From Grant Morrison, creator of The Invisibles and writer of New X-Men and JLA, comes a classic tale of a man whose struggle to save human lives becomes something more...Buddy Baker is Animal Man, able to take on the characteristics of any creature he touches. After some time away from high-profile heroics, he decides to get back into costume - much to the chagrin of his wife and son - and is soon involved in a series of dangerous and exciting adventures. But Buddy has some decisions to make, and some shocks to come; because for the first time, he's listening to the animals. And he doesn't like what he's hearing...
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About the Author
Grant Morrison is one of comics' most innovative writers. His long list of credits include JLA, Doom Patrol and Judge Dredd, prior to his largest masterpiece, The Invisibles. Author of the award-winning Batman: Arkham Asylum, Morrison is currently writing the US' bestselling comic, Marvel Comics' New X-Men.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really enjoyed this book and the whole series - its a combination of old fashioned comic type stories and (slightly preachy) social activism all wrapped up in a 3 Volume long postmodern arc deconstructing the entire genre. Inspired.
To get the most of out this book and the series you should read these five books in this order;
'Crisis on Infinite Earths' by Wolfman/Perez
(A key DC crossover book whose events have a major impact to the character of Animal Man as the three volumes continue).
'Animal Man Vol. 1: Animal Man'
(The first Animal Man book, introducing you to the character and themes).
'Invasion!' by Giffen/Mantlo
(This is another great DC crossover - plus chapters 6 and 7 of Animal Man Vol 1 are crossover stories designed to fall under the Invasion! event storyline so you should read it at this point).
'Animal Man Vol. 2: Origin of the Species'
'Animal Man Vol. 3: Deus Ex Machina'
I read Vol 1 - 3 without having read 'Crisis' or 'Invasion' and still enjoyed them a lot but reading them in the above order would give you the maximum enjoyment.
To get the most of out this book and the series you should read these five books in this order;
'Crisis on Infinite Earths' by Wolfman/Perez
(A key DC crossover book whose events have a major impact to the character of Animal Man as the three volumes continue).
'Animal Man Vol. 1: Animal Man'
(The first Animal Man book, introducing you to the character and themes).
'Invasion!' by Giffen/Mantlo
(This is another great DC crossover - plus chapters 6 and 7 of Animal Man Vol 1 are crossover stories designed to fall under the Invasion! event storyline so you should read it at this point).
'Animal Man Vol. 2: Origin of the Species'
'Animal Man Vol. 3: Deus Ex Machina'
I read Vol 1 - 3 without having read 'Crisis' or 'Invasion' and still enjoyed them a lot but reading them in the above order would give you the maximum enjoyment.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By D. Falconer
Format:Paperback
Grant Morrison's first American work is represented here in this graphic novel. While ostensibly a superhero, Buddy Baker, and, latterly, Doom Patrol, along with Neil Gaiman's Sandman, were the impetus for DC to create their 'mature' Vertigo line. This is now packaged as a Vertigo item - a fact rather at odds with its' contents.
To begin with we have a four-part, animal rights-leaning, superhero story, with all the requisite fights, Superman appearance, etc. It's very well done, nice dialogue, interesting basic concept, and so on... then we get 'The Coyote Gospel', which is nothing short of an apotheosis for both Morrison, and, causally, comicbooks. A metatextual critique of Warner Bros. cartoons, among other things - what more can any discerning reader want? This one story raises the bar, for Animal Man and for the form, and is followed through on by the quite wonderful, Crowley-fronticed 'Birds of Prey', and a couple of interesting, fun sidelines into the life of a family man turned superhero, dealing with failed old supervillains, and property security.
Some recurrent themes of Morrison's become apparent in this work: fractal geometries, planes of existence, etc., but the work is performed with a fantastic lightness of touch. And! Scottish readers, features a Glaswegian bad guy, using phrases which I must imagine sound like nonsense to the American ear. Great.
To begin with we have a four-part, animal rights-leaning, superhero story, with all the requisite fights, Superman appearance, etc. It's very well done, nice dialogue, interesting basic concept, and so on... then we get 'The Coyote Gospel', which is nothing short of an apotheosis for both Morrison, and, causally, comicbooks. A metatextual critique of Warner Bros. cartoons, among other things - what more can any discerning reader want? This one story raises the bar, for Animal Man and for the form, and is followed through on by the quite wonderful, Crowley-fronticed 'Birds of Prey', and a couple of interesting, fun sidelines into the life of a family man turned superhero, dealing with failed old supervillains, and property security.
Some recurrent themes of Morrison's become apparent in this work: fractal geometries, planes of existence, etc., but the work is performed with a fantastic lightness of touch. And! Scottish readers, features a Glaswegian bad guy, using phrases which I must imagine sound like nonsense to the American ear. Great.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By J Witts
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
While there's some great ideas in this book, there's also a lot of stuff that felt pretty dated to me. The four colour style printing also adds to the feeling that it's getting on a bit. I bought this cos I like other Morrison books, I'm not a usually big fan of the DC Universe (apart from Batman) and there's a lot of refernces to the JLA in this book (Animal Man must have also been appearing in that title at the time), so it feels almost like there are holes in the story a couple of times. DC fans will probably get more from this than I did.
Having said all that it was an OK read, Morrison as always finds ways to make the characters more interesting than they might be, but I won't be seeking out volume 2.
Having said all that it was an OK read, Morrison as always finds ways to make the characters more interesting than they might be, but I won't be seeking out volume 2.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very interesting and different kind of superhero comic, with great art and text. What stuck most with me was the story about "The Coyote Gospel", where an upright wolf/coyote keeps getting run over and/or shot by a truck driver who's out to get him for tragically human reasons. The catch is, as much pain as the wolf feels and as badly mashed-up as he gets, he cannot die, and his body slowly regenerates. The descriptions of this are quite difficult to read. Take it from me, as someone who's never prided himself on a strong stomach, the sympathy you feel for this doomed creature (whose mission of delivering an indecipherable message to the world is doomed) is downright physical at times. This story has quite strong philosophical undertones; we may not understand everything around us, but there's significance to it all.
Great art, deep and at times disturbing story (because it rings so true and clear), subtle Warner Bros. references - this one is definitely worth a peek (if you can stomach it).
Great art, deep and at times disturbing story (because it rings so true and clear), subtle Warner Bros. references - this one is definitely worth a peek (if you can stomach it).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Morrison's run on Animal Man, so often buried under heaps of sycophantic praise, is not quite the read you'd expect from the lavish, glowing reviews on here. The issues are filled with confusion, often leaving plot (or hints of plot) dangling for inordinate amounts of time. By the end of his time on the book, collected here, most of these would be collected up and put to use, but as soon as Morrison makes his grand statement he's gone, leaving Buddy Baker as he was before the momentous events even occurred. Some might say that these elements were sowed throughout the series, and though true, they're of such little consequence that they feel empty. Neat, but empty.
An early stab at shoving metaphysics into comics, this is at best only moderately handled, and not quite the payoff you're hoping for as you paw through issues of Morrison's preachy animal rights topics (something he addresses he was unsatisfied with in his last issue). I can't fault the dialogue, I can't fault the situations and I can't fault the ambition. It's just that by today's standards this feels like so much old hat. The simplicity of Truog's pencils adds nothing but disappointment after the vibrancy of Brian Bolland's covers. Definitely worth a read (and many a re-read), just please remember that its significance and achievement isn't as strongly felt today as it was twenty years ago.
An early stab at shoving metaphysics into comics, this is at best only moderately handled, and not quite the payoff you're hoping for as you paw through issues of Morrison's preachy animal rights topics (something he addresses he was unsatisfied with in his last issue). I can't fault the dialogue, I can't fault the situations and I can't fault the ambition. It's just that by today's standards this feels like so much old hat. The simplicity of Truog's pencils adds nothing but disappointment after the vibrancy of Brian Bolland's covers. Definitely worth a read (and many a re-read), just please remember that its significance and achievement isn't as strongly felt today as it was twenty years ago.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
genius, brilliant.......i can see you.......
Due to this book Animal Man became my favourite character. Thats praise enough in many ways but if you read all three volumes you will see plotts come together that are merely... Read more
Published 15 months ago by danny whittingham
5.0 out of 5 stars
Remember DC Action?
In the early 90s London Edition Magazines did a fantastic job of picking out the best DC stories and reprinting them for the UK public. Read more
Published on 23 May 2009 by S. Bentley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!
Grant does it again, with another excellent animal man set. Highly recommended to anyone who likes reality warping/post-modern fiction or any other Morrison work (though you should... Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2003 by Mr. E. W. L. Parsons
4.0 out of 5 stars
The dawning of Vertigo
What we have here is a TPB that reprints one of the earliest works of Grant Morisson, now famous mostly for "Invisibles". Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2001
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