History ComicBook / AnimalMan

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Some people aren't happy with Buddy's stance on animal rights, and show it [[spoiler:by hiring an assassin to kill his wife and children]].

* MonkeysOnATypewriter: The penultimate issue of Morrison's run began with a monkey at a tipewriter while Animal Man travels through Comic Book Limbo.

** Buddy's son Cliff dies again in the ''ComicBook/New52'' series, which stuck this time and was one of the few aspects of the post-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' era to be retained after ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' in spite of the Rebirth initiative's primary purpose being to restore the DCU to how it was prior to ''Flashpoint''.

* EndOfSeriesAwareness: The conclusion of Grant Morrison's run features their AuthorAvatar addressing that a new writer will take over by the next issue and that their successor will likely take Buddy in different directions than what they did with the character.

** Grant Morrison's run has Buddy outlive his children Cliff and Maxine when they and his wife Ellen are murdered. At the end of the run, Morrison's AuthorAvatar uses their AuthorPowers to undo the deaths of Buddy's family after feeling they've made Buddy suffer enough.
** Buddy's son Cliff dies in the ''ComicBook/New52'' series, which was one of the few aspects of the post-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' era to be retained after ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' in spite of the Rebirth initiative's primary purpose being to restore the DCU to how it was prior to ''Flashpoint''.

** Grant Morrison's run has Buddy outlive his children Cliff and Maxine when they and his wife Ellen are murdered. At the end of the run, Morrison's AuthorAvatar undoes the deaths of Buddy's family after feeling they've made Buddy suffer enough.

** Buddy's son Cliff dies in the ''ComicBook/New52'' series, which was one of the few aspects of the post-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' era to be retained in the Rebirth continuity.

* OldSuperhero: ''The Last Days of AnimalMan'' is set in a future where after 20-odd years as a superhero, an aging Buddy starts losing his powers. Even so, he takes on a last fight as a nearly-powerless BadassNormal wearing body armor and wielding a crowbar.

%%* AllTheoriesAreTrue: The morphogenetic field among them.

* BodyHorror: It starts in Morrison's run with Buddy called in to investigate a bunch of lab apes merged into an unsightly abomination (likely as an exploration of the more unsavory qualities of Buddy's abilities), and just takes off from there.
%%** The Rot is pretty much BodyHorror incarnate, and the Comicbook/{{New 52}} series dives straight into the scare factor in that regard, ''especially'' when the art done by Travel Foreman.

%%* ButtMonkey: Got this treatment during his time in ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational.

%%* DeconstructorFleet: Morrison deconstructs and rebuilds the superhero with Animal Man and completely destroys the fourth wall.

%%* DeusExMachina: The title of Morrison's last issue.

%%* MonkeysOnATypewriter: One issue began with one while Animal Man travels through Comic Book Limbo.

%%* BodyHorror: It starts in Morrison's run (likely as an exploration of the more unsavory qualities of Buddy's abilities), and just takes off from there.

%%* NuclearFamily: With the twist that Buddy is, of course, a superhero.

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

%%* RetGone: Hamed Ali and pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} Buddy.

%%* SpaceWhale: Earth's Franchise/GreenLantern in the timeline of "The Last Days of Animal Man" is a very literal one.

%%* TransformationHorror: A running theme, particularly in the new 52 incarnation of his powers.

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Creator/GrantMorrison's AuthorAvatar is notably depicted with dark hair and pale skin, presumably to make them appear mysterious and otherwordly as well as emphasize their nature as an outsider to the DC Universe.

%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Morrison's run.]]

* FlippingTheBird: Buddy's 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 and that Buddy's vegetarianism doesn't do enough to change that.

* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: Grant Morrison ends their run by retconning it into a dream as a favor to the title character.]]
* AllTheoriesAreTrue: The morphogenetic field among them.

* AnimalMotifs: Buddy starts off only able to borrow powers of animals near him, but ends up able to borrow powers from ''any'' animal, anywhere on Earth, living or extinct. Also, other superheroes with Animal Powers appear, like B'wana Beast and Vixen.

* AnimalThemedSuperbeing

* ArtShift: Crafty's cartoony world.

* AudienceWhatAudience: Played straight in Grant Morrison's run, which featured Buddy gradually becoming aware that he is a comic character. He once wandered through Comic Limbo where different discarded characters made references to him being a character, only for him to be confused or outright dismiss them.

* BadPowersBadPeople: Lampshaded and made into a TearJerker with Red Mask. Red Mask had originally wanted to become a hero and learn to fly. But when he gained a deathtouch power from a radioactive meteorite, he reluctantly became a super-villain, and even acknowledged that he wasn't very good at it.

* BodyHorror: '''Plenty'''. It starts in Morrison's run (likely as an exploration of the more unsavory qualities of Buddy's abilities), and just takes off from there.
** The Rot is pretty much BodyHorror incarnate, and the Comicbook/{{New 52}} series dives straight into the scare factor in that regard, ''especially'' when the art done by Travel Foreman.
* BreakTheCutie: Buddy starts off as an idealistic funny person, but after [[spoiler:his wife and children ''die'', he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and ''kills'' people]].
** Of course, this, like many other events in the comic, is meant as a meta-commentary on UsefulNotes/{{the Dark Age of comic|books}}s that had started a year or so after ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths.

** Happens again during ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', when -- poisoned and on the threshold of death -- he looks straight up out of the panel and tells Starfire and ComicBook/AdamStrange that the readers are "out there, cheering them on".
** Also happens when one of the yellow aliens destroys a supervillain by whittling him down until he's nothing but the rough pencil lines used to draw him.

* ButtMonkey: Got this treatment during his time in ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational.

* CosmicPlaything: Buddy again; at one point, during ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' (where his scenes were also written by Grant Morrison), he's [[spoiler:poisoned, killed, and brought back to life ''again'', breaking the fourth wall yet again]].
* UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks: Morrison's ''Animal Man'' run is one of the earliest examples of a mainstream superhero comic criticizing the then-current tendency of making characters more grim and gritty, as well as abandoning many of the more light-hearted and colourful ones. Quite remarkably, this criticism is mostly aimed at Creator/DCComics, the publisher of Animal Man. The run has appearances by several DC characters who were written out of continuity during and after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and Morrison makes it they do not approve of abandoning these characters in favour of more gritty and violent ones.
-->[[spoiler:'''Creator/GrantMorrison''']]: "We thought that by making your world more violent, we would make it more "realistic", more "adult". God help us if that's what it means."
* DeconstructorFleet: Morrison deconstructs and rebuilds the superhero with Animal Man and completely destroys the fourth wall.
** Also a big one of cartoon violence and BadPowersBadPeople.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Morrison's last issue is kind of the metaMETAexemplary example of this, as [[spoiler:Grant Morrison '''tells''' Buddy straightup about the 2D nature of his universe, and demonstrates how Buddy only does whatever he does because Grant writes him that way. And they remark to Buddy that "maybe some new writer will make you do something completely different."]]
* DeusExMachina: The title of Morrison's last issue. Played with brilliantly.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Morrison's run ends with this.]]

* FamilyExtermination: During Grant Morrison's run, the family of the titular character was murdered as a retaliation for his eco-activism. It was later undone by [[AuthorAvatar Morrison]] [[BreakingTheFourthWall themself]].

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Mirror Master after Buddy's family is killed, because he believes that was wrong]]. Though he claims to be doing it to get his money, he ''does'' say [[EvenEvilHasStandards he would never take such a job himself.]]
* HeroicBSOD: After Buddy's [[spoiler:wife and children are killed]].
* {{Heroic Dolphin}}s: One story features Animal Man saving dolphins from murderous Scandinavian townsfolk who kill them for fun. At the end, one of the dolphins saves an evil townsperson from drowning.

* HowDoIShotWeb: Almost every arc involves Buddy learning something new about the way his powers work and/or struggling to control them.

* MagicalNativeAmerican: Averted with James Highwater from the Morrison run. He's pretty confused as to what's going on around him throughout most of the comic. Played much straighter with the character Stone from the Veitch run.

* MindScrew: Both the Morrison and Milligan runs, each in their own way.
* MonkeysOnATypewriter: One issue began with one while Animal Man travels through Comic Book Limbo.
* MissingTime

* TheMultiverse: Morrison's series takes place shortly after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and plays with the then-departed DC Multiverse.

* NuclearFamily: With the twist that Buddy is, of course, a superhero.

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

* ThisIsReality: 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]].
* RedHerring: In Dwayne [=McDuffie's=] run on ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', Anansi (the spirit who gave similarly powered hero Vixen her powers) tried to state that Buddy got his powers from ''it'', saying that it was always the yellow aliens. However, not only is Anansi an UnreliableNarrator, he retroactively rewrites himself out of the event, restoring Buddy's connection with the '''real''' yellow aliens.
** As well, the yellow aliens have stated that ''they'' posed as Anansi to make the totem that gives Vixen her power. Which means that either the yellow aliens impersonated Anansi, Anansi impersonated the yellow aliens... [[NoFourthWall or there is simply a man with a typewriter in a room]].

* RetGone: Hamed Ali and pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} Buddy. It is arguable if this is also applicable to the remnants of the Infinite Earths and the Psycho-Pirate (although admittedly the latter eventually returned ''years'' later).
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: See above, BreakTheCutie.
* SelfDeprecation: [[spoiler:Morrison themself, ending their run with both Buddy and Morrison's AuthorAvatar criticizing their writing.]]

* SpaceWhale: Earth's Franchise/GreenLantern in the timeline of "The Last Days of Animal Man" is a very literal one.

* TransformationHorror: A running theme, particularly in the new 52 incarnation of his powers.

* WhamShot: Also a WhamLine.
-->'''I can SEE you!'''

** [[spoiler:Done '''literally''' in Morrison's final issue, when Buddy actually meets Grant.]]
** When [[spoiler:Psycho Pirate releases old comic characters from his head]] he releases Overman, a twisted Superman-like hero who caught an STD and went crazy, killing the world[[note]]He's a TakeThat to 90's comics[[/note]]. [[spoiler:Psycho-Pirate]] yells "Who thought this was a good idea?!"
* WorldGoneMad: The coyote from "The Coyote Gospel" comes from one of these.

[[AlliterativeName Buddy Baker]], also known as Animal Man, was one of many {{Super Hero}}es created during [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the 1960s]]. He first appeared in ''Strange Adventures'' #180 (September, 1965). Created by writers France Herron and Dave Wood, and artist Carmine Infantino. The new character was about as fun and exciting as wet cardboard. He could take the abilities of any animal who was nearby and was granted this power by yellow aliens. He mainly used it to be a FlyingBrick, though.

Until 1988, when Creator/GrantMorrison was given the chance to write Buddy's new series. Then, Buddy became more than just your generic superhero: he started caring about animals, fighting for animal rights. There was also [[FamilyExtermination the drama of his family]], who fully knew he was a superhero and tried to support it. And ''then'' things took a turn for the weird...

Morrison managed to combine family drama, animal rights activism, superheroics, and a heaping helping of MetaFiction to make this one of the most memorable comic books ever. It's brilliant, poignant, heartbreaking, and heartwarming at the same time.

Morrison left after issue #26, and the series continued for another sixty-odd issues, eventually coming under the [[Creator/VertigoComics Vertigo]] imprint -- but Morrison remains the defining run on the title. Animal Man continued to make appearances across Franchise/TheDCU, including a starring role in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' (co-written by Morrison).

** Happens again during ''52'', when -- poisoned and on the threshold of death -- he looks straight up out of the panel and tells Starfire and ComicBook/AdamStrange that the readers are "out there, cheering them on".

** During the JLApe event, when the Martian Manhunter contacts Buddy for help, Buddy's first response is to remark "My God. I'm important to the plot..."

** The yellow aliens. [[spoiler:And Grant Morrison themself, of course.]]

* AnimalisticAbomination: During the ''ComicBook/{{The 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.

* AllJustADream: One of the ''only'' times it was done right. [[spoiler: Grant Morrison ends their run by retconning it into a dream as a favor to the title character.]]

* {{Stripperific}}: Strangely {{Lampshade}}d when Buddy Fights a Thanagarian. She only wears a suspender bra (ala Starfire). This is quickly proven to be a bad idea, as it gives Buddy a way to grab on to her, and get close to avoid her weapon range. In addition, he's closer so he can remove the artificial wings from her back and alter her gravity device, sending her shooting up in the air and plummeting to her death.

* AudienceWhatAudience: Played straight in Grant Morrison's run. His arc featured Buddy gradually becoming aware that he is a comic character. He once wandered through Comic Limbo where different discarded characters made references to him being a character, only for him to be confused or outright dismiss them.

* SelfDeprecation: [[spoiler:Morrison themself, ending his run with both Buddy and Morrison's AuthorAvatar criticizing their writing.]]

* FamilyExtermination: During Grant Morrison's run, the family of the titular character was murdered as a retaliation for his eco-activism. It was later undone by [[AuthorAvatar Morrison]] [[BreakingTheFourthWall himself]].

* UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks: Morrison's ''Animal Man'' run is one of the earliest examples of a mainstream superhero comic criticizing the then-current tendency of making characters more grim and gritty, as well as abandoning many of the more light-hearted and colourful ones. Quite remarkably, this criticism is mostly aimed at Creator/DCComics, the publisher of Animal Man. The run has appearances by several DC characters who were written out of continuity during and after ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', and Morrison makes it clear he doesn't approve of abandoning these characters in favour of more gritty and violent ones.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Morrison's last issue is kind of the metaMETAexemplary example of this, as [[spoiler:Grant Morrison '''tells''' Buddy straightup about the 2D nature of his universe, and demonstrates how Buddy only does whatever he does because Grant writes him that way. And he SAYS that "maybe some new writer will make you do something completely different."]]

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: [[spoiler:Subverted. Psycho Pirate recreates all the lost characters and goes to wage war on the readers who control their lives and judge them, but he's stopped. When Buddy actually confronts Morrison, Morrison makes it a point that Buddy (and everyone else to that extent) can't actually break the fourth wall, all his actions, thoughts and dialogue, including the belief that he can see the readers has all been written by them. Morrison further notes that he can't actually talk to Buddy, but had to create a character in a book to talk to him directly.]]
* FunetikAksent: The (3rd) Mirror Master has always had a Scottish Brogue, with its severity DependingOnTheWriter. When written by Morrison, he becomes downright unintelligible at times. Arguably a bit of SelfDeprecation, as Morrison is originally from Scotland.

* 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 when confronted about it, culminating in him storming off in a huff after an argument, 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.]]

* SelfDeprecation: [[spoiler:Morrison himself, ending his run with both Buddy and Morrison's AuthorAvatar criticizing his writing.]]

* TakeThat: Tom Veitch was apparently not fond of Grant Morrison's run on the series. When he took over, his first story began with an old shaman smashing clay dolls to pieces. One of them looked identical to Morrison as he had appeared in the comic. Veitch then proceeded to retcon many of Morrison's storylines, giving a new explanation for Buddy's powers which directly contradicts his. Veitch's changes were mostly ignored by later writers.

* WriterOnBoard: Morrison admits [[spoiler:during his cameo in the comic]] that he's been using Buddy as a mouthpiece.

* FlippingTheBird: Buddy's 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.