Animal Man

Animal Man (Bernhard "Buddy" Baker) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As a result of being in proximity to an exploding extraterrestrial spaceship, Buddy Baker acquires the ability to temporarily "borrow" the abilities of animals (such as a bird's flight or the proportionate strength of an ant). Using these powers, Baker fights crime as the costumed superhero Animal Man.

Created by writer Dave Wood and artist Carmine Infantino, Buddy Baker first appeared in '' Strange Adventures'' #180 (September 1965) and adopted the name Animal Man in issue #190. Animal Man was a minor character for his first twenty years, never gaining the popularity of other DC heroes such as Batman or Superman. He made only five, non-consecutive appearances in ''Strange Adventures'' (four of which were reprinted in ''Adventure Comics''), followed by two appearances in ''Wonder Woman'', two in ''Action Comics'', and two in ''DC Comics Presents'', appearing in consecutive issues of each. These eleven stories constitute the entirety of his pre-Crisis appearances. He later became one of several DC properties, such as Shade, the Changing Man and Sandman, to be revived and revamped in the late 1980s for a more mature comics audience. As seen in ''Strange Adventures'' #195, he was billed as a "full-time hero", an aspect that would be the most changed by the revamp.

Publication history

Beginnings

Film stunt man Buddy Baker, to whom aliens gave animal-themed powers, debuted in '' Strange Adventures'' #180 ( cover-dated September 1965), in the story "I Was the Man with Animal Powers" by writer Dave Wood and penciler Carmine Infantino.''Strange Adventures'' #180
at the Grand Comics Database.Animal Man
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on August 31, 2015. Baker gained a costume and a name, initially A-Man, in ''Strange Adventures'' #190 (July 1966).''Strange Adventures'' #190
at the Grand Comics Database. He continued as a semi-regular feature in the book, making occasional cover appearances, through #201 (June 1967).

His subsequent appearances were sporadic. In 1980, he had a guest appearance in ''Wonder Woman'' #267–268. His main appearances in the remainder of the decade were as a member of the " Forgotten Heroes", a team of minor DC heroes. It was in that capacity that he appeared in the company-wide crossover storyline ''Crisis on Infinite Earths''.

Grant Morrison revival

In the late 1980s, following the slate-cleaning ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' event, DC began employing innovative writers, many of them young and from the U.K., to revamp some of their old characters. In the period that saw Alan Moore reinvent the Swamp Thing, Animal Man was reimagined by Scottish writer Grant Morrison. Morrison wrote the first 26 issues of the ''Animal Man'' comic book, published between 1988 and 1990, with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood; Brian Bolland provided the covers.

Although the series was initially conceived as a four-issue limited series, it was upgraded into an ongoing series following strong sales. Consequently, Morrison developed several long-running plots, introducing mysteries, some of which were not explained until a year or two later. The title featured the protagonist both in and—increasingly—out of costume. Morrison made the title character an 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, as husband, father, and provider, was an ongoing theme.

The series championed vegetarianism and animal rights, causes Morrison supported. In one issue, Buddy helps a band of self-described 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 menaces, such as an ancient, murderous spirit that was hunting him; brutal, murderous Thanagarian warriors; and even the easily defeated red robots of an elderly villain who was tired of life. The series made deep, sometimes esoteric references to the entire DC canon, including B'wana Beast, the Mirror Master, and Arkham Asylum.

Soon after the launch of his series, Animal Man briefly became a member of Justice League Europe, appearing in several early issues of their series.

Following Morrison's run, Peter Milligan wrote a six-issue story featuring several surreal villains and heroes, exploring questions about identity and quantum physics and utilizing the textual cut-up technique popularized by William Burroughs. Tom Veitch and Steve Dillon then took over for 18 issues, in which Buddy returned to his work as a movie stuntman and explored mystical totemic aspects of his powers. Jamie Delano wrote 29 issues with Steve Pugh as artist (with occasional issues by other artists, like Will Simpson), giving the series a more horror-influenced feel with a " suggested for mature readers" label on the cover, beginning with issue #51.

Vertigo

After Jamie Delano's first six issues, wherein, among other things, he killed off the central character of Buddy Baker, created the "Red" (analogous to the "Green" of Swamp Thing) and resurrected Buddy as an "animal avatar", the series became one of the charter titles of DC's new mature readers Vertigo imprint with #57, and its ties to the DC Universe became more tenuous. Vertigo was establishing itself as a distinct "mini-universe" with its own continuity, only occasionally interacting with the continuity of the regular DC Universe. The title evolved into a more horror-themed book, with Buddy eventually becoming a non-human animal god. The superhero elements of the book were largely removed—since Buddy was reborn as a kind of animal elemental, and legally deceased, he discarded his costume, stopped associating with other heroes, and generally abandoned his crimefighting role. He co-founded the Life Power Church of Maxine to further an environmentalist message, drifting along U.S. 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 ''Animal Man'' Annual #1, focusing on Buddy's daughter Maxine. It was the third part of Vertigo's crossover event " The Children's Crusade". This event ran across the Annuals of the five then-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 featured a re-reborn Buddy as a white-haired shamanistic figure before the series was canceled after the 89th issue due to declining sales.

Back in the DCU

After the cancellation of his own series, Animal Man made cameos in several other titles, returning to his standard costumed form.

He has been utilized in most of the recent DC company-wide crossovers fighting alongside other less-mainstream heroes, including ''Infinite Crisis'' and '' 52'', the latter of which was co-written by Grant Morrison, as well as ''Justice League of America'' #25.

''The Last Days of Animal Man'' miniseries

In 2009 Gerry Conway and artist Chris Batista produced ''The Last Days of Animal Man'', a six-issue limited series telling the tale of Animal Man in the future. The series portrays a middle-aged Animal Man in the year 2024 on his final adventure.

Relaunch

As part of ''The New 52'', DC Comics relaunched ''Animal Man'' with issue #1 in September 2011 with writer Jeff Lemire and artist Travel Foreman

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