Elephantmen: Man and Elephantman #1

Written by Richard Starkings
Art by Axel Medellin

I feel like I need to judge this comic on two levels.  In terms of story, and seen as a new issue of Elephantmen, this issue is pretty good.  Hip Flask, who is more or less the main character of this sprawling series, wakes up one morning to discover himself in a human body.  Basically, he is living in the reverse of Kafka's Metamorphosis, and we watch as he goes about his day in a human body, going to work as usual, and running into many of the various character that make up the regular cast of this comic.

If we view it as an introduction to the series, albeit through the looking glass, it helps to establish a number of the relationships, even if characters like Tusk and Yvette are included.  Of course, it's a hoax, and an interesting one at that, even if it seems outside of character (I don't want to spoil everything).  So what we're left with is basically an Elseworlds story, which while kind of amusing, doesn't do anything to advance the series much.

And this is where we have to look at this comic from another viewpoint.  It seems that Starkings has interrupted the numbering of this title to create a 'jump-on' comic (similar to Marvel's current .1 initiative), which introduces all of the characters in a false light.  Furthermore, this is the start of the next arc, but I'm not sure that the last page of this story is going to be enough to draw in a new reader.  But then, Elephantmen always dances to its own beat, so it's all good.

In terms of art, Medellin keeps getting better and better, and I enjoyed the Charley Loves Robots back-up, which gets recapped and extended by two pages here.