Under Tom Veitch, Animal Man (vol 1) and its characters were beginning to change. Morrison appropriately set up the Baker family to be a good one, where the kids would often get up to mischievous things, but everyone was happy. Milligan began making changes to the characters, but that was all a dream (thankfully). However, now we are back in ‘reality’ and Buddy and his family have changed. They are no longer living in a comic book-like fun world with the tension of supervillains. Instead, the mood is changing, with the Baker family’s world slowly morphing into one like Jamie Delano’s Hellblazer, or most other pre-Vertigo titles. Still, at least the covers are still by Brian Bolland and Animal Man is still wearing his proper superhero costume, which Delano later replaces with a giant demonic bird-thingy with claws. I know I’m getting somewhat off topic, but it’s becoming clearer that the title is transforming into something else, which is far from good in my view. Still, let’s see how Veitch finishes his rather-small stint on the title…
In this second and last review of Tom Veitch’s run on Animal Man (vol 1), I will be reviewing:
Men Without Eyes/Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright --- Animal Man (vol 1) 42-43
Who is That Masked Woman?/The Beat of Darkness/A Rage of Fathers/The Shining Man/The Meaning of Flesh/The Hot Heart of Abstract Reality/Journal of a Plague Year --- Animal Man (vol 1) 44-50
Animal Man (vol 1) 42-50 were published monthly from December 1991 to August 1992. All stories are written by Tom Veitch, with art usually by Steve Dillon. However, there are a number of fill-in artists, such as David Klein and Steve Pugh. Lastly, I have
read these stories in the Animal Man: The Meaning of Flesh trade paperback.
Men Without Eyes/ Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright --- Written by Tom Veitch with art by David Klein, Mark Badger and Steve Dillon
THE STORY
While a man named Homer Gethro collects dead animals to bring back to Star Labs, Buck Sampson confronts Travis after entering a forbidden lab full of empty bodies (Animal Man (vol 1) 41). However, Travis is told he is a genius for creating the M-Field equipment for Animal Man and then Sampson tells Travis about Stone and his plans to throw the laws of nature into chaos. After being offered by Sampson to spy on Stone, Travis refuses and he leaves, with Sampson telling his assistant, Kami to go with him. Meanwhile, Gethro visits Mary’s farm to take away a dead cow (from the flying cow incident last issue). Elsewhere, Kami takes Travis to his new home in the woods. At the same time, Sampson and Captain Silva, finish creating the prototypes for their mutants, who have no faces or eyes. While Silva secretly transports the mutants into a van, Gethro arrives after trying to kill a bear, but it escapes. Gethro shows Sampson the dead animals he has collected, with Sampson discovering that the cow from Mary’s farm has a high M-Field reading. Sampson asks for more dead animals from that area. Meanwhile, Ellen speaks to Uncle Dudley on the phone, who lives in San Francisco and has found Cliff. Although Ellen is reassured, Dudley holds onto Cliff tightly and strokes his hair in a rather-Jimmy Savile way. Elsewhere, Silva takes his mutants into the forest, where he gives them paintball guns to test them against soldiers. At the same time, Kami tries to convince Travis to work for STAR Labs by seducing him and it works. Meanwhile, the soldiers fight against the mutants. However, the mutants begin killing the soldiers, resulting in Silva being the only one left alive. He orders the mutants to stop killing, but there is silence. Later, a black bear watches Gethro die by the hands of a mutant and he heads towards Mary’s farm. In her home, Mary is shocked when she finds Maxine cuddling the bear, saying it is her father…
Travelling in the M-Field, Animal Man is reconstructed by a yellow alien who caused Buddy to get his powers. However, the yellow alien begins to disintegrate as Stone appears, greeting Animal Man to the hidden realm. In reality, Buddy is comatose and is being looked after a young Native American woman, who is Stone’s assistant. He explains that Buddy’s life energy is currently travelling in the form of a bear, meaning that Buddy may become an animal master. He then tells his assistant that when Buddy awakens, he must return to his family. Stone also warns her that she must not fall in love with Buddy. Meanwhile, Maxine is riding on the bear’s back and she explains to Ellen that Buddy is really in the animal place, where all the animals come from. Then, Maxine senses her father reappearing in the bear, confusing Ellen even more. Meanwhile, Travis hacks into a STAR Labs computer to discover Sampson’s real plans. He views a conversation between Sampson and another Native American, Moonlight Jackson, in which they speak about Stone and the dangers surrounding him. Then, Sampson is informed that a computer has been hacked into, causing Travis to quickly escape. Then, Sampson speaks with Silva, who screams about the prototypes killing soldiers. Sampson orders a search party to go into the woods and find the bodies, telling Moonlight to go with them. Sampson decides that Silva knows too much about the project and shoots him, killing him. Travis then witnesses Silva’s body being ripped apart in a machine, frightening him. Elsewhere, Stone’s assistant speaks to Buddy’s comatose body, telling him that they are both alike. Meanwhile, Buddy, still in a bear’s body, finds another bear in the woods and they sleep with each other. Then, Buddy wakes up back in his body and Stone’s assistant, Tristess, introduces herself by kissing him. At the same time, Ellen wakes up after a dream and her mother tells her that she should start looking for someone else. Disgusted, Ellen tells her she will never leave her husband.
MY THOUGHTS
An aspect of this story which I really like, and I really think should have progressed further was the men without eyes, or mutants as they are commonly referred to in this. To me, the whole concept and design of the mutant are somewhat spooky and as they are incredibly powerful, they come across as a real threat. For instance, they pretty much kill most of the trained soldiers in the forest, showing that their power is (continued)
something to fear. They work incredibly here, but they are mostly forgotten about later. Yeah, that’s more of a criticism of the run as a whole, but looking back, the mutants had so much potential and they were sort of wasted. Honestly, certainly in this story, the mutants are the only part which I have a strong positive view on. They are scary, powerful and their design works perfectly. Apart from that, I don’t really mind that Buddy briefly becomes a bear and while I do find it a confusing concept, it is certainly done to a more extreme extent under the next writer’s run (Animal Man (vol 1) 51-56).
Once again, the overarching plot of the run is rather tiresome. Sampson seems to be progressing with his plans, but it is often unclear of what those plans actually are. All we know is that they somehow involve Animal Man and that Travis is incredibly useful. That being said, why doesn’t Sampson just force Travis to work for him. I mean, there is numerous times throughout the story where Travis hacks into a computer in order to find out Sampson’s plan and while STAR Labs knows what Travis is doing, they don’t really do much about it. At least, not yet anyway. Also, Sampson’s assistant, Kami, seems to have changed sides incredibly quickly. One moment she tries to stop Travis from discovering the truth and then the next she helps him in discovering Sampson’s plans as if she has memory loss. Yet again, the M-Field both in practise and as concept is one which I am not a fan of. The beginning of part two just features Animal Man floating around with the yellow aliens and Stone. While I welcome the return of the mysterious yellow aliens that caused Buddy to become Animal Man (even if that is retconned a few issues later), the M-Field scenes don’t add anything and always feel in the way. Speaking of Stone, he is just as mysterious as ever and while having mystery is a good thing, this has been building up too much and its now at a point where you are just tired and you want to know more about him. Plus, it doesn’t help that Moonlight, another Native American, looks exactly the same as Stone. The only difference appears to be their shirt, meaning everything becomes confusing. Seriously, the amount of times I’ve had to check back and see if I was talking about the right character was staggering. Apart from that and the usual characters acting like a*seholes for virtually no reason (like Mary, who is a horrible woman that tries to tell her daughter to break up with her husband), I really don’t like the introduction of Uncle Dudley. Sure, his appearance is pretty minor here, but he becomes a rather major character in Jamie Delano’s run. I just think placing a kid with someone with a dangerous attitude who appears to be a sexual predator just doesn’t fit, especially when you notice how Cliff was written so well and brilliantly by Grant Morrison. The only good thing to come out of Cliff’s absence is that he doesn’t act like a d*ck every ten seconds, which became very uncharacteristic, even for him.
Instead of Dillon, the first part is drawn by David Klein and Mark Badger, two artists I’m not very familiar with. But, I’m not really a fan of their art. Everything looks incredibly sketchy and rough as if it was inked in an incredibly rushed fashion, but not in a Vince Colletta style. At his inks looked like people and were somewhat finished. Here, everything looks a bit too incomplete and it doesn’t fit the mood of the story as I think Dillon would have drawn Sampson’s mutants with a bit more terror in mind. Steve Dillon does return for the second part and as usual, it’s a bit of a mess and while page layouts often work well, it doesn’t really fit the mood. Also, he is doing the same thing of not drawing people’s eyes in certain panels, which is really noticeable after a while.
Story: 5/10
Art: 3.5/10
Who is That Masked Woman?/The Beat of Darkness/A Rage of Fathers/The Shining Man/The Meaning of Flesh/The Hot Heart of Abstract Reality/Journal of a Plague Year --- Written by Tom Veitch with art by Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy, Steve Dillon and Steve Pugh
THE STORY
In New York, a mysterious masked woman finds one of Sampson’s mutants. The two fight and the masked woman quickly kills the mutant. The police then arrive, and the masked woman quickly flies away. Meanwhile, Moonlight and Tristess cook venison steaks, making Buddy feel uncomfortable as he is a vegetarian. However, Tristess explains that Stone always makes others do things they do not want. Yet, Buddy refuses to eat meat and he phones home, discovering from Maxine that Ellen is in New York looking for work. After finishing the call, Buddy notices the masked woman outside, recognising her as Tabu. Animal Man then fights Tabu, but she renders herself harmless by removing her claws. Then, after pushing Animal Man away, Tabu removes her mask, revealing herself to be Vixen (Justice League of America member). Meanwhile, Ellen attends a job interview in New York for the Wonderful Publishing Company. She meets the boss of the company and Ellen presents her art portfolio. Impressed, the boss gives Ellen a job as a comic book artist. Ellen is then introduced to Les Decker, creator of the Penalizer. Meanwhile, Vixen explains that Tabu (Animal Man (vol 1) 10-12) give up her powers to her as they were blood relatives. Because of the powers, she begun to notice the call of Stone. Then, Travis and Kami arrive, surprising Buddy as he hasn’t seen Travis in weeks. Driving him home, Travis tells Buddy that Moonlight is being paid by STAR Labs and that Sampson wants Buddy’s body for DNA tests. Arriving home, Buddy is shouted at by Mary (again) and he is told that Raney Fox phoned, hoping to get Buddy for another movie. Elsewhere, Ellen speaks with Decker, who tells her about the Penalizer. She quickly recognises the name as Cliff reads the comic. Then, Decker shows her a comic submitted by a fan, which is full of violence and is also written by Cliff. Meanwhile, one of Sampson’s mutants kills a fox and then discovers Maxine and her pet dinosaur…
After work, Decker arrives home, thinking of the Penalizer and idolizing him. After making dinner and feeding his cat, Decker sits down to write a comic about the Penalizer fighting a villain named Doctor Darkness. In the story, two kids, one of whom is named Cliff, visit Doctor Darkness in order to get his help in finding drugs. After doing so, Doctor Darkness gives the kids two guns, ordering them to kill the Penalizer. In the street, while the Penalizer walks home, the kids shoot him, but quickly, the Penalizer shoots back and kills the kids. Although angry at himself for killing the kids, the Penalizer swears to kill Doctor Darkness. After finishing the story to his comic, Decker receives a phone call from a Charles Latham, who tells him that his apartment building is being terrorised by drug dealers. After negotiating a fee, Decker agrees to help by becoming the Penalizer. Elsewhere, Buddy speaks with Ellen, who is concerned about what is happening to Buddy as it is affecting Maxine. Ellen then asks Buddy is he is seeing another woman, which he claims he isn’t. She explains that she has been experiencing dreams about Buddy with another woman. Later, while doing her artwork, Ellen tells Buddy that Decker has used Cliff as a character in the comic. However, Buddy then tells her that Raney Fox phoned again and that he is planning on paying Buddy millions for the movie he is making. Later on, Buddy and Ellen search for Maxine when Raney Fox and his movie writer arrive. Buddy then tunes into the M-Field and discovers that Maxine is not alone and is a mile underground…
Remembering his past, one day Buddy returns home drunk after going out with his friends. His father had a bad temper and hit him when he discovered he was drunk. Afterwards, at dinner, his father explains that he was once like Buddy and that his life (continued)
was destroyed by drinking. He then tells Buddy that he is only trying to make sure he doesn’t become like him. To bond together more, Buddy and his father decide to go on a trip to the woods and hunt for animals to eat. They stay in an old lodge built by his family during the Revolutionary War, when the family fought alongside Tomahawk. Inside the lodge, Buddy’s father shows him pictures of the family and how they have all been hunters. However, Buddy isn’t comfortable about killing another animal and the next day, he refuses to fire a gun. His father makes Buddy fire at a deer, but it misses. His father then decides to shoot the deer and he kills it. His father becomes angry at Buddy and he pushes him to the floor, telling him he is a Baker and he must hunt. Then, his father discovers the footprints of a bear and decides they must hunt it. Suddenly, a spaceship falls from the sky and crashes, sending Buddy into unconsciousness. When he awakens, he finds his father shooting a bear, but before it dies, it attacks him and injures him. In shock, Buddy believes that his father will die. Then, Stone appears and pours a strange yellow liquid onto Buddy’s father’s chest, before touching Buddy, causing him to experience a mental shock. Pleased that he didn’t die, Stone shows Buddy the crashed spaceship and tells him to break into it with a warclub. Buddy does so, but the spaceship explodes. Although they are both fine, Stone sends Buddy into a sleep, telling him that nothing will ever be the same again. Later, Buddy is woken up in the lodge by his father, who tells him that the natives have saved them, but Buddy doesn’t remember any of it. Days later, at a funfair, Buddy is annoyed that his friend Roger, is going out with Ellen. Suddenly, a tiger escapes from its cage and charges towards Ellen. Buddy steps in and somehow throws the animal away. Although in shock, Ellen calls Buddy a hero and the two become closer…
In the forest, Michael Maxwell, the man who was once B’wana Beast, kills a deer and takes it into a deep cave, where he gives it to a wild-like Maxine. Meanwhile, Animal Man has found the location of his daughter and he senses a great amount of evil. While Raney Fox and his writer take notes for their movie, Animal Man flies away to find his daughter. While flying over the family’s old hunting lodge, he knows that a memory from his mind is missing. Then, his connection to the M-Field weakens and he falls to the ground. He then senses Maxine and digs quickly into the ground. Meanwhile, Travis hacks into a STAR Labs computer using a virtual reality headset in order to discover the depths of Sampson’s plans. Inside, Travis discovers that Sampson is rebuilding himself with tissue samples affected by M-Field energy in order to become a superhuman. However, Sampson detects Travis’s presence and he is forced out of the virtual world, leaving him unconscious in reality. Meanwhile, Buddy is underground when he is attacked by Maxwell and the two recognise each other (Animal Man (vol 1) 1-4). Buddy then notices Maxine and he fights Maxwell. However, he then displaces the molecules in Buddy’s hands and reveals that the helmet he once wore as B’wana Beast was unnecessary and his power has always been present. Maxwell then shows Buddy a strange cocoon, in which the powers of something named Antagon live. Although mad, Maxwell pledges to curse the animal masters, before he is absorbed into the cocoon…
On the surface, Ellen, Fox and his writer witness Maxwell appear, possessed by Antagon. Frightened, Fox runs to his car before he is burnt alive by Antagon, who then walks into the distance. With the writer picking up Fox’s skull, Buddy appears with Maxine, just barely alive. Buddy explains that Maxine must be taken to Stone in order to release her from the curse, before he flies away, telling Ellen that when it’s all over, he will leave his family to their real lives, without him. After flying and noticing the destruction caused by Antagon, Buddy arrives at Stone’s home and discovers from Tristess that he is in the Sweat Lodge. Meanwhile, Kami discovers that Travis is in a coma when he appears to her on the computer screen, telling her that his body is in a coma because of Sampson. He then tells her that she must patch him into STAR Labs in San Diego. Meanwhile, Sampson’s transformation into an M-Field superbeing is complete. He then asks for Moonlight to deal with Travis. Later, Moonlight arrives at Travis’s home and kills Kami. Elsewhere, Buddy, Maxine, Vixen and Tristess summon Stone, who has told Buddy it is the time for revelation. As they all vanish with Stone, Antagon arrives and destroys the area, frustrated that they are gone. Elsewhere, Buddy, Maxine, Vixen and Tristess arrive in a strange place of alien animals…
In Travis’s home, Moonlight offers Travis the choice of having his body destroyed, or his mind on the computer. Without answering, Travis watches as (continued)
Moonlight shoots his body. Meanwhile at the farm, Fox’s writer takes down notes on Buddy’s family, calling them special people. Elsewhere, Vixen tries to fight some strange insect-like alien animals, but Tristess warns that it is a test for Buddy set up by Stone, which Buddy has been ignoring for too long. As a master of animals, Buddy manages to tame one of the creatures and they enter a portal opened by Stone. Meanwhile, Sampson, in his new form, confronts Travis, telling him that he will be forever trapped inside computer space, before turning the computer off. However, Sampson is then informed that Travis managed to leak information about the project to STAR Labs San Diego and they have dispatched a security team to shut the project down. While the soldiers outside attempt to fight their way into Sampson’s lab, Sampson himself appears and kills the soldiers using his new strength. Elsewhere, Buddy and his team are welcomed by Stone to the Labrador Peninsula and he explains that they all have powers to conquer the world. After healing Maxine, Stone tells everybody a story about himself, Arum and Krate, three animal masters, who were awarded the freedom to create animals. However, over time, an enemy of the masters appeared, known as Antagon. For millions of years, the two sides fought, but it when it became clear to Antagon that its time was coming, it shrank and covered itself in a cocoon. The animal masters knew that Antagon would return and as Stone was the youngest of the masters, he was given the mission to create a saviour. Twenty years ago, he attempted to begin Buddy’s life as a master, but failed (Animal Man (vol 1) 46). Since then, the four remaining masters, who are Animal Man, Vixen, Tristess and Little Wing (Maxine), must defend the planet against Antagon. Meanwhile, Sampson attempts to come up with a heroic name for himself and settles on Metaman. Suddenly, Travis appears on the computer and tells Sampson he will shut him down. However, Travis doesn’t realise that he is subject to control by those controlling the computer. He is then dispersed through numerous data packages, meaning he will eventually forget his sense of existence and he will be controllable. Sampson then punches the computer screen, before leaving. Meanwhile, Ellen and the writer are speaking about their mutual friend Les Decker when a portal opens up with Buddy and Maxine. Buddy tells everyone to hide as the threat of Antagon is large, before leaving back through the portal…
Eating dinner at the farm, the writer begins to notice his attraction to Ellen, before he decides to help by going shopping for the family. Heading into the town, the writer notices from a newspaper that 300 people have died in Vermont from Antagon. Suddenly, the sky turns dark and everyone in the street is ripped apart by Antagon’s power. Luckily, the writer survives by hiding in a car, but drives back to the farm when noticing all the death and destruction. He then notices soldiers fighting against the strange forces of Antagon, reminding him of the Second World War. Then, a helicopter lands nearby and Sampson, in his new Metaman costume, steps out, ordering the soldiers to stand down. Sampson boasts that he is much stronger than Superman and he flies upwards in the helicopter, before jumping out and leaping on Antagon. The two fight, with Sampson releasing the power of the M-Field and releasing the Antagon energy from Maxwell’s body, killing him. However, the power of Antagon then travels into Sampson’s body, transforming him into an even bigger threat as he destroys all the soldiers around him. Elsewhere, Stone tells Buddy and his team to wait as he unleashes himself and his messenger to appear to Antagon. Suddenly, Antagon vanishes and appears in Stone’s realm, where Antagon pledges to destroy Stone’s dreams. Then, Stone vanishes, replaced by Animal Man, Vixen and Tristess. Animal Man realises that this is the final test set out by Stone and by using their powers, they create an entire universe to combat Antagon’s dark energy, leaving him stranded somewhere deep in space. Meanwhile, Ellen tells the writer about her dream about Buddy sleeping with another woman. As the writer, he tells Ellen that her dreams are true and instead of loving Buddy, she should love him. Although she somehow feels contained inside the writer, she cannot love him. Then, Buddy comes home and orders the writer to get away from his wife. The writer then tells Buddy that he knows he has been cheating with Tristess. In anger, Buddy hits the writer, who then punches Buddy, before kicking him in the balls. Really angry, Buddy throws the writer through the window and tells him that they are both going to be friends. In the end, Buddy and the writer did become friends. The writer visited Buddy at the farm in order to write a detailed screenplay about Animal Man. Afterwards, he didn’t see Buddy and his family for a very long time, but he hopes they will be alright.
MY THOUGHTS
Right, this is where pretty much every little plot point since Animal Man (vol 1) 33 comes to an end and quite honestly, I really didn’t except it to go this way. Throughout the run, there has been numerous hints at Sampson’s real plans and that it somehow involves Animal Man, but you’d never really guess that it had something to do with him becoming a superhero and fighting a possessing devil-like entity. But before we get into all of that, lets start with the positives. One complaint I’ve had with most of Veitch’s run is that the characters he creates usually aren’t that memorable. With the exception of Travis, characters like Kami and Moonlight are rather forgettable and dull. However, in this story, Veitch brings back some old faces, such as Vixen and B’wana Beast, both of whom appeared in Grant Morrison’s run. Their inclusion in this story is good, as it means that there are actually some interesting characters here, particularly Vixen, who has a link to Animal Man because of their powers. Not only that, it reminds me that this story still takes place in the DC Universe and not Vertigo, the imprint which the title would be printed under from Animal Man (vol 1) 57 onwards. The same applies to Maxwell and while he may be quite different from how he once was, its good to see him return. Other than that, I also really like the inclusion of the writer character. Now, its clear that the writer character is supposed to be Tom Veitch, as it is heavily hinted that he is behind what all the characters are saying. This obviously echoes what Morrison did in his last issue and while I think that breaking the fourth wall shouldn’t be a regular occurrence, I do like how it works here. Plus, the writer as a character can be quite funny and I’m happy that he actually featured more than as a background character, as Raney Fox, the director gets killed, which isn’t
totally undeserved as he abuses animals and just acts like an a*sehole. Apart from that, I really like the Penalizer story in Animal Man (vol 1) 45, as it takes us away from the main plot for most of an issue and it gladly mocks some of the other comics at time, particularly those by Rob Liefeld. The story itself is over-the-top and unnecessarily dark, which comics like X-Force has a knack for doing while the artists would draw massive guns and muscles. I also like how the Penalizer’s writer, Decker, pretty much idolises his own creation to the point where he becomes the hero himself in order to fight crime, despite his lack of muscles and nerdy glasses. It makes me think that Rob Liefeld has probably thought about becoming Deadpool, which if it were true, I wouldn’t be surprised.
What this story really gets wrong is the main plot and how cluttered everything feels. Beforehand, the main plot was Sampson trying to achieve something and Stone trying to do something with Animal Man. The real aims really should have been revealed sooner, as the tension becomes tiresome and you just want to know what’s really going on. It is very late on in the story and very near the end of the run where we discover the presence of Antagon, a being which wasn’t even mentioned by anyone until he basically appeared in Maxwell. Stone should have mentioned Antagon, or at least, hinted at it earlier. Sampson has the same problem as well, since its never really told or hinted that he wants Animal Man’s M-Field powers. Both of these aspects come out of the blue and while the last issue is simply a fight between Sampson and Antagon, it just doesn’t work as
everything has been tied up too quickly and their characters just aren’t developed enough. Sampson has been present in this run since near the start, yet nothing really changes in his character. The big revelation feels so unexpected and random, especially when he isn’t shown to have an obsession with the M-Field and its potential. Also, although I do like the inclusion of Maxwell, why did he have to be Antagon? It is clearly shown that as a spirit, Antagon can pretty much possess the body of anyone. Why did it have to be Maxwell? Surely there were more suitable candidates, such as Superman, who Antagon could have easily used. In fact, that would have made for a more tense finale and we could have seen minor heroes such as Animal Man and Vixen take down the strongest superhero. It could have really meant something because here, nobody is really aware that the world is ending and the writer heads into town, everybody is walking around shopping thinking the whole Antagon fiasco will all be back to normal by tomorrow. Like I mentioned before, the whole animal masters plot was revealed a little too late, but I think still it’s a pretty lame concept. Why do all of these heroes have to be linked through the M-Field? Why can’t Animal Man, Vixen and Tristess (a character that everyone acts like they have known her for ages) just be similar because of their powers not through the animal masters? Although some would argue its sillier and it is, I will always prefer Animal Man’s original origin featuring the yellow aliens. When you think about it, Animal Man is a silver age comic book character. He isn’t one of those darker Vertigo heroes or horror-based characters, like Swamp Thing. He is a man in a silly orange outfit who can use the powers of any animal. There isn’t any field he has to tune into, and he wasn’t created by a load of old gurus to fight a bland apocalyptic villain. Also, Stone constantly talked about Maxine being involved in saving the world from Antagon, but Buddy just decides to send her home. Sure, it’s the safest thing to do, but it’s kind of makes everything about her and her link to the M-Field pointless. I’m going to move on from all the animal masters crap and the main plot. There are so many problems with it, but it would take another 1000 words to go into it all. Its just not worth it, particularly when the next writer comes along and changes it all. Apart from the main plot, I really didn’t think much of the flashback story in Animal Man (vol 1) 46, mainly because it has to link back to the Vertigo rule that most characters have to have grittier origins. To me, Buddy’s time as Animal Man didn’t even begin until he was in his 20s, not as a late teenager. Why does his father have to be abusive? Why does his father have to be violently attacked by a bear? Why does Stone have to feature so early in Buddy’s life? Why couldn’t Buddy’s earlier life just be different from the rest and be lighter. He is a silver age hero. Sure, you can change and update things, but this is just straying too far from the original character. Also, that interlude is a very awkward place, as it is in-between two very important issues of the run. In terms of the other characters, Travis effectively dies in this story and ultimately, feels rather pointless in the grand scheme of things. Most of the time, he tries to find out what Sampson’s real plans are, but that’s it. He doesn’t feel integral to the plot. There really should have been a moment where he either saved Animal Man or made Sampson weaker. This would have made his death more significant and his legacy actually meaningful, as opposed to being known as the man who shot a kid and got away with it. Once again, most of the other characters are pretty standard. Kami’s death doesn’t convey much emotion, mainly due to her lack of character. As her murderer, Moonlight features a bit more, but his intentions are very vague and there never is a tied-up conclusion to his aims, as he dies during the Antagon fight. If I missed anyone else, then its most likely because they were so bland, I forgot they were even in it. Apart from that, Buddy’s family still feels off, with Mary becoming all the more annoying by the minute. There are some good scenes with Ellen about her new job, but even that doesn’t come to much in the grand scheme of things. Plus, the whole Penalizer story feels rather cut short. It would have been great to see him in the final story. Like I said, everything feels off and the charm that the characters once had seems to have vanished.
As usual, most of the art by Steve Dillon is pretty rough and messy. Once again, I really think somebody else inking his work would have most probably make it look better. His page layouts can be appealing and quite dramatic (especially in a story which is as tense as cutting cheese), but his art simply doesn’t really fit the mood of the book. The one issue drawn by Ewins and McCarthy is pretty forgettable and is extremely boring, in a rather Richard Case way. Lastly, we get Steve Pugh, the artist who takes over from Animal Man (vol 1) 51 with writer Jamie Delano, beginning the Flesh and Blood storyline. Although I don’t like that story either (I’ll get to it eventually), Pugh’s art is more suited to those gritter tales and the one he draws here, featuring Buddy and his father, looks very out of place. Everything looks incredibly scratchy and it just doesn’t fit the mood. Some of his panels can also be very hard to actually understand what is going on, with the layouts being strange and just plain awful. Animal Man (vol 1) has never been the greatest title for artwork (apart from the covers obviously), but I’d take back Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood any day.
Story: 3.5/10
Art: 3/10
VERDICT
Overall, Animal Man: The Meaning of Flesh concludes Veitch’s stint on the title rather poorly. There are quite a few interesting concepts throughout, such as the mutants or the writer character. However, the main plot slowly morphs into nonsense and it begins the long path of Vertigo’s destruction of Animal Man, which is intensified by Jamie Delano and Jerry Prosser. The characters are incredibly bland and unmemorable, which is a complete constant to Morrison’s. Hell, even Milligan’s run had more memorable characters. When I first read Veitch’s run on the title, I thought it above average, especially after reading Milligan’s. However, on re-reading and reviewing, the run is simply bland and ultimately, a pretty tiresome and dire read. If you want proper Animal Man, read Morrison’s run or Gerry Conway’s The Last Days of Animal Man series, both of which are much better than this…
Stories: 4.5/10
Art: 3/10
Next Week: Robin: Year One (Robin: Year One 1-4). Written by Chuck Dixon with art by Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin and Robert Campanella. Also reviewing: Batman (vol 1) 416. Written by Jim Starlin with art by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo. Expected to be published by 19/04/2020.
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