Animal Man (comic book)

Publication history

Although the series was originally conceived as a four-issue limited series , it was upgraded into a continuing series following strong sales.

The series was released in New Comics Code Authority seal of approval. When DC lancé icts Vertigo imprint in 1993 Animal Man Was Moved to the imprint Beginning with issue # 57. ^[1]

Grant Morrison’s run (1988-1990)

Morrison developed several long-running plots, introducing mysteries, some of which were not explained until a year or two later. The title features the protagonist both in and out of costume. Morrison made the title character everyman figure living in a universe populated by superheroes, aliens , and fantastic technology. Buddy’s wife Ellen, his son Cliff (9 years old at the beginning of the series), and his daughter Maxine (5 years old) featured prominently in most storylines, and his relationship with them.

The championed series vegetarianism and animal rights , causes Morrison himself supported. In one issue, Buddy helps a band of self-confessed eco-terrorists save a pod of dolphins . Enraged at a fisherman’s brutality, Buddy drops him into the ocean, intending for him to drown. Ironically, the man is saved by a dolphin.

Buddy fought several threats, such as an ancient, murderous spirit that was hunting him; brutal, murderous alien Thanagarian warriors; and tired of being tired of an elderly villager who was tired of life. The series made deep, sometimes esoteric, reference to the entire canon DC, including B’wana Beast , Mirror Master , and Arkham Asylum .

Post-Morrison (1990-1993)

Following Morrison’s run, Peter Milligan wrote a 6-issue story (# 27-32) featuring several surreal villains and heroes, exploring issues about identity and quantum physics and utilizing the textual cut-up technique popularized by William S. Burroughs . Tom Veitch and Steve Dillon then took over for 18 issues (# 33-50) in which Buddy returns to his work as a stuntman and explores mystical totemic aspects of his powers. Jamie Delano wrote 29 issues (# 51-79) with Steve Pugh as an artist, giving the series a more horror- influenced feel with a “suggested for mature readers “label on the cover.

Vertigo (1993-1995)

After Jamie Delano’s first six issues, among other things, he’s killed off the central character of Buddy Baker, created the “Red” and resurrected Buddy as an “animal avatar” (analogous to the “Green” of Swamp Thing ) , the series became one of the charters of DC’s new mature readers Vertigoimprint with # 57, and its ties to the DC Universe became more tenuous. Vertigo has been building itself as a separate “mini-universe” with its own continuity, only occasionally interacting with the DC Universe. The title evolved into a more horror-themed book, with Buddy eventually becoming a non-human animal god. The super-hero elements of the book have been largely removed – since he has been reborn as an elemental animal, he is a discarded member of the family. He co-founded the Life Power Church of Maxine to further an environmentalist message, drifting along US Route 66 to settle in Montana. Delano’s final issue was # 79, culminating in Buddy dying several more times.

Between issues # 66 and # 67, Delano also penned the Annual Man Animal # 1, focusing on Maxine’s Buddy’s daughter. It was the third part of Vertigo’s attempt to create a crossover event titled ” The Children’s Crusade “. This event ran through the Annuals of Vertigo Titles – Animal Man , Swamp Thing , Black Orchid , The Books of Magic, and Doom Patrol – book-ended by two Children’s Crusade issues co-written by Neil Gaiman , and starring his Dead Boy Detectives .

A brief run by Jerry Prosser and Fred Harper (# 80-89) featured a re-reborn Buddy as a white-haired shamanistic figure before the series was canceled after the 89th issue of declining sales.

Return to DC (2011-2014)

The character of the new comics as part of The New 52 , following the Flashpoint storyline, Jeff Lemire and artists Travel Foreman and Dan Green . ^[2] [3] Maxine begins to display the powers of necromancy-based animal control. ^[4] Buddy is then forced to go on a journey to discover the source of this power and his own. He finds it in a life force known as the “Red”, the animal counterpart to the “Green” from Swamp Thing. Much like the Green, there have been multiple creatures chosen to represent the Red over the years; a few became evil and became known as the “Rot”. ^[5] This led into a crossover entre Swamp Thing and Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE titled “Rotworld”.

“Nature of reality” as a theme

Morrison consistently manipulated and deconstructed the fourth wall – the imaginary barrier separating the reader from the setting of the story which also extends to the characters and their creators. One visual expression of this theme in a state of the art of erasure – often juxtaposing the artist’s pencil drafts with the finished art. Additionally, some characters become aware that they are being viewed by a large audience, and are able to interact with the borders of the panels on the page. The series is under way to the various Earths of the pre- Crisis DC Multiverse .

Issue # 5, “The Coyote Gospel,” features Crafty, a thinly disguised Wile E. Coyote (of the Road Runner cartoons ). ^[1] Weary of the endless cycle of violence which he and his fellow cartoonists are subject to, Crafty appeals to his cartoonist-creator. A bargain is struck by animal man’s “comic” world instead. The issue concludes with a series of “pull-back” shots beginning with a close-up of Crafty’s bleeding body (and white blood), culminating with a panel depicting the cartoonist’s immense hand, coloring Crafty’s blood with red paint. The issue is a religious allegoryand a juxtaposition of the various layers of reality: comic book to real life. It was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Single Issue of 1989.

The culmination of this self-referentiality is Animal Man’s eventual discovery that all of the inhabitants of the DC universe are fictional characters . He even meets Grant Morrison, the callous “god” who controls his life.

Buddy suffers to tragedy when his wife and children are brutally murdered while he is away on a case. ^[6] Buddy tracks down the killers to exact revenge. His search leads _him_ into a comic book Limbo , a plane of residence for characters arent Who Actively written about. Animal Man Converts His Writer in Issue # 26, Morrison finds he can not wait for the dead of the “realism”. ^[7] (See comic book death )

Grant Morrison also explains to him that he is a vegetarian only because he is a vegetarian too, and every trait could have been changed at a whim. “They might do the trick and go for a meat-eater ,” Morrison says. In issue # 27, the first of Peter Milligan’s run, Buddy indeed bites into a horse.

Awards

Brian Bolland won the Eisner Award for Best Cover Artist in 1992 for his work on Animal Man . ^[8] The series also earned several nominations in 1989, for Best Single Issue (# 5), Best Writer (Grant Morrison), and Best Series. ^[9]

Collected editions

Grant Morrison’s run on the following collections:

Peter Milligan’s collection on the following collection:

Tom Veitch’s run on the following collection:

Jamie Delano’s part of the run in the following collections:

Jerry Prosser’s part of the run will be collected in the following collection:

Jeff Lemire is a member of the following collections:

References