Adventures In The Bargain Bin

     Anima - A Review Part One 

                                                     

       

        Here's an interesting story about how I discovered Anima. Total accident by the way which I'm sure happens to everyone and sometimes it kind of works out and everyone is happy. I was in my local comic shop going through the dollar comics and I happened upon Anima. I had recently read one of the Vertigo issues and loved it so I got an almost completed run. All I'm missing are issues 8,10,12, and 13. The series only ran for 15 issues but I didn't know that at the time. I've been fortunate enough to find almost complete sets in the dollar comics and they were all in amazing shape which is a rarity I think. Anyway I got the Kevin Smith run of Green Hornet minus a couple issues for a buck a piece as well which I thought was great. If you have the patience, you can find a lot of great books in among the crap that no one ever wanted. Anima excited me though because I thought these were the issues before the jump to Vertigo so I thought it was a cool find. As I'm heading home I suddenly realized that it wasn't Anima at all. It was Animal Man. 

         I just bought a crap load of comics I'd never heard of! Had I taken out my phone I would have known that right away but sometimes I only use my CLZ app for important stuff so figuring out that I don't own an issue of Anima was something I should have known. Anima, Animal Man, all in the same general area right? Wrong! Anima falls into the typical 90's comics that no one remembers or even bought. I was already in so I figured why not read them? If it sucks I could always trade them later for something half way decent. Why is this blog in two parts? Well, I needed to set this up. I wanted to let people know that these comics were bought in excitement because I enjoyed Animal Man #58 so much. Imagine my surprise when the reality hit! Then I began to read them and even tried to find out what this comic was all about. 

          There's a huge article about the character on Wikipedia but the character was a part of the Bloodlines event and gained her powers from an attack by parasitic aliens, was sacrificed by a cult and a lot of stuff happens. A lot of stuff. It's an interesting premise and not something you encounter very often in comics, but then again, this came out in 1994 so a lot could go wrong. If you do plan on reading this just skip the issue. If you're a completist then pick them up but they the first issue isn't vey good. Part of the problem is that a lot of debut issues give you some back story, maybe even a reason to like the characters, but that doesn't happen here. 

      Issue one just begins with Courtney who just ran away from home and she encounters a band and they all become friends. What you don't get is who she is, why she has this strange power that makes a monster pop out and makes people age. If you haven't read the Blood Line stuff you won't get who this character is, what happened to her and why her mother is being held in a lab somewhere. Part of the problem is that it's a bit boring which isn't what you want in a debut issue. The goal is to get readers engaged in the story you're telling but Anima doesn't have that. No, it's assumed that you've read the other series and there's no handy notes to tell you what back issue contain the Bloodlines story arc. There could be some great writing here yet it just stumbles out of the gate with a character who isn't even explained. 

      Issue two is where we begin to build up momentum. You can see the wheels turning on this one. It seemes like there's a definate direction the writers are heading toward. We also get a glimpse at who the villian is. The action here feels more like a first issue which is odd because you want to hook readers in with a solid story yet Anima didn't do that in the first issue. If I had picked this up back when it was first released I wouldn't have continued reading it. What's also cool is the appearance of Scarecrow and his fear toxin. The art here isn't bad, but it looks like a comic that emerged from the 90's. Not terrible arwork and it matches the pace of the story if that makes sense. 

        It's in this issue we can see something develop and we move toward something interesting. The gang goes to Rain City in hopes of making a dent in the music scene but things go a little sideways. The central piece is a place called New Dawn which looks likes your typical rehab facility but looks can be deceiving can't they? In typical comic book fashion New Dawn is a front for something else entirely and we get to see our first villian which is kind of cool even if he's borrowed from another comic.The reason Courtney ran away from home was a decision she made so she wouldn't hurt anyone. Anima ages people when he attacks and that kind of power isn't something you want to unleash if you can help it. The fact that she doesn't fully understand her powers makes for an interesting read, but then has no choice, 

         She and her friends are held captive and in a shocking reveal we meet Scarecrow. You know the Batman villian? Yeah, he's just as evil here as you would expect. Anima is unleashed so everyone can escape New Dawn but Scarecrow's fear toxin makes an appearance and the issue ends. While issue one seemed to drag a bit issue two finally begins to show some promise. We understand the reluctance Courtney has at bringing out Anima because she doesn't fully understand what Anima can do but as she brings him out she can feel him growing stronger. Anima is not your typical hero or villian though. He's something else entirely and it's a shame that the creators didn't flesh this out more and give us a better debut story. 

        It's this second issue that shows the most promise. You can see something begin to form and it's interesting but not perfect. It still stumbles a bit, but it does begin to find its footing. I was interested in New Dawn and what they were trying to do. It's a typical comic plot but one that's done well. They study fear and what better person than the Scarecrow as your director? The final scene is a great setup for the next issue. A Batman villian in another comic is a good twist but at the same time you can't help but wonder why theyd didn't try and create somethng new. Anima is original and takes a few risks. Some like issue one don't do so well, but then you get into issue two and you begin to see plots emerge and it feels like they're heading toward something. Is it worth following them? I think so. Anima may not have been perfect but there are worse comics out there that never improve at all. They just exist which isn't a good thing. 

       The final verdict here on issues one and two are two stars for issue one and a solid three for number two. It's an interesting premise but the delivery is kind of wonky and who wants to read another miniseries just to get the back story on a character most of us have never heard of? Do you really want to read another DC crossover even just to figure out how this character came to be? Maybe it would help us all out a little and give us the answers we seek.