History ComicBook / AnimalMan

* FlippingTheBird: His story in ''Vertigo Jam'' ends with him flipping off a turkey he had a conversation with as soon as the bird went off, not amused by the turkey's sentiment that HumansAreBastards.

* AuthorTract: Lampshaded by Buddy's friends: "You don't have conversations anymore, you give lectures!" and later by Morrison themself. [[spoiler:Grant Morrison admits to this themself in their final issue. They also note that the fact that they used the comic as a soapbox for their personal thoughts about animal cruelty while simultaneously inflicting numerous cruelties on Buddy himself is suggestive of a potential hypocrisy, or at least a similar sadistic impulse to inflict pain on something which can't fight back from a position of control, suggesting they don't have as much high ground from which to lecture the audience as they may have initially believed.]]

** When Buddy [[spoiler:meets Grant Morrison]], it's actually written as a subversion. Buddy angrily attacks them, smashing them through a window and killing them for [[spoiler:killing his family]]. However, he appears fine later, [[spoiler:explaining that they wrote that emotion, that response, that anger--they're the ''reason'' Buddy feels at all. They also tell Buddy that they (The Writer) is also a character which the real author put in the book and speaks through, and that Buddy can neither harm nor reach the real Grant Morrison.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Time Commander (Richard Starr), just a crazy man who rediscovers his ability to control time, and sets out in France, summoning Vikings and dinosaurs. When these characters distract the League, he goes to a cemetery, meets random people and decides to bring their loved ones back to life, even making an old lady young again. He then proclaims he'll use his powers to cure all death and make a paradise, when the League attacks him. He beats them back, except Animal man who tries to talk to him. Buddy respects what he's doing but states that there could be unexpected consequences (like the dinosaurs attacking).

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A rare in-universe example. Buddy realizes that a group of drunken rednecks who threatened his wife disappeared after their sub-plot was over, as he slowly comes to realize [[spoiler:he's a fictional character]].

* VillainousBreakdown: Metamorpho shrugs off his attack and advances on him, smashing his hourglass (the source of his powers), and reducing him to tears as he feels he's going back to the mental institute where the doctors tried to make him sane and "destroying the clockwork" he sees in his mind. Ultimately, he foresaw his future defeat earlier, and it comes to pass with Metamorpho breaking his nose as the "clockwork" in his head symbolically breaks. When Animal Man needs to time Travel, he locates the Commander who is just in his cell trying to put his mind back together:

[[caption-width-right:350: ''[[Music/TheyMightBeGiants Animal Man, Animal Man, doing the things an Animal can....]]'']]

* EvilUncle: Ellen's paternal uncle, Dudley, is a SnuffFilmmaker who is crazy as an outhouse rat and worships death, and tries to bring Cliff under his wing, purposely running over Buddy and temporarily killing him to keep him from interfering.

** InUniverse, Crafty Coyote is exiled by God from his fictional cartoon into the "hell above" of the DC universe in the "Coyote Gospel".

** InUniverse, Crafty Coyote is exiled from his fictional cartoon into the "hell above" of the DC universe by God in the "Coyote Gospel".

* MundaneSolution: During the ComicBook/{{Invasion}}, Animal Man has no idea how to stop a Thanagarian bomb before it explodes. Hawkman shows up, pushes a button on the bomb, and tells Animal Man that all he had to do was turn it off.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: In issue #24, Earth-Three Ultraman and Pre-Crisis Bizarro tries to stop Overman from detonating a bomb that will wipe out the world.

* AuthorTract: Lampshaded by Buddy's friends: "You don't have conversations anymore, you give lectures!" and later by Morrison themself. [[spoiler:Grant Morrison admits to this themself in their final issue. They also note that the fact that they used the comic as a soapbox for their personal thoughts about animal cruelty while simultaneously inflicting numerous cruelties on Buddy himself is suggestive of a potential hypocrisy, or at least a similar sadistic impulse to inflict cruelty on something which can't fight back from a position of control, suggesting they don't have as much high ground from which to lecture the audience as they may have initially believed. ]]

* AuthorTract: Lampshaded by Buddy's friends: "You don't have conversations anymore, you give lectures!" and later by Morrison themself. [[spoiler:Grant Morrison admits to this themself in their final issue.]]

* MeatVersusVeggies: Buddy's connection to animals gradually persuaded him to become vegetarian, leading to friction with Ellen on the subject. Though it wasn't exactly the idea of becoming vegetarian itself that was the problem, but the fact that Buddy unilaterally decided the issue for his whole family without actually discussing it first, informed her of this only when she came upon him throwing all the meat in their refrigerator into the trash, and his high-handed and self-righteous attitude about it, culminating in him storming off in a huff when called out about it, didn't help matters. [[spoiler: Later, in his confrontation with Grant Morrison, Morrison admits that he'd just been using Buddy as an AuthorTract for his own vegetarian beliefs, and also makes an interesting contrast between the self-righteousness of his animal rights message and the various cruelties he'd subjected Buddy to over the course of his run on the title, pondering if both cruelty to animals and cruelty to fictional characters ultimately stem from the same sadistic impulses.]]

* AnimalisticAbomination: During the ''ComicBook/{{Childrens Crusade|Vertigo}}'', Maxine is lured away to the Free Country by Jack Rabbit, who occupies the UncannyValley between a large realistic rabbit and a cartoon.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: In ''ComicBook/{{Childrens Crusade|Vertigo}}'', Maxine suddenly gains the power to make an exact duplicate of herself to send home to her parents, conveniently allowing her to stay in the Free Country without seriously affecting the plot of the ''Animal Man'' comic.

In September of 2011, Animal Man was one of the characters receiving a series as part of the line wide ComicBook/New52 relaunch. The [[AnimalMan2011 new series]], written by Creator/JeffLemire, deals with Buddy and his family dynamics, chiefly his daughter Maxine developing her own powers, as well as his attempts to protect [[EldritchLocation "The Red"]]. The series is a ''very'' [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]] one, and met with much critical acclaim before ending after 29 issues. Buddy himself continued to be written by Lemire though, this time featuring in his team book, ''Justice League United'', until that ended after 17 issues.

In September of 2011, Animal Man was one of the characters receiving a series as part of the line wide ComicBook/New52 relaunch. The new series, written by Jeff Lemire, deals with Buddy and his family dynamics, chiefly his daughter Maxine developing her own powers, as well as his attempts to protect [[EldritchLocation "The Red"]]. The series is a ''very'' [[DarkerAndEdgier dark]] one, and met with much critical acclaim before ending after 29 issues. Buddy himself continued to be written by Lemire though, this time featuring in his team book, ''Justice League United'', until that ended after 17 issues.

* BittersweetEnding: The ending to the New 52 series. [[spoiler:Cliff is still dead and so are most of the Totems of the Red. However, Brother Blood and the Splinterfolk are defeated. Shepherd and Socks become the new Totems of the Red. The Bakers repair their marriage. Buddy decides to become the Avatar of the Red in order to prevent his daughter Maxine from being put in danger, but will still be doomed to replace the Bridgewalker as mediator of the Green, Red and Rot of the Seed Planet when the current one dies, with no exception.]]

* CameBackWrong: In the 2011 reboot, Maxine first uses her powers to bring dead pets back to life. As emaciated skeletal versions.

** The Comicbook/{{New 52}} run under Lemire puts that marriage through the wringer [[spoiler:with the death of Cliff]], but they're back together again as a family as of the end of the series.

* LovecraftianSuperpower: In the Comicbook/{{New 52}} ''Animal Man'' series, Buddy becomes infused with more power from The Red (the metaphysical manifestation of the Animal Kingdom, and the animal equivalent to ''ComicBook/SwampThing'''s The Green), and his power to use animal abilities is morphed into actually physically manifesting animal characteristics. These transformations are [[TransformationHorror visceral and not pleasant to look at]].

* PowerUpgradingDeformation: How his powers work in the Comicbook/{{New 52}}.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: In the 2011 reboot, Buddy starts to bleed profusely from his eyes, which turn red.

** In the New 52 reboot of the series, it's revealed that his powers may have come from Yellow Aliens, but those aliens are stated to be agents of The Red, implying a mystical origin.

* RunningGag: In the New 52 series, a reporter asking an insensitive question asking if a tragedy Buddy or his family just suffered was staged getting assaulted in response.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Time Commander (Richard Starr), just a crazy man who rediscovers his ability to control time, and sets out in France, summoning vikings and dinosaurs. When these characters distract the League, he goes to a cemetery, meets random people and decides to bring their loved ones back to life, even making an old lady young again. He then proclaims he'll use his powers to cure all death and make a paradise, when the League attacks him. He beats them back, except Animal man who tries to talk to him. Buddy respects what he's doing but states that there could be unexpected consequences (like the dinosaurs attacking).

* ArcNumber: Or rather number''s'', as "9 27" appear throughout Morrison's run. [[spoiler: It turns out that it's the date Buddy's family are murdered. The numbers that have mysteriously manifested were the time-traveling Buddy's futile attempts to warn them.]]

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: In ''ComicBook/FreeCountryATaleOfTheChildrensCrusade'', Maxine suddenly gains the power to make an exact duplicate of herself to send home to her parents, conveniently allowing her to stay in the Free Country without seriously affecting the plot of the ''Animal Man'' comic.

* RageAgainstTheAuthor: [[spoiler: The story arc "Deus Ex Machina" is notable in that it plays this scenario for drama.]]

* RealityEnsues: Played with. When Crafty, an anthropomorphic cartoon coyote, comes to the "real world" (the comic books world, actually), he retains his ability to regenerate himself from every mortal wound. But instead of being innocent and bloodless, like on his cartoons, well... let's just say how Morrison describes, and SHOWS it, it goes just [[BodyHorror gross]].

[[caption-width-right:350: [[Music/TheyMightBeGiants ''Animal Man, Animal Man, doing the things an Animal can....'']]]]