from them. Buddy plans to go with Maxine to this "Red Place" and leave Ellen with Cliff to keep them safe. I'm greatly amused by Maxine telling them what to do while wearing shades. The WTF scale seems to be competing with JLD as the stomachs of hippos at the Zoo expand to gross levels.  Maxine takes Buddy into the red and the hippos give birth to the things Buddy saw in his nightmare. They feed on the zoo workers then take their forms.

Say What?: 

Buddy calls Maxine "Little Wing." I don't know if it was ever her nickname but it was Dick Graysons' nickname for Jason Todd when he was Robin.

Verdict: A lot more wild than last issue. I liked it better but I'm still unsure if I like it enough to keep. Loved the family moments and interested in seeing where this arc takes it.