If you couldn’t already tell from my previous reviews, I love obscure silver age and bronze age characters! Whether it’s the Creeper by Steve Ditko, The Losers by Jack Kirby (originally created by Robert Kanigher) or the Atomic Knights by John Broome and Murphy Anderson, I find most characters incredibly interesting and the stories are usually uniquely entertaining for various reasons. One of those reasons is that the stories from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s are actually fun and entertaining to read while also featuring moments in them which are either comedic or just bat-sh*t weird. Although this seems odd and out of place coming from a person born at the start of the 21st Century when darker comics, or as they are naively called by fans and publishers alike, graphic novels, were published, but that is my opinion. Not to say that comics with darker or slightly more adult elements are bad, but that tone can go to far (yes, I’m looking at the New 52 and parts of Vertigo). Anyway, I apologise about that slight rant and now, let me introduce you to Animal Man. Buddy Baker is a husband and father of two, but one day, when a mysterious spaceship explodes in his face, he is given animal powers, meaning that he can borrow abilities from creatures to help him fight crime. As you would suspect, Animal Man first appeared in 1965, created for issue 180 of the Strange Adventures title, specifically by Dave Wood and Carmine Infantino. However, after only a few appearances in the title, Animal Man was forgotten, and he never really came back (apart from the odd cameos in certain stories such as Crisis on Infinite Earths). However, that all changed when new comic book writer, Grant Morrison, came onto the scene and relaunched Buddy Baker, the man with animal powers. Originally planned as a four-issue miniseries, the revival of Animal Man by Morrison not only spanned on for an additional twenty-two issues, but it was also the launching base for Grant Morrison’s career as a writer, which still continues to this day…
In this review, I will be covering these stories:
The Human Zoo/Life in the Concrete Jungle/The Nature of the Beast/When We All Lived in The Forest --- Animal Man (vol 1) 1-4
The Coyote Gospel --- Animal Man (vol 1) 5
Birds of Prey --- Animal Man (vol 1) 6
The Death of the Red Mask --- Animal Man (vol 1) 7
Mirror Moves --- Animal Man (vol 1) 8
Home Improvements ---- Animal Man (vol 1) 9
Animal Man (vol 1) 1-9 was published from September 1988 to March 1989 on a monthly basis, with issues 4, 5 and 6 all being released in the December of 88. All stories are written by Grant Morrison with art mainly by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood. Also, it is certainly worth mentioning that that all of covers to the series, up until around issue 60, are drawn by British artist Brian Bolland. Lastly, I have read all of these stories in the Animal Man trade paperback, which had no other title,
hence why I had to use the name of the first issue as the title of this review…
The Human Zoo/Life in the Concrete Jungle/The Nature of the Beast/When We All Lived in The Forest --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood
THE PLOT
While a mysterious person known as the Beast is in pain from the screams of monkeys that he can hear in his head, Buddy Baker rescues a neighbour’s cat out of a tree, using the powers from the cat to aid him. Buddy then returns home to his wife, Ellen and he tells her that he wants to become a famous superhero such as Blue Beetle and Captain Atom, both of whom are in the Justice League International. Even though Ellen doesn’t agree with Buddy’s idea and that their children, Cliff and Maxine, constantly get into play fights with each other, Buddy decides to train his powers by running at speed, flying and much more. At the same time, the Beast is attacked on the street by a mugger, who is instantly killed by the Beast, who runs from police at the scene. After Buddy and his agent, Roger, get Animal Man on a talk show where he is embarrassed and made fun of, Buddy adds a leather jacket to his costume and heads out to fight crime, leaving Ellen to speak to a neighbour about how her relationship with Buddy is in the air due to his adventures as Animal Man. Meanwhile, Animal Man visits an emergency at S.T.A.R Labs, where Doctor Myers shows the hero that all of their test monkeys have been fused together, still alive.
After discovering the fused monkey’s Animal Man asks Myers what happened, Myers explains that a giant cockroach, almost eight feet tall, escaped from the Lab and somehow caused all of the monkeys to fuse together. Although Animal Man agrees to help Myers catch the giant cockroach by catching his smell from the test dogs, he is suspicious of the doctor and wonder if the experiments at the lab had anything to do with the monkey’s fusing together. Meanwhile on a rooftop, the Beast continues to be pained by the screams of the monkeys. Also, in a forest, Buddy’s neighbour’s cat, named Sheba, feeding her new-born babies, but there are insane animal hunters also in the forest. While Animal Man searches from the rooftops for a giant cockroach, he is shocked when he finds Superman meeting him. However, their conversation is (continues after image)
brief as Superman quickly leaves to rescue an aircraft over Port Townsend. Meanwhile, using his powers, the Beast manages to fuse an old drunk with a rat. Some time later, Animal Man speaks on a phone with Ellen, who is taking their daughter, Maxine, out to the woods. However, the call ends when Animal Man is thrown away from the phone by the fused rat and drunk. While Animal Man and well, Ratman, fight in the streets, causing chaos, Ellen and Maxine are in the woods, where they find numerous baby kittens, but they are all confronted by the insane hunters with their shotguns. Meanwhile, Animal Man fights the Ratman, but is defeated severely by the creature when it tears his arm off. While the Ratman escapes and turns back to the rat and human, Animal Man is left on the ground, bleeding out.
On a rooftop in San Diego, the Beast, revealing himself as B’wana Beast, senses the ape named Djuba, who has been infected by a strange germ and as Djuba’s ape partner died from the germ, B’wana beast pledges to save her from the people at S.T.A.R Labs. Meanwhile, Animal Man senses worms nearby and uses their regenerative abilities to grow his arm back. Afterwards, Animal Man finds the drunk who had once been Ratman and then decides to phone S.T.A.R Labs, demanding to speak with Doctor Myers urgently. Meanwhile in the forest, the chief of the insane hunters, known as Ray, threatens Ellen by throwing Sheba the cat to their dogs, killing the poor creature. This causes Maxine to run away from the scene to get help. At the same time, Animal Man is quarantined by people in hazmat suits from S.T.A.R Labs and taken away. Meanwhile, B’wana Beast remembers his time in Africa, where numerous of his friends were killed and where his ape friend, Djuba, was kidnapped, revealing his reason for trying to get her back from S.T.A.R Labs. He also remembers that it was thanks to the White God that he became B’wana Beast. The Beast then visits S.T.A.R Labs to find his ape friend but alarms the scientists. Meanwhile, Maxine, in tears, visits their miserable neighbour, Mr Weidemeir, and tells him about the situation in the woods. Instead of ignoring anything his neighbours say (as usual), he tells Maxine to tell him where her mother is. At the same time, after being let out of quarantine, Animal Man finds B’wana Beast, who is escaping with Djuba. Doctor Myers then slips up and mentions Djuba’s infection, causing Animal Man to demand the truth. Myers explains to the hero that instead of the tests on Animals being used to find a cure for AIDS, which was the cover that Myers used, the tests are actually being conducted to create a biological weapon of warfare and Djuba had a unique physiology. However, now that Djuba has been taken away, the germ is now contagious to everyone in San Diego, making it even more lethal. At the same time, in the forest, Ray continues to threaten Ellen, but luckily, Mr Weidemeir arrives and threatens to shoot Ray. However, Ray is shot and killed by one of the other hunters, who says that Ray went too far. While Ellen cries in anger over what Ray did, Maxine asks what will happen to the kittens of Sheba (ex-cat). While Animal Man heads to the zoo to find Djuba, B’wana Beasts witnesses the death of the ape due to the germ. B’wana Beast then screams out in rage.
Later at night, Buddy tries to read a bedtime story to Maxine, but she falls asleep. While Buddy remembers that she has had a hectic day, he remembers that he has well. He recalls how after he had learnt about the true meaning of the experiments going on at S.T.A.R Labs, he researched information about B’wana Beast and found him with the corpse of Djuba at the zoo. Although Animal Man tried to speak with the Beast, he was attacked by him and a fight between the two of them ensued. At the same time, Ellen and Maxine arrive home with the kittens and although they spoke with the owner of Sheba, Mrs Weidemeir, she told Ellen that most of the kittens won’t live, making Ellen sad. At the same time, Animal Man continued to fight B’wana Beast, who used the animals from the zoo to attack the hero. However, the fight ended when B’wana Beast collapsed and vomited. Animal Man then told B’wana Beast that he was ill with the germ carried by Djuba. Although B’wana Beast speaks his last words about how the human race have caused the mistreatment of animals, Animal Man decides to save the Beast by using his powers to absorb his powers and turn his white blood cells into super defenders of his body. This works and once B’wana Beast quickly recovers, Animal Man lets him go. Animal Man then reports back to Myers, who is furious about what Buddy did. Animal Man then tells Myers that he was ashamed that he got involved in their mission in the first place, but once Myers angers Animal Man further, he punches him and leaves. Buddy then finishes his recollection of the day with a sleeping Maxine and speaks to Ellen, who tells him that one of the kittens will live. Meanwhile, B’wana Beast returns the body of Djuba to Myers, before fusing him with the ape, which is then taken off for testing, unknown to everyone that Myers is part of the ape.
MY THOUGHTS
Before getting into the real meat of the story, I must highlight and mention that the greatest thing about this story is that it feels so unique compared to other issue one stories or storylines and that is actually because it doesn’t feature the main hero’s origin. Instead, we are given this progressive four-part story, which introduces us to Animal Man well enough, but not in a celebratory way. In some cases, featuring the origin of the character can be beneficial or downright essential if it is related to the plot, but here, it isn’t, and Morrison introduces us to Animal Man in a rather different
way than what we have seen with other characters. Moving onto the plot, it is excellent, and it is a perfect introduction to this classically forgotten hero. Instead of creating a convoluted story concept to draw in new readers, Morrison goes for the simple approach. Animal Man fights for animal rights, which is an obvious idea for a story, but it makes the first story perfectly fitting. We get a great perspective of animals throughout this story, particularly with Djuba, a germ infested ape that scientists use as the basis for a weapon of warfare. Along with that, we get the story with Sheba and the kittens, which is another excellent feature of the story as it also creates an emotion of sadness when reading this story. Starting with the parts featuring Animal Man, S.T.A.R Labs, B’wana Beast and Djuba, this is a classic idea for a story that never feels dull, full of action and interesting and features some great iconic moments. For instance, the cliff-hanger ending for part two is absolutely shocking, with Animal Man losing an arm. If this was Superman, then we wouldn’t be so shocked as he is a character that we are all aware of and due to that, we would know that he would easily find some way out of the situation. But here, this is a character that has been reintroduced to the medium for just two issues and that ending to part two makes you really think how Animal Man is going to get out of that sticky situation. Plus, this is helped by the sensical resolution, which is suitable and interesting for the character and his powers. Speaking of Superman, he makes a brief appearance here and I think it is perfect. It really highlights even further just how much Animal Man is in the small league compared to Superman and it works really well. Another interesting factor of the story is the bizarre B’wana Beast, who comes across as a more extreme version of Animal Man. This works perfectly as we see the two of them go to head to head and we see the two similar ideals fight, something that you wouldn’t expect to see in just the first story. The Beast’s connection with Djuba really highlights the animal rights route that Morrison clearly wanted to take this story and it adds so much sympathy and emotion to the story, something which not many other comics at the time could do. In fact, although he is certainly a silly concept and just looks plain stupid, B’wana Beast’s character actually comes across as understandable and admirable. Like Animal Man himself, this shows that Morrison can make a silly character so much more interesting and serious while also being fun and enjoyable. Now, moving to the parts featuring Ellen, Maxine, Cliff, the hunters, the cat and many more. This is also similar to animal rights route, but it is much more gruesome. The death of Sheba is still one of the cruellest things I think I’ve seen in a comics (even if now we have people getting their throats cut left, right and centre) and Morrison makes his character so unlikable and negative that you feel properly engaged in the story. You want Ray to be killed for what he has done, and his death is certainly satisfying. The kittens in the story is also a great piece of interest as it continues the drama of the story. We get some great character moments here, just like the main plot itself. Even though there are two plots, Morrison balances the two of them with enough professionalism and interest that the story as a whole is great to read. In fact, one of the best things about the story as a whole is the ending, when the unlikable Doctor Myers is turned into a part ape creature by B’wana Beast. Although Myers character is somewhat cold and suspicious, there is a degree of sympathy for him here as we see pictures of him and his family around his office. This adds depth to the character emotion that we all feel in this story. Like I said before, the plot and character of this story is amazing and if this was going to be just a miniseries, this would have been excellent, but Morrison builds everything so well here, that you just demand more and that’s what we got.
My only problem with the story is the fact that Animal Man can somehow turn B’wana Beast’s white blood cells into super protectors of a sort. This just comes across as a bit out of place and it’s kind of devalues the mission that B’wana Beast is on. Djuba died and I think that the ending would have been perfect if B’wana Beast had died, just to add more emotion in the story. Also, I think some emotion was certainly needed from Mrs Weidemeir, you know, the women who has had her cat killed along with numerous of her kittens.
While the art isn’t perfect by Truog and Hazlewood, it does look like a proper comic book and there are aspects of it which look so much like a silver age comic. In terms of quality, the art can look very good, with Animal Man looking the most impressive character here and while all of the other humans look accurate and constructed well, I think the kittens don’t really look like kittens, but more like hamsters or gerbils. But while the finishes by Hazlewood can look a bit rough, they work well for all of the art in the run as a whole.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 7.5/10
The Coyote Gospel --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood
THE PLOT
A year ago, in a desert a trucker picks up a hitchhiker, but while they are driving the truck, they run over a coyote-human hybrid of sorts. Although the truck driver doesn’t look back, the torn apart coyote forms itself back together again, gets up and runs away. In the present, Buddy Baker is emptying the family fridge of all meats, claiming that they have all gone vegetarian, which Cliff and Ellen especially are annoyed by. After an argument with his wife about what he is doing, Buddy leaves the house in anger and goes out as Animal Man. Meanwhile in the desert, the truck driver from a year ago hunts for the coyote as since their meeting a year ago, the driver numerous misfortunes, such as the deaths of many of his friends. He believes that the coyote was the cause of it all and he wants to kill the animal. Once the driver finds the coyote, he shoots it with his rifle through the stomach. The coyote falls off a cliff from his injury and lands on the ground below with a cloud of smoke. However, the coyote is still alive, resulting in the driver pushing a boulder down the cliff, which lands on the coyote, seemingly killing him. Like before, the coyote lives and heads towards the driver, who tries to warn the creature about a bomb. However, before the coyote can take any notice, it steps on a tripwire, activating an explosion which injures the driver, but not the coyote. Animal Man notices this explosion and finds the coyote, who is wearing a bottle with a message in around his neck. The coyote gives the hero the message. We then learn of the coyote’s origin, which is shown that he is an animal named Crafty, from a cartoon-like dimension where he and numerous other animals fight and kill each other in comedic ways, but never die. One day though, Crafty got sick of being killed over and over again and he meets the artist, the god of the cartoon dimension, who banishes Crafty to the real world. However, Animal Man tells Crafty that he cannot read the note he has given him as it a load of scribbled lines and symbols. Then, from a distance, using a silver bullet, the truck driver fires his rifle at the coyote and dies. The coyote is shot and dies on the ground, crying, but without pain. When the coyote dies and Animal Man stands over its body, the artist paints the
red blood coming out of Crafty.
MY THOUGHTS
Straight to the point, this story is a classic and it is no surprise to me that it got all of the recognition that it did at the time. Originally written as a sort of fill-in issue, this story continues aspects of the animal rights agenda while also presenting displays of human nature. For starters, Buddy trying to force his family to become vegetarian adds humour to this story. This is one of the greatest aspects of the run as a whole, the focus on family characters. It adds a new perspective to the story and run as a whole while also adding comedic aspects to it as well. However, the main story is so bizarre, strange, but sad that it comes across as a unique masterpiece. The character of Crafty is such a mystery and even when we learn his origin, you are still not really sure about certain aspects, most notably, the note he gives to Animal Man which he cannot understand. The character of the trucker is also a highlight to this story as it shows the possible paranoia that some may experience from life events and experiences and how their viewing of certain aspects may be different from others. In other words, the driver is insane. Like I said before, the balance of comedy and tragedy is performed superbly here, whether it be the funny deaths of Crafty, or the sad death of Crafty, everything in this story feeds you an emotion, making the story never ever dull to read. The ending of the story is possibly the strangest, but best thing about the story. Just the way that the tear drops from Crafty’s eyes when he is shot by the silver bullet, it adds so much and gives this excellent story the ending it deserved. So overall, this is one of the best issues of Animal Man by Morrison and its really funny to think that this idea was meant to be a simple fill-in story…
Like I said before, the art by Truog and Hazlewood is good, but here it serves its purpose excellently, especially in the last couple of pages of the story, which are full of emotion, despite the perfect lack of words.
Story: 10/10
Art: 8/10
Birds of Prey --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood
THE PLOT
In space, Thanagarian soldiers fly in their crafts towards Earth to begin the Invasion. One of the commanding soldiers, Rokara Soh, digests a poison, but before dying, he plans to plant and detonate a life bomb, a device which means that anybody caught in its explosive radius will experience the life events of Soh before death. Meanwhile on Earth, Buddy and Roger are at the zoo to speak about Buddy’s adventures as Animal Man, however, during their conversation, everyone notices a large spaceship fly past the zoo. Buddy heads towards it, where he finds Rokara Soh and Skalla Kol, who are both planting the life bomb. Animal Man is attacked by Kol, leaving Soh to plant the bomb. After some time of fighting underwater, Animal Man defeats Kol and fights Soh, who easily defeats Animal Man after seemingly planting the life bomb. By using his powers, Animal Man mentally sees the life events of Soh, making him believe that the device has started its function. Then, Sol goes unconscious from the mental images from the bomb, leaving Animal Man to try and deactivate it. However, in stress, he doesn’t find a way and begins to cry in disappointment. Luckily though, Hawkman arrives at the scene and easily deactivates the bomb, telling Animal Man that all he had to do was switch it off.
MY THOUGHTS
Although this crossover part with Invasion is one of the weakest, if not the weakest story in Morrison’s run, I’ll just start with the good aspects of it. For starters, its good to see more of Roger, Buddy’s agent as it continues with the family of characters that Morrison clearly enjoys using in the run. Also, Animal Man’s moments of stress over Kol is good as it adds the human element to his character. This is good as we see Animal Man react in such a way that makes us remember that he is just a human being with superpowers still. Lastly, the ending of the story makes everything really worth it as it comes across as funny, with Hawkman telling Animal Man that he simply just had to press one button and that’s it…
Now, the reason I don’t like this story is because 1) I have dislike for the Thanagarians because of how dull they are, 2) The story doesn’t really go anywhere as it just seems to be fight scenes after fight scenes and 3) This doesn’t feel like a good idea for an Invasion crossover. While the first two points are explained, I shall elaborate a bit on the third point. I think that this issue could have been so much better if it had more heroes in it and if it featured better villains because here, the story feels so forced and unlike an Animal Man story that it actually can be quite a boring read. I find the bomb placed down by Sol to be a pointless weapon as well. It clearly shows an ego thing, but it seems so pointless and stupid. Sol could so easily just kill Animal Man, but no, he has so dick about with him. Also, why the hell does he just go unconscious? At best, this is average, but nothing more.
Thanks to a pretty boring story, the art isn’t too clever here either. Not only that, but
the issue doesn’t feature one of Bolland’s better covers to be honest…
Story: 5.5/10
Art: 7/10
The Death of the Red Mask --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood
THE PLOT
During the Invasion, Animal Man is in Miami during a robot invasion, saving civilians and destroying the evil robots. After defeating the robots, Animal Man is thanked by a police officer, who updates the hero about the situation. Animal Man then leaves the officer, telling him that he is going to look for the source of the situation. Instead, he finds a supervillain about to jump off of a rooftop. Once Animal Man tells him not to jump and kill himself, the villain reveals himself to be known as the Red Mask, who is extremely ill and dying himself. Animal Man asks him if he is the one behind all of the robot attacks, which he confirms. The Red Mask then tells Animal Man his secret origin, which was that in 1945, he found a crashed red meteor and touched it, which gave him the power that if he touches anybody or anything, they would die. His life then began to fall apart, with his powers killing his dog and his wife leaving him. This caused him to become the Red Mask, a supervillain and after some time, he teamed up with another villain, known as the Veil, who went insane from his powers and went to Arkham Asylum, ending the careers of both villains. The Red Mask explains to Animal Man that his robots will soon self-destruct and that he is dying himself, hence why he tried to kill himself earlier. In response, Animal Man tells the villain that he shouldn’t kill himself and should sell his tragic origin idea to TV, which the Red Mask seems happy with. However, once Animal Man leaves the Red Mask to soon return, the villain becomes quickly bored, jumps off of the building and dies. In the end, Animal Man decides to head back to his family after defeating the robots, but when he begins to fly from the scene, he falls from the sky screaming.
MY THOUGHTS
Compared to the previous Invasion story, this one is much better, mainly due to the villain, the Red Mask. Starting with him, he is certainly the highlight of this story for numerous reasons. When we are introduced to his character near the start of the issue, we believe that he is a bit of a joke of a villain and that he is planning something stupid with the robots, but when we discover how lethal his powers can be, you begin to think about the villain more and why he killed himself. Then, we get an excellently delivered sequence about the origin of the Red Mask and how his powers, which he clearly doesn’t want, pretty much destroyed his life. Although at the time, most
readers didn’t know it, but the origin of the Red Mask is actually very similar to Animal Man. They both find something crash land near them and when they get close to it or touch it, they are given powers. This is great as we see a new theory emerge, which is is it really the people that become the supervillain or is it really the powers and what they can do with them. Getting the powers of instant death upon touch is certainly a power that a bad guy would have, and it really shows that the Red Mask’s fate was determined years ago. It is also great to see Animal Man try to convince the Red Mask to not to kill himself, which comes across as so genuine and real in terms of character, that you actually want the Red Mask to live. However, in the end, he does kill himself and it gives this story a logical end that works well. Lastly, the ending of the story, where we see Buddy seemingly lose his powers is a shock and it really adds a memorable end, even if we never see the proceeding scene, which we should have in the next issue.
My only criticism of the story is the emotion coming from Animal Man at the end. I feel like Morrison could have given more closure on the death of the Red Mask and I think it would have been great to see some anger from Animal Man about his death.
Like the other good stories, Truog and Hazlewood’s art really shines here, especially when the Red Mask dies and definitely at the end of the story, with a splash page that really sends shivers done your spine.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 8.5/10
Mirror Moves --- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood
THE PLOT
In the morning, Ellen wakes up Buddy with some mail, one of which is Buddy’s Justice League Europe ID Card. Although he is happy that he is now in the JLI and is earning
money, his wife reminds him that his powers have screwed up due to the recent Invasion. Getting out of bed, Buddy heads to the bathroom, where he washes his face. However, when he looks in the mirror, he sees himself as Animal Man, grinning. Then, the Animal Man in the mirror leaps out and punches Buddy and then pushes him down the stairs. Buddy then turns around from his fall notices Mirror Master (real name McCulloch, the new Scottish Mirror Master). The villain begins to attack Buddy, who runs away to become Animal Man. When he does come back to the fight as Animal Man, the two fight each other, but Mirror Master escapes in a mirror. Animal Man then follows him into the mirror dimension but is defeated pretty easily by the villain. Mirror Master then heads back into the real world, where he is kicked in the balls by Ellen. After recovering from the pain, Mirror Master punches Ellen, causing Animal Man to become angry and he throws Mirror Master through the window, out into the garden. Then, Mirror Master fires his ray gun at Animal Man, turning him to glass. Although Ellen destroys the gun and Animal Man is free, Mirror Master escapes. The villain then meets his mysterious superiors, who pledge to give Mirror Master the payment for his mission at a later date. Elsewhere, a mysterious man stands on top of a mountain, questioning if Einstein was wrong and, on a computer,, somebody writes that they are gods of the universe and that they can control everything.
MY THOUGHTS
In some way, this is really the starting point for the main story of the whole run, which begins excellently here. The best character of the story is definitely Mirror Master, who has now been made infinitely cooler because he is Scottish. Throughout the story, you constantly wonder why Mirror Master has basically been sent to fight and play around with Buddy and his family. However, the great thing here is that the fight scenes are far from dull and they are actually enjoyable to read. Not only that, but Morrison takes some unique steps to make the fight scene feel different, most notably, when Animal Man fights Mirror Master in the mirror dimension, in which all of the text is printed mirrored, making it interesting. Plus, the fight is full of funny scenes, whether it be Mirror Master coming out of the mirror using Animal Man to punch the real Animal Man (even if I’m not too sure how that works) or Ellen kicking Mirror Master in the balls. This issue has its comedic aspects, but it does have its mysteriously dark moments. An example of that is near the end of the story when Ellen and Buddy are watched by a strange man in a leather jacket, which features in numerous issues of the run and is concluded in the very last issue. Not only that, but Mirror Master’s employers definitely have some mystery aspect to them, as you wonder what they want to do with Animal Man and his family. Therefore, Morrison begins the main plot line for the run brilliantly, with so much mystery and suspicion. Apart from that, there isn’t too much else to say, apart from the fact that to me, this story is an instant classic for the run…
Like always with the good stories, Truog and Hazlewood present some interesting art, particularly in areas such as the splash page where Buddy looks in the mirror to see a grinning Animal Man staring at him. Plus, the fight scenes here are great as well, making the story work even better.
Story: 10/10
Art: 8.5/10
Home Improvements ---- Written by Grant Morrison with art by Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood
THE PLOT
One day, while Cliff heads home from school, he is bullied by other students who nickname him Animal Boy, before running away. Meanwhile at their home, Buddy and Maxine play with their cat, named TC. However, when there is a knock at the door, Ellen answers it and it is Martian Manhunter from the JLI. Martian Manhunter tells Buddy that he wanted to officially welcome him into Justice League Europe and to help him by sending workers to the home to clean it up after Mirror Master’s attacks on it some days ago. Ellen then reminds Buddy that he has something to tell Martian Manhunter and both heroes leave to talk in private. Meanwhile, a man named James Highwater moves into an apartment, where he finds an Alice in Wonderland book, which has a note inside saying “ASK THE PSYCHO PIRATE”. At the same time, near some mountains, Buddy speaks to Martian Manhunter about how his powers have been altered and screwed about after the gene bomb detonated during the Invasion. However, Martian Manhunter tells Animal Man that he wants him in the league as he fights for life on this planet and the environment. While Cliff heads home from school, he is watched by a mysterious person who calls his name, but Cliff doesn’t hear. Meanwhile at the house, Ellen has accidently got the repair men a bit drunk after they have been working on new security systems to protect Buddy and his family. At the same time, Animal Man tests out his powers with the Martian Manhunter, but it causes great mental stress on Buddy. The two then decide to head back to Buddy’s home, not before questioning why Blue Beetle is in the Justice League. Cliff arrives back home, where he is frightened by the new security systems. He then gets angry and speaks to Buddy and Martian Manhunter about the bullies in school, which Martian Manhunter has a plan about. When Cliff meets the bullies again, Martian Manhunter confronts them as a giant lizard creature, scaring the bullies away. Although Cliff is happy with Martian Manhunter, he tells Buddy to get some real powers, offending him. Meanwhile in Africa, a Shaman speaks about how the Gods are coming…
MY THOUGHTS
This story sort of carries on from the previous story, but as the main plots themselves aren’t so linked, they are separate stories to me. Anyway, this story really is only here for Animal Man to transition from a small league hero to a member of the Justice League Europe and due to that and many other factors, the story works very well. The scenes between Animal Man and Martian Manhunter are definitely the highlight. This is not only because of the funny and entertaining scenes between the two characters, but it is also because of the serious scene between the two at the mountains. Martian Manhunter gives his concrete reasons for why Animal Man is part of the Justice League and it really makes you believe and see that Animal Man is actually respected in the league and that he is a valuable member of it, as opposed to heroes like Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, both of whom are pretty much joke characters to everybody in the JLI. But like I said, it really shows how important Animal Man is and it makes you look back how far he has come from just the first issue and even before that. Other than that, the scenes focused on Cliff and the bullies are great as we see Martian Manhunter help him out, which comes across as very funny, but it does have that special hint of sadness and negativity for Animal Man, who feels sad that he cannot please his own son. Aspects such as this really highlight the perspective of family in these stories and it makes them so much more enjoyable.
I think a big problem with this story is the lack of any real action or fight scenes. I mean, I’m all for interesting conversations between good characters that can develop the overarching plots, but I think some action was needed in the story to make it flow a lot smoother. As much as I like the scenes with workers installing security in the Baker home (mainly for the funny aspect of it), I think that it doesn’t really make the story feel smooth and reading it, it can churn along at a slow speed at some occasions.
Instead of Truog’s pencils, we have Tom Grummett, who fills in for the art brilliantly. In fact, I think it may have been better if he was the main artist on the series, mainly for the fact that he can actually draw animals, as opposed to Chas Truog, who certainly
does learn to do so after some time. Not only that, I find the finishes a lot cleaner and the art just looks better to me like this, even if it does lack a degree of unique style.
Story: 8/10
Art: 9/10
VERDICT
Overall, Animal Man: The Human Zoo is an excellent start to the run. With the exception of the story featuring the Thanagarians, every tale here is brilliant and there are characters in all of them that stick in your head, along with all of the unique aspects that most of the stories acquire. I also believe that if the story is better, then the art is better with issues such as The Coyote Gospell and Mirror Moves sticking out perfectly. Plus, the cover art from Brian Bolland always is memorable, even if some may be weaker than others. This run clearly is full of old Morrison traits and although the run doesn’t end here (thank god), it was already my favourite Grant Morrison comic run, just from reading these nine issues…
Stories: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Highlighted Character: Animal Man (Buddy Baker)
Next Review: Animal Man: Origin of the Species (Animal Man (vol 1) 10-17, a story from Secret Origins (vol 2) 39). Written by Grant Morrison with art by Tom Grummett, Doug Hazlewood, Chas Truog, Mark McKenna and Steve Montano. Expected to be published by 15/08/2019.
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