Customer Reviews

Animal Man, Book 1 - Animal Man

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2 star:		(3)
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This review is actually for all 3 trade paperback volumes of Grant Morrison's ANIMAL MAN, back for all to conveniently enjoy. After 10 years of having only Volume 1 in print, DC FINALLY printed the rest of Morrison's run in a Volume 2 and 3, giving us the complete story, a defining work for a great comic writer.

To try to explain the entire storyline in just a few paragraphs would be woefully inadequate, but I will say that, while ANIMAL MAN could be defined as Grant Morrison voicing his opinions on animal rights, it is so much more than that:

First, it's a study of how the world of comics interacts with (our) reality - almost mind-bendingly so. Morrison drops hints from the beginning of his run that our perceptions of "reality" in the DC Universe will be challenged with these stories. It takes over 20 issues to make his final point, but brother is it worth it. From the Looney-Tunes-ish antics of "The Coyote Gospel" to the revelations of the villain Psycho-Pirate (the only character who remembers the DCU before the Crisis), this is some very creative work.

Second, these stories are a tribute to the pre-Crisis DC Universe. It's putting it mildly that Grant Morrison misses the timelines and characters eliminated by the Crisis, and in ANIMAL MAN, he does what he can to make sure that we don't forget the richness and fun of the Golden and Silver Ages. His final 3 or so issues made me feel even MORE ashamed that the Crisis ever happened. I will say this, however: if the Crisis created the fertile ground for stories like this, then I'll accept it. It's a case of being thankful for the good and the bad.

Brian Bolland provides excellent covers for the series. I always felt it was a shame that he couldn't do the interiors as well. The work of Chas Truog, regular series artist, is lacking. The few issues with guest artists were welcome breaks from Truog's visually boring style. Don't let that hold you back, however, as his art does improve somewhat over time, and the story more than makes up for it.

One of the early titles that helped Grant Morrison make a name for himself in mainstream comics, Animal Man ended up being a hybrid of Morrison's love for classic comic storytelling, his views on animal rights, and above all, a shockingly brilliant series that broke the boundaries for what could be done in mainstream comic books. Without giving too much away of what else occurs in the later volumes, the first volume of Animal Man finds low level Justice League member Buddy Baker taking a new stance on animal rights as he makes some shocking discoveries at STAR Labs, as well as meets some very interesting characters along the way, including a run in with some of Hawkman's war-like people. There's also some very strange Looney Tunes-style antics going in the middle of the story that may seem not only out of place, but just plain mind boggling. However, once the realization dawns on you just what it all means, it's just another example of the brilliance on display from Morrison. Surprisingly violent (the collected graphic novels are now under DC's Vertigo title) and poignant to boot, what Buddy and his family go through are only hints and cues at things to come. The current Mirror Master is introduced here as well, and he will go on to play a pivotal role as things develop further, as will the mysterious, ghostly man that pops up now and then. If there's any negatives about the book, it's that the artwork doesn't always stand up as well as one would like, but that's only a minor complaint. All in all, Animal Man represents the fact that anything can be done in the comics medium, and if you've never given the series a look, you owe it to yourself to see just what helped make Grant Morrison the Alan Moore of his era.

Back in the 1960s, there was something about a minor comic book character appearing in STRANGE ADVENTURES that stuck with me long after his obscurity had become more than mere. That character was Animal Man and apparently he had a similar effect on British comics genius Grant Morrison. This book is a collection of the first nine of Animal Man's contemporary adventures under Morrison's competent pen. While Morrison's ever-present wry humor is present, there are sufficient superheroics as Animal Man and his family, a pretty bourgeois group, come to terms with life in the Eighties, super powers, and the conflict the two can create. This is a must-read and must-have for all graphic novel collections and fans of the other Brit comic masters Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman will find much to enjoy here as well. The art is also fabulous; even the superpeople look like actual human beings.

What we have here is a TPB that reprints one of the earliest works of Grant Morisson, now famous mostly for "Invisibles". Morisson took an already existing, but underused and relatively anonimous, character that is named Animalman and he tried to make him into something more appealing to people/readers. A goal in which he succeeded reasonably well. This trade makes clear why Animalman later turned out to be suitable for the Vertigo-line, the 'feel' is already here. Overall it is a pretty good read. There are 9 issues in here with 6 of them good, 1 superb and 2 a little less. The flaw of those two issues that aren't that great is that they are both part of a multi-series cross-over DC had going at that time named "Invasion". These issues are a little hard to place without reading the rest of the cross-over. The other issues are a very nice read for both people who are into superheroes as for people who are more orientated outside the superhero-scene. ONE issue named "The Coyote Gospel" stands out because it is THAT good. It's a great tale about an animal who everybody fears but turns out to be the only reason mankind as it is still exists. Full of methaphors and symbolism it's one of the better issues there is from the early days of Vertigo. I'd recommend this trade to people who are into Vertigo and to people who like to read about the more human side of superheroes. If you are in one of those categories you'll probably like this trade.

In 1988, Scottish writer Grant Morrison revived a forgotten Sixties superhero for DC Comics with the help of artists Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood. After a bizarre encounter in the woods (while hunting, ironically), former movie stunt man Buddy Baker found himself able to duplicate the abilities of any animal species through a psychic link with the "morphogenetic field" that serves as a template for all life on Earth. Working under the absurd sounding professional name, Animal Man, as his comeback series opened, the intimate rapport he shared with other creatures lead him to make a radical departure from accepted codes of superheroic conduct: he became an outspoken animal rights activist. In addition to going vegetarian, when not clashing with the occasional supervillain, Animal Man also took direct-and illegal-action to defend his fellow beings from human greed and cruelty.

While it deals with all sorts of unpleasant issues, what kept this series grounded was Morrison's characterization of Buddy Baker. He was always portrayed as a human being first and a superhero second. Animal Man's constant struggle to find a balance between his convictions and his responsibilities to the world as a "metahuman" provided the sense of emotional involvement that compelled readers to follow his every adventure.

Swooping out of the sky like an eagle, he snatched a cornered fox from a pack of trained hounds, spoiling the bloodsport of a band of British hunters. Swimming like a fish, he saved dolphins from being hacked to death by local villagers on the shores of the Faroe Islands (in reality, the victims of this annual slaughter are hundreds of pilot whales). Bursting through a laboratory wall like a rampaging elephant, he freed monkeys whose eyes had been sewn shut as part of a sensory deprivation experiment (back in the real world, an identically mutilated monkey named "Britches" was rescued by the Animal Liberation Front). Unfortunately, these dissident feats of daring finally came to an end when Grant Morrison departed from the series with issue 26, taking Animal Man's commitment to social change with him.

Demonstrating the untapped potential for instruction inherent in the much-maligned art form of "comics," Morrison's treatment of subjects like vivisection, hunting and vegetarianism was both intelligent and thought-provoking. Judging from the sometimes heated discussions that took place in the series' letter column, his work did a great deal to show readers that the belief in humankind's "superiority" over the rest of the animal kingdom is both dangerous and illogical. Most importantly, he offered solutions to show concerned people that you don't have to be a superhero to make a difference.

In addition to this trade paperback, which collects issues 1-9 of the series, a second volume, Animal Man: Origin of the Species contains issues 10-17, and the final volume of Grant's work on this series, Animal Man: Deus Ex Machina, collects issues 18-26.

When Grant Morrison was asked about his choice of silver-age characters to revamp, he said "Animal Man." It wasn't a shot in the dark either. In the foreword (one of Grant's better written ones), he said it fascinated him from all the way back in the 60s. He mentions how this series eventually became a platform for Grant's misanthropic views on animal rights. This book holds much more than that, however. No one mentions how he used Animal Man's powers as a way of getting out of seemingly impossible situations, nor does anyone ever mentions how Buddy`s home life scenes are some of the best scenes in the book.

Picture this: Animal Man unfolds a scam by a group of government scientists who claimed, suspiciously, to be developing an anti-AIDS vaccine but was developing something else entirely. In a cruel twist of events, a variety of creature men, including a giant cockroach and a rat man, come after this vaccine. When Buddy comes in contact with rat man, he finds himself utterly overwhelmed by his power and ends up losing an arm. Shocks and twists come thick and fast in this first volume. It's obvious from the outset Grant's into one of his mega arcs once again. He even termed it "THE COYOTE GOSPEL."

The home life scenes are extremely poignant, detailing the relationship of Buddy and his wife, Ellen Baker, the best wife in all of Planet Earth. It's surprising how Grant integrates, into these scenes, the struggles of Animal man with his failing powers and how that affects his role in the Justice League of America. Wonderful scenes to read, and not a hint of awkwardness too; Buddy and wife communicate like any real couple would. It takes a special writer like Grant to pull that off.

The dialogue choices are extremely clever here. Every line feels just right and the whole smorgasbord of characters here talk like they should be. Even Superman... Who knew The Man of Steel would talk in this book exactly like he would anywhere else? Grant makes it look easy, makes us take things for granted. Ellen's dialogue is, by far, the star of this book; with the sort of lines any strong, loving wife would sprout off any day of the week, no less.

I haven't even begun to approach the branching storylines in this book, the side scenes where Grant put in there for allegorical purposes. The White God of Kilimanjaro represents the spirit of the Earth and he clearly isn't happy with how America's scientists are treating the animals in Africa. Another obvious reference to Grant's views would be Animal Man's eventual vegetarian eating habits. Grant makes it clear the topic he touches on while still staying faithfully to the over-arching plot revolving around Baker. Or it would seem that Grant might be using Animal Man as a platform for discussion of such themes, no one can be quite sure. Plus Grant employs a sort of modular storytelling where every issues stands alone and yet flows well with the previous issues.

But no matter what techniques Grant employs in this book, he does it with the type of aplomb and confidence few comic writers even possess. Every issue reads perfect, engaging every step of the way, and every page's narrative is flawless, very tight and yet allegorical. The penciling by Truog and Grummett, not to mention the inking and coloring, look terrific even to the uneducated eye. It's a masterwork of comics, to say the least, which is surprising for a book and character not an awful lot of people has heard about.

Grant Morrison is becoming more and more popular in the comics industry that many new readers of 'JLA' and 'Invisibles' like to research Morrison's previous projects. This was the first, and Morrison started out big. Animal Man has a fresh perspective of comic continuity and the 'super-hero.' Although I feel the artwork is rather poor, the writing as well as the cover art is breathtaking. This is also very 'Crisis' related if people are into Marv Wolfman. This book should always be available for the new and old fans. Why did DC make it out-of-print?!

if you're reading this review, then chances are you've either:

a.) already read this book and are curious to see what others have to say about it. (like me. i spend most of my time on amazon.com checking out things i already have. curiosity rules!)

or...

b.) you've heard the tale of how Grant Morrison's "Animal Man" run was either "off the chain" or "bad to the bone" or "supremely overrated" or, at the very least, the unquestionable starting point at which to begin an education in Morrison's work, as this was the book that introduced him to most of us cross-Atlantic comic fans.

here's the deal: i'm not looking to give you a blow-by-blow account of why i love this story nor why i hope you'll check it out. (don't you hate reviews that give everything away?) instead, i will say only this: as enjoyable as the first arch (issues 1-4) was, as much as i wanted to tear into Vol. 2 immediately upon finishing issue no. 9, if "Animal Man" Vol. 1 was NOTHING but issue no.5 reprinted nine times, this book would be an absolute STEAL!

the single greatest comic issue i've ever read, surrounded on both sides by exciting, intense, occasionally hilarious, and always enjoyable yarns? worth every penny! enjoy!

The first issues of Animal Man were written with the intent of trying to sell the character as a solo series to modern readers. Grant Morrison wrote these issues as one stand alone adventure, in case the book did not get the green light for a longer run. His take on the whole confusion of life that comes with being a superhero is not unique, but it is well handled. Buddy Baker played an important role in saving the world in The Crisis event. Then he sort of put his costume away, unsure how to capitalize on his heroism. He has paid $800 for a uniform that his wife, Ellen, points out has hung unused in the closet. Life is complicated when you want to be a super powered being. You have the whole cash flow thing as well. It helps if your wife is a succesful illustrator. Buddy is frozen with ennui, unsure of himself. Then comes an epiphany to him. There is a world of pain out there when man and animal interact. Somehow, as a hero, he has to help level the playing field. His first case involves the creation of some horrifying genetic mutations and murder. A gorilla used in AIDS research has been stolen, and Animal Man answers the call for help. Of course, the poor beast is revealed to have been the victim of germ warfare experimentation. A figure from the jungles has come to America to free his beloved simian from barbaric captivity . That figure turns out to be Bwana Beast, the protector of the jungles of Africa. The story is at times fantastic, at times horrific, but always engaging and challenging. Grant Morrison has set the stage for far more fantastic and thrilling adventures to come in the subsequent collections of this series.

This review is actually for all 3 trade paperback volumes of Grant Morrison's ANIMAL MAN, back for all to conveniently enjoy. After 10 years of having only Volume 1 in print, DC FINALLY printed the rest of Morrison's run in a Volume 2 and 3, giving us the complete story, a defining work for a great comic writer.