WHO COUNTS IN COUNTDOWN to Final Crisis? – Episode #21 – Animal Man by Bruce! MacIntosh Countdown to Adventure is a limited series from DC Comics that – to the delight of many fans – picks right up where 52 left off, and endeavors to answer lingering questions about the fate of the unlikely team of Starfire, Adam Strange and Animal Man. This week, we'll examine more closely the background of the latter character – Buddy Baker the Animal Man – and highlight some his more interesting appearances over the last three decades.
Silver and Bronze Decorations on Ev-ry Christmas Tree A-Man first appeared during the fabled Silver Age in Strange Adventures #180 (Sep 1965), the brainchild of writer Dave Wood and venerable draftsman, Carmine Infantino. He was unquestionably a C-List character with the standard science fiction origin that never took off in the 60s. Considering his meteoric rise to a B-Plus, A-Minus character in his own long-running series in the late-80s, early 90s, and then his central position in the recent 52 series, it is surprising that his stories in Strange Adventures only numbered five before he was unceremoniously cast into the dustbin of Forgotten Heroes.
Well, not "forgotten". I guess we could say DC was an environmentally concerned comics company, because since the dawn of the Silver Age, they've had a habit of recycling unused characters. The first foray into resurrecting A-Man was a two-issue jaunt through the pages of Wonder Woman (#267 – 268, May – Jun 1980). WW encountered our hitherto hidden hero in an ersatz veldt in the heart of the U.S., while both were tracking the activities of the quasi-mafia organization, The Cartel. Diana Prince the diplomat was uncharacteristically tactless by laughing in Buddy Baker's face when he described his powers. However, it did give A-Man a decent opportunity to recount his origin and explain his absence for the previous decade:
"About ten years ago, while I was out hunting in the hills east of Los Angeles, I came across what looked like one of our space probes, crash landed… As near as I can figure it now, it wasn't one of ours – or even from Earth – 'cause when I got near it, the sucker exploded. I was blown back, bathed in some weird kind of radiation, and when I recovered, I discovered that the radiation I'd absorbed gave me the ability to absorb the powers of any animal I came near. The powers would wear off, of course, sometimes unexpectedly, but that didn't stop me from doing something I always wanted to do, since I was a kid. You'll laugh… I made myself a costume and became a bona fide superhero. Only my career didn't last too long, as things turned out!
"Sure, I made a splash at first… but the L.A. cops aren't like the New York or Metropolis cops: They're mean and tough… and pretty soon, I felt like a fifth wheel… absolutely useless!
"So, after a while, I went back to what I was doing before I ran into that alien spacecraft, which was being a freelance stuntman for the movies. Maybe not as wild as being a super-hero, but it had its own share of fantasy." A-Man then explained that he got back into the hero game because his pal Roger had been framed by "The Cartel", and Buddy was out to clear his friend's good name. His origin story changed a bit later on, but other details that have remained consistent include that during Buddy's retirement, he married his high school sweetheart, Ellen, they moved to San Diego, and had two children, Cliff and Maxine.
Following his Wonder Woman appearance, Animal Man went on another extended sabbatical – this time for five years – before DC dusted him off again for a bit part with the ignominious "Forgotten Heroes" who teamed with Superman in DC Comics Presents #77-#78 (Jan - Feb, 1985). The adventure itself was uninspiring, despite the fact that it was written by Marv Wolfman, who was at the top of his game (and was just about to turn the DC Universe on its ear with Crisis on Infinite Earths). These DCCP issues were notable, however, for the appearance of many bit players from DC science fiction comics of the 50s and 60s, such as Space Cabby, Cave Carson, Congorilla, Rip Hunter and, of course, Animal Man.
Morrison Hotel Over the following two years, things changed significantly in DC comics. Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) wiped out most ancillary characters and all of the alternate versions of the main characters in the company's line. Animal Man survived, however, and returned in a big way as part of the "British Invasion" of comics writers during the decade of the 80s. In his foreword to the first Animal Man trade (which paraphrased the preface to the second issue of the original comic) writer Grant Morrison recounted the character's renaissance back in 1988:
"In 1987, at the height of the critical acclaim for Alan Moore's work on Swamp Thing and Watchmen, DC Comics dispatched a band of troubleshooters on what is quaintly termed a 'headhunting mission' to the United Kingdom. The brief was to turn up the stones and see if there weren't any more cranky Brit authors who might be able to work wonders with some of the dusty old characters languishing in DC's back catalogue. As one of those who received the call that year, I had no idea who I might dig up and revamp. On the Glasgow to London train, however, my feverishly overstressed brain lighted upon Animal Man. This minor character from the pages of Strange Adventures in the 60s had always, for heaven only knows what murky reasons, fascinated me and, as the train chugged through a picturesque landscape of Tudor houses and smiling bobbies on bicycles, I began to put together a scenario involving an out-of-work, married-with-children, third-rate super-hero who becomes involved with animal rights issues and finds his true vocation in life."
Morrison went on to describe that the conceit was initially intended to last through only a four issue mini-series. However, those first four issues were so popular that DC wanted to continue it as an ongoing monthly. Morrison gladly complied and proceeded to help turn the comics industry upside down. (He wasn't alone in this endeavor, of course, as he had a lot of help from fellow creators such as Neil Gaimen, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, et al.)
Morrison – with forgotten hero, artist Chas Truog – then created in Issue #5 what has been widely acclaimed to be one of the wildest (and most popular) single stories "The Coyote Gospel". This began the metatextual storyline that would last through the remainder of Morrison's 26-issue run, which broke down the fourth wall and crossed the boundaries between the different levels of fiction. A thinly-disguised version of the Roadrunner's lupine arch-nemesis found himself in Buddy Baker's world confronting not only his own mortality, but his personal deity. The cartoon literally met his maker – the cartoonist – and found that his god can be capricious and insensitive.
Reader reaction to Animal Man #5 was overwhelming, as the letter column in #8 demonstrated. (Letter columns lagged behind about three months.) In fact, the assistant editor in charge of letter columns had to prune most of them to fit in as many comments as possible. Reactions ran from political to metaphysical, as each reader took away something different from "The Coyote Gospel". But everyone caught the analogy between "Crafty" Coyote and the martyred Christ. One observant and philosophical reader noticed "the irony of Crafty Coyote's human assassin on his own personal crusade against a 'devil', praying 'Sweet Jesus, don't let me miss.'"
Another reader noticed the messianic metaphor of Crafty being run over in an intersection: "Crafty died on the cross for his people…" Other readers likened the Coyote to the Suffering Hero of classic literature, such as "Prometheus, Loki, Atlas, the crucified Christ, etc." and "I am astounded at the variety of sources you have managed to incorporate into a mere 24 pages. Warner Brothers cartoons mesh seamlessly with the archetypal Prometheus myth. Add to that some metaphysical speculation about destiny and the workings of an omnipotent deity, and you have a truly remarkable achievement."
All was not metaphysics in the Animal Man series, and Morrison was able to include some good old superhero action occasionally, as he went up against the likes of B'Wana Beast and Mirror Master, and teamed with other forgotten heroes, Dolphin and Vixen. Morrison was able to instill in the character of Animal Man a sense of purpose usually absent from other superheroes, as he became a devout vegetarian and animal rights activist. He also learned from a scientist that his connection with animal life was more intense since his contact with what is called the Morphogenic Field. (A morphogenic field is like an electromagnetic field, in that it theoretically surrounds living organisms and carries and conveys information to other organisms. For Animal Man, it would explain why he would be able to sense an animal without actually seeing it, and why he could absorb an animal's unique abilities from a distance and without any physical contact.)
Morrison continued to weave through his run on the Animal Man series the theme of comic creator as The Creator in the "eyes" of His creations, the comic characters. Morrison concluded the metaphysical metaphor and his run on the series after 26 issues, with A-Man literally meeting his maker – Grant Morrison himself. Animal Man learned he was merely a comic character after Morrison revealed that had previously been a resident of limbo with the rest of DC's forgotten pre-Crisis characters such as Ultraman, Streaky the Super-Cat, the Space Canine Patrol Agency and Mr. Freeze. Buddy had been rescued by the deific writer, giving hope to those and other characters that they could also someday return to the "real world". (Thanks to 52, Countdown, and its associated "spin-offs", many of these characters have been rescued from limbo. Let's hope that Monarch, Superbaby-Prime, and DC's writers will stop injudiciously wiping many of them out, or that they won't decide to once again to combine the multiple Earths and eliminate all these recently-returned limbo-denizens. Oh, Superman-Zod from Earth-15, we hardly knew ye!)
Over his two-year run, Morrison managed to make Animal Man the philosophical Center of the DC Universe, and helped establish comics as a "serious" medium. In the process, his stories truly "spoke" to the legion of readers who had been desperately searching for comics as literature – something that spoke to them like adults.
After The Fire Around this time, Buddy was inducted as a charter member of Justice League Europe. The commute to and from Paris between issues must have been a grind, because A-Man only lasted with the team for a year. One would think Animal Man's wise-cracking character a perfect fit for writer J.M. DeMatteis' tongue-in-cheek approach to the team, but the hero was about as useless as a condom at a comic convention and clearly never fit in.
Nevertheless, the Animal Man comic continued to be about as popular as ever, even with the departure of Morrison, as the writing chores temporarily shifted to Peter Milligan. Milligan's six issues were actually a bit weirder than Morrison's, but served to "repair" the potential damage Morrison's run may have caused to the DC Universe in letting all the pre-Crisis characters out of the box and revealing to Buddy that he was merely a comic character. At this stage, Buddy fell into a coma and awoke with amnesia in a different world where he was divorced from Ellen and his powers were out of control.
Milligan was followed by Tom Veitch for a year-and-a-half. (Artist Steve Dillon [later of Preacher fame] replaced Truog and inker Doug Hazlewood.) The stories these writers told were no less strange than Morrison's. In fact, the tales went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Buddy returned to work as a stunt man and his powers continued to malfunction. Animals acted strangely or dropped dead when he was around them. After causing all the animals in the San Diego Zoo to die, Buddy picked up his family and moved to calmer settings on Ellen's Mother's farm in Vermont.
A-Man eventually met a Native American shaman who told Buddy that he was one of the chosen Animal Masters who were the guardians of nature. (As was another animal-based hero, Vixen.) He also found out that his daughter Maxine was developing similar powers and was an Animal Master.
Next came writer Jamie Delano. Delano did for Animal Man what Alan Moore did for another comic, Swamp Thing: Whereas Swampy was a plant-based being connected to all verdant life through the "The Green", Animal Man shared a sort of symbiosis with all animal life through "The Red", a field of connected consciousness. Soon, Animal Man was one of the first six books that were shifted to the new Vertigo line of books for mature readers.
Delano's run started off with a bang – plunging the stories into darker territories (similar to what Delano had done with his previous work on Hellblazer.) Buddy died in his very first issue, while trying to rescue his kidnapped son. His life force, however, survived in the bodies of various animals. He eventually saved his son Cliff and re-created his own body. The power of the Red and his animal instincts began to overwhelm Buddy, and he attacked Washington D.C. with all varieties of animals to force humanity to change their destructive ways. Many people were intrigued by Animal Man's philosophy and formed a cult around him. Ellen left him, but the cult (headed by Buddy and his children Cliff and Maxine) set up a church in Montana.
Jerry Prosser took over the title from Delano in 1994 and the stories became decidedly "spacey". Buddy again died and was reborn, now with black-and-white-striped hair, and began a cosmic odyssey through hidden realms in search of some universal truth. Things got weirder and weirder, as he grappled with his own god-like connection to hidden powers and odd magical beings such as the Spider Queen. His series had run its course, and after 89 issues was cancelled.
It was not for another two years that Animal Man finally returned. This time, all the metatextual, horror and cosmic stories were far behind him and his feet were firmly planted in the DC superhero Universe. First he helped Aquaman in that hero's book (Aquaman #35, Aug 1997). Although he learned in this adventure that he also had elemental connections, A-Man was brought back into the realm of the "traditional" superhero when his daughter Maxine was kidnapped and he and Aquaman battled the supervillain Gamesman.
A-Man returned to his traditional orange costume and black (not leather) jacket in time to help out Resurrection Man with his fellow Forgotten Heroes battle Vandal Savage. (Resurrection Man #24 - #27, May – Aug 1999) The Justice League recruitment drive approached him for membership around this time, but since he still had a bad taste in his mouth from his previous team effort, he declined. (JLA #27, Mar 1999). He did, however, help out the group a year later in the first "World War III" story arc, JLA #40 - 41, Apr – May 2000.
Buddy then attended a Y2K (Remember that?) New Year's Eve party in the one-shot Totems (1999), with some of his fellow Vertigo characters, Swamp Thing, Shade the Changing Man and Black Orchid. This entertaining story told of how all the calamities predicted at the dawn of the new Millennium actually came to pass, including all computers crashing and aliens invading Earth.
"That's No Lady, That's My Galactic Despot!" After a couple of guest appearances in other DC titles (Hawkman, Outsiders) A-Man was literally thrown into the center of that universe in last year's eventful weekly series, 52. Animal Man, Starfire and Adam Strange had been recruited by Donna Troy as the "space team" at the start of the events leading up to Infinite Crisis. At the conclusion of the Crisis, they were marooned on an alien planet with no way to return to Earth.
Lady Styx, a cosmic baddie bent on conquering and transforming all people of the galaxy in mindless worshippers, put a bounty on the heads of the three stranded heroes (for reasons as yet unknown). Her minions then pursued them throughout space and the pages of 52. Fearing their respective home worlds to fall at the hands (claws) of Lady Styx, the trio decided to take a stand. They were aided by the bounty hunter Lobo, who delivered them to Lady Styx under the pretense of collecting his bounty. The battle that followed led to Animal Man's death by the "necrotoxin" that causes Lady Styx's followers to mindlessly follow in her service.
****SPOILER**** (for that one guy who has not yet read 52. Yeah, you know who you are!)
Animal Man's death (52 #36) provided one of the best moments in the series – a real tear-jerker. Starfire and Adam Strange buried him on the desolate planetoid and left for parts unknown. As the saying goes, however, no one (not even Bucky) stays dead in comics, and in record time (52 #37) Buddy's eyes blinked open and he was staring at the aliens who long ago gave him the alien powers. He didn't have much opportunity to reflect on his revival, as he needed to absorb the powers of some alien animal so he could catch up with Strange and Starfire. ** END SPOILERS **
It was at this point that Buddy tuned into the heightened ability to connect with "the Red" – even on a cosmic scale – and absorbed the abilities of the Sun-Eaters (living nebulas with the power to drain stars of their energy). With this power he was able to return to Earth. Lady Styx's assassins had followed him, however, and soon after arriving at home they attacked him and his family.
Luckily, Starfire (who had already come back to Earth, unaware of Buddy's revival) had been on her way to Buddy's house to return his jacket to Ellen. Starfire destroyed the aliens and collapsed at Buddy's doorstep. Since that time, Starfire's powers have abandoned her, leaving her with the abilities of a mere human. Powerless and not wishing to return to the Titans, he has been staying at Buddy's house and taking care of his kids.
Buddy has retained the upgraded abilities to tap into the Universe's morphogenic field, so he can emulate the abilities of any animal in the universe. Unfortunately knows nothing about the creatures from which he is absorbing powers: "So many animals… so many I've never seen before… lined up like a giant catalog… almost impossible to sort through." (Countdown to Adventure #3, Jan 2008) While Adam Strange is busy on the planet Rann, Buddy is currently using his amazing abilities to fend off the people of San Diego who have now been infected by Lady Styx into becoming her followers.
These new stories aren't nearly as weird as Grant Morrison's tales 20 years ago, but if you like good old fashioned superhero tales with a touch of Silver Age science fiction, then Countdown to Adventure is the comic for you!
Posts: 21381 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Very nice writeup. There are very few times where I like a character based on the work of one creator. Pete Milligan's Shade and Peter David's Hulk come to mind. But Morrison's A-Man is probably the best example. That 26-issue run still has a sway over how I perceive the character now and I root for Buddy (and Ellen and Cliff and Maxine) everytime I see them in a comic. I'm glad DC, despite all their other recent editorial mistakes, has decided to finally spotlight him more.
-------------------- "My killing teacher says I'm a natural..." - Bart Simpson Posts: 122 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
WHO COUNTS IN COUNTDOWN to Final Crisis? – Episode #21 – Animal Man by Bruce! MacIntosh
... These new stories aren't nearly as weird as Grant Morrison's tales 20 years ago,
Oy, twenty years? I remember being 17 and sitting in the back of Mr Randzios's geometry class reading the newest Animal Man comic.
Posts: 395 | From: Simsbury CT USA | Registered: Aug 1999
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
