The first page of the comic is an interview column from a magazine called The Believer. Here we learn that Buddy Baker (AKA Animal Man) is not only a superhero, but also an actor and activist; a favorite among hipsters, so claims the interviewer.

The following pages depict Buddy Baker’s home life and interaction with his family, which in some ways is reminiscent of Robert Kirkman’s Invincible. Here, more emphasis is placed on Buddy Baker the husband and father than his crime-fighting alter ego.

Animal Man takes a twist pretty quickly from being a lighthearted story about a regular guy struggling to balance home life, fame and crime fighting, to that of a dark, disturbing mystery.

It also became one of my favorite comics of all time.

Animal Man issues 2 and 3 have since been released and have remained engaging. There is a certain menacing feeling that permeates the story, and it seems that there will be some tie-ins with Swamp Thing.

I regret having missed out on the Grant Morrison run and perhaps I will catch up on that series sometime. But for now I could not be happier with the treatment writer Jeff Lemire is giving this revived title.

Animal Man #1 ”The Hunt Part 1: Warning from the Red”  was written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Travel foreman and inked by Dan Green and Travel Foreman.

However I do shoot arrows once or twice a week, both in a local indoor league, and at an outdoor range with a nice view of Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago. I shoot an Olympic style recurve bow. None of my arrows concuss, nor do they allow the control of boats; those are green arrows. My arrows are pretty straight-forward: they put holes in targets. Before we get to issue #1 “Living a Life of Privilege”, let’s talk about archery. To grossly oversimplify, the world of archery is divided into two camps – people that shoot targets, and people that shoot animals. Although I don’t get sad when people shoot animals (responsibly of course), I’m in the target camp. Target archery is all about repetition and repetition (see what I did there?). You stand the same way, draw the bow the same length, anchor the nock of the arrow in the same place, and get really good at not gripping your bow all tight. Because you know the exact distance to the target, it’s possible to adjust a bow sight to give you accurate shots, as long as all your repetitive motions are exactly the same every time.

Hunting is an entirely different skill set. You don’t know where your target is going to be. The repetition is still key, but now you have to adjust the angle of the shot based on your estimate of the distance. Hunters still use sights, but they’ll usually have multiple pins in them that represent different distances. Obviously, Green Arrow is a hunter, not a target shooter, he eschews sights altogether though, and just magically shoots arrows real good, as seen in the panel of Ollie blasting a computer-hackery arrow. Yes, some of his arrows hack computers.

So, how do you hit stuff if you don’t use a sight? Well there are two schools of thought there. One method uses the tip of the arrow as a sight. You anchor the nock of the arrow in the same place (typically under the chin), and then put the tip of the arrow a few feet below what you want to hit. It’s awkward at first, but it actually works very well. The second way, which I’ve never actually seen done outside of movies and Green Arrow #1, is to sight down the shaft of the arrow.

It seems to make sense to sight down the arrow, but in practice it just is not sustainable. There are ‘instinctive’ archers that don’t use sights, nor the tip of the arrow as a sight, they just build a lot of muscle memory that allows them to put the arrow where they want to, so we’ll assume that Oliver Queen is one of those. That said – if Oliver wants to seriously impress the nerd-archer set, he should consider anchoring his shot underneath his chin like a professional. His over under finger grip is reasonable, except that typically you use two fingers on the bottom and one on top, rather than just two fingers total. Of course bows and arrows are not a science, they are an art – so if Green Arrow wants to shoot like he’s in a movie, go for it. Don’t let Archery Haters get you down GA.

What about his bow? It’s pretty sweet – it starts out as a big old timey telephone,

Then expands into a compound bow that looks like a recurve bow,

The advantage to a compound bow (think, Dukes of Hazzard bow), is that the amount of force you use to pull it back tapers off to the point of being tremendously easy to hold at full draw. The cam system also allows the arrow to go super-duper fast. It is the typical choice of hunters, as it is a favor to the animal to make your arrow go super fast and hit pretty hard. The advantage of recurve bows is that they look way more badass, but are harder to pull back. I am a fan of recurve bows, largely because I am a fan of Lord of the Rings. Oliver likes the look of a recurve, but wants to make sure his arrows go super fast, plus it needs to be small enough to shrink down into a telephone thing. I would really like to have a technological super bow that stows away in my backpack. Just last week while stringing my bow, I didn’t get the string on there quite right, and only realized it a moment before my bow gave everyone at the range a physics lesson by completely exploding all over the place. It was terrifying. No one was hurt, but everyone looked at me like a bow had just exploded in my hand.

Anyway, bow safety aside, what does Green Arrow do with his green arrows? He fights bad guys. Why does he do this? Because he’s super rich? That is the only explanation I can gather from issue #1. He mentions some past event where something bad happened that he could have prevented, but didn’t. I guess that is what passes for back story so far. I can get behind the idea of a guy that does something, vaguely alludes to why he does it, but doesn’t exactly clear it up right away. I mean, Oliver is going to develop as a character over time, right? We don’t want to waste a whole issue #1 with his entire life story, right? Oliver is rich, he’s clearly modeled after a crime fighting Steve Jobs, just like Batman, and oh – a gazillion other rich crime fighters, perpetuating the myth that the only way we can prosper as a society is if rich white dudes enforce societal rules using a set of anachronistic weapons, working around the laws and systems that we, as a people, have agreed to abide by and rely on. Really though, a guy shooting green arrows is way cooler than people calling 911, or voting to maintain a healthy education system which encourages prosperity for all people, regardless of their economic background.

Yeah, a comic book about voting, about the everyday heroes that make our world possible, would just be… boring.

I had no idea what to expect out of this comic book, but approached it with an open mind and a bit of excitement. I have to admit that the visit from Superman during the first half of the book nearly ruined it for me as his cameo felt out-of-place. But the second half pulled me right back in. The stuff that happens at the archeological dig site is dark and should lead to an interesting story.

Yanic Paquette’s art does the series justice, but I will say his rendition of Superman could have used a bit of work…. he looks to have taken one too many punches to the face from Doomsday.

Much to fans’ delight at San Diego’s Comic-Con in July, newcomers Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner announced that the summer’s medical horror smash hit will return this December with a one shot tale of black magic and organ-swapping in the upcoming WITCH DOCTOR: THE RESUSCITATION.

“I’ve got a huge list of story ideas for WITCH DOCTOR — and THE RESUSCITATION is one I’ve been looking forward to doing for years,” said Seifert. “It’s fun and strange, and it does the trick of being a good introduction to the series while also setting the stage for our next storyline. And on top of that, Lukas gets to draw some really awesome monsters and stuff, which is pretty much the point of doing this series!”

“We’re excited to expand on the first miniseries, and this story definitely hits some new high notes,” added Ketner. “If you love reading about the supernatural as much as I love drawing it, then you won’t want to miss this… or the rest of the series!”

Offering a great jumping on point for new readers, WITCH DOCTOR: THE RESUSCITATION will ask important questions of its readers. For instance, if you wake up in a bathtub of ice with a surgical incision on your side, but the hospital says you’ve still got two kidneys, where do you go for a second opinion? To the expert, Dr. Vincent Morrow, WITCH DOCTOR, of course!

WITCH DOCTOR: THE RESUSCITATION, a 32-page full-color medical horror one shot comic for $2.99, will be on sale in stores December 14 and will be available for order in the upcoming October issue of Previews.

THE LAST BATTLE has been translated in many languages, and found great success in Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil and more, but has not yet been available in English. Image Comics is now proud to introduce THE LAST BATTLE to American readers.

“The ‘peplum’ or ‘sword and sandals’ genre was very popular in Italy, mostly in the seventies,” said Faraci. “As a child my imagination was formed by the gladiators, centurions, slaves, rebels and charming maidservants of those films. As a student, I studied, learning how the ancient world truly was… and found it fascinating. In THE LAST BATTLE, I tried to transmit the ‘peplum’ emotions of my youth with a correct, trustworthy historical approach.”

“This project required me to be as well-versed in Roman and Celtic history as I could be to create the visual authenticity required for Tito’s script,” Brereton explained. “An added layer of truth in Tito’s script spurred my research and made the story that much more exciting to illustrate for me, and I believe readers will become as immersed in this ancient world as I was painting it.”

THE LAST BATTLE, set in 52 BCE Gaul, begins as Caesar’s forces lay siege to the barbarian stronghold of Alesia in a battle which would forever change history; while the rebel Cammius, who once fought for Rome, leads a second barbarian army to attack the combined Legions of Rome from behind. Caesar dispatches his favorite general, Caius Rodius, to track through the untamed countryside, and bring back the rebel’s head. Who better to hunt Cammius, than the man who taught him the very skills he now uses to defy Rome? Tasked by a power-hungry leader he no longer trusts, to murder the man he raised as a son, Rodius questions whether the Roman “road of stone and blood” is a path he still wants to follow.

THE LAST BATTLE, an 80-page full-color graphic novel of intense historic war fiction for $7.99, will be on sale in stores December 21, and will be available for order in the upcoming November issue of Previews.

This three issue miniseries will begin shipping in a week and, like the break out successful MTV Television series, will appeal to the fans of the original films as well as cultural icons such as the Twilight Saga and the Vampire Diaries. Written by David Tischman (True Blood, Bite Club) with art by Stephen Mooney (Angel) and covers by Joe Corroney (True Blood: Tainted Love), the series will act as both an introduction to new fans of Teen Wolf and augment the viewing experience of the hit MTV show.

“TEEN WOLF reimagines the worn-out werewolf genre, and turns it into a modern story of horror and hot love,” explained writer David Tischman. “The scripts are so smart, and I worked with [showrunner] Jeff Davis to keep the same scary horror we see each week on the show; the personal horror of Scott dealing with being a werewolf, and the predatory horror of the werewolf culture. But I also really wanted to focus on the relationship moments between Scott and Allison. In those scenes, I think everybody remembers what that first love was like — the scary, gut-wrenching “does she like me?” and “can I touch that?” moments we all have growing up. The book’s been a lot of fun to write, and I can’t wait to see what Jeff comes up with for Season 2.”

Scott McCall’s life is a living nightmare. Sure, he’s co-captain of the Beacon Hills High Lacrosse Team and his hot new girlfriend, Allison, adores him, but Scott was bitten by a werewolf. And every time he gets excited, the claws come out. And the hair. And the fangs. That might be okay, except Allison’s father leads a specially trained group of Hunters who want him dead. Scott’s managed to keep his secret safe, but what happens when he can’t reverse the process?

TEEN WOLF: BITE ME #1 (JUL110434), a full color comic will be on sale in stores on September 21 for $3.99, along with a limited photo variant cover at participating retailers.