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''Shaman's Tears'' was a comic-book series created by Mike Grell and published by Creator/ImageComics.

The comic starred Joshua Brand, the son of a half-Sioux father and an Irish mother, who returns as an adult to the reservation he ran away from as a child. Discovering he mystically possesses the powers of all animals and the Earth itself, he becomes the protector of the planet.

The book often dealt with ecological and animal rights issues.

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!!''Shaman's Tears'' contains examples of:

* AnimalisticAbilities: Joshua has the power to call on the abilities of any animal.
* AnimalStereotypes: Animus and Blazon are a lion and wolf Blood respectively. They are also rivals, playing into the enmity between cats and dogs.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: See above.
* ArtificialAnimalPeople: The Blood (later known as Bar Sinister) are artificially created human/animal hybrids; each designed to have specific traits from the animal side (wings on the bat hybrid, PrehensileTail and feet on the monkey hybrid, et cetera). The evil corporation that created them felt justified in treating them as possessions as they had a court ruling stating that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman they weren't human]] -- merely a higher form of animal -- and therefore [[InhumanableAlienRights do not have human rights]].
* BadassBiker: Joshua Brand.
* BadassNative: Joshua Brand.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Josh's friend Thom seems like a nice person when we first meet him. Issue #2 reveals that he's selling Medicine Hat Reservation horses to poachers and is jealous of Joshua being chosen for the Sun Dance. After he is mutated by Circle Sea's chemicals he outright tries to kill Joshua but T.C. being in danger causes him to snap back to his senses.
* BorrowedBiometricBypass: A guard mocks Animus while sticking his hand in his cage. Animus tears off the man's hand which he then uses to open the lock on his cage and escape.
* CannibalLarder: Joshua Brand and Jon Sable find a cannibal larder full of the remains of missing homeless people in the lair of the nestlings in the sewers under New York City.
* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Joshua Brand's father was half-Sioux and his mother was Irish. His mixed heritage made him feel like an outsider growing up and is why he left Medicine Hat Reservation.
* TheChosenOne: Joshua Brand is the chosen one of Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit of the Sioux; selected to be her champion and defend the balance of nature.
* CoolBike: Joshua's classic Indian Chief motorcycle.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: General Patrick Pending, CEO of Circle Sea.
* DisposableVagrant: In #5 - 8, Joshua Brand and [[ComicBook/JonSableFreelance Jon Sable]] team-up to hunt down a pack of monsters living in the sewers that has been preying on the homeless of New York.
* EvilPoacher: The first criminals Joshua Brand stopped after gaining his powers were poachers who were stealing wild horses from the Indian reservation to sell for pet food.
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: The Blood a.k.a. Bar Sinister (who later got their own short-lived series), a group of genetically engineered, super powered human/animal hybrids.
* HotGod: [[MotherNature Wakan Tanka]], the Great Spirit of the Sioux who grants Joshua his powers, usually takes the form of an incredibly [[NubileSavage sexy Native American woman]] when she manifests.
* HumanToWerewolfFootprints: Not a werewolf but another form of transformation. When Jon Sable is tracking Joshua Brand through the sewers, he is confused when Joshua's footprints change from boots to moccasins. This is because Joshua has magically transformed into his costumed identity.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: The Nesting Ones do this to Jon Sable in #8; giving him a gun and a single bullet to make things 'sporting'.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Thom Broadarrow is intensively jealous of Joshua Brand, and thinks the powers of Wakan Tanka should have been his.
* InhumanableAlienRights: Bar Sinister were a group of genetically uplifted animals. The evil corporation that created them felt justified in treating them as possessions as they had a court ruling stating that they weren't human.
* JusticeByOtherLegalMeans: Joshua Brand is unable to arrest the CorruptCorporateExecutive for various crimes because the victims (genetically engineered lifeforms) are not technically human. So he instead arrests him for violating the Endangered Species Act after he realizes one of the genetically engineered constructs was created using the DNA of a black-footed ferret.
* LEGOGenetics: The Blood (later known as Bar Sinister) were artificially created human/animal hybrids; each designed to have specific traits from the animal side (wings on the bat hybrid, prehensile feet and tail on the monkey hybrid, etc).
* LittleBitBeastly: All of the Bar Sinister, with the exception of Animus, are mostly humanoid with rather downplayed animal physical traits.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Joshua once he is granted mystical powers.
* MeaningfulName: two of the villains (who are in the business of patenting hybrid human-animal life forms) are named "Patrick Pending" and "Regus Patoff". Yes, "Pat Pending" and "Reg. US Pat Off", if you missed the {{pun}}.
* MercyLead:
** In #3, Pending and Pattoff give Joshua a ten second head start before sicking the Blood on him.
** In #8, the Nesting Ones give Jon Sable a gun with a single bullet and a very short head start before setting out to hunt him through the sewers.
* MixAndMatchCreatures: Thom Broadarrow is exposed to the Circle Sea mutagenic compound and is transformed into a composite of a dozen different creatures found in his taxidermy shop.
* MotherNature: Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit of the Sioux, who grants Joshua his powers. When it manifests, Wakan Tanka usually takes the form of a [[NubileSavage sexy Native American woman]].
* MuggingTheMonster: A street gang attempts to mug Joshua Brand while he is meditating in Central Park. As Joshua has the power to call on the abilities of any animal, this ends badly for them.
* NotIllegalJustification: Joshua Brand is unable to arrest the Corrupt Corporate Executive for various crimes because the victims (genetically engineered lifeforms) are not technically human. So he instead arrests him for violating the Endangered Species Act after he realizes one of the genetically engineered constructs was created using the DNA of a black-footed ferret.
* NubileSavage: [[MotherNature Wakan Tanka]], the Great Spirit of the Sioux who grants Joshua his powers, usually takes the form of a sexy Native American woman when she manifests.
* PineappleSurprise: Jon Sable pulls this trick in #8: yanking the pin out of one of the grenades on a bandoleer worn by one of the nestlings as he flees their sewer lair.
* RivalTurnedEvil: Thom Broadarrow was a childhood rival to Joshua Brand. He was always jealous of Joshua, especially when Joshua got the girl they both wanted, then abandoned her to leave the reservation; something Thom never managed. When Joshua returned to the reservation and was granted the power of Wakan Tanka, Thom thought it should have rightfully be his. His jealousy ultimately led to the accident that transformed into a monster.
* SeekingSanctuary: In the ''Bar Sinister'' miniseries, Bar Sinister are fleeing from the NYPD and take refuge inside a burnt-out cathedral and claim sanctuary. This results in a drawn-out siege situation as various law enforcement agencies [[JurisdictionFriction argue about jurisdiction]], and considerable media attention as it is debated if their claim to sanctuary should be honoured. Lieutenant Westin, the police officer in charge, even mentions Creator/VictorHugo and compares the situation to ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''.
* TearsOfBlood: Joshua Brand cries tears of blood when he triggers his powers (hence the title). The three tears are transformed into three streaks of war paint running down his cheek in his superpowered form.
* TeenPregnancy: Sadie got knocked up by Joshua when they were teens. He left because he didn't want to be tied down to anything at the reserve. When she and Josh meet twelve years later, the first thing she does is punch him out.
* ThisMeansWarpaint: Joshua's transformation into his superpowered form involves him crying TearsOfBlood that then transform into TribalFacePaint.
* TooDumbToLive: A guard mocks Animus while sticking his hand in his cage. Animus tears off the man's hand which he then uses to open the lock on his cage and escape.
* TribalFacePaint: Joshua Brand acquires tribal face paint when he transforms into his superpowered form.
* VisionQuest: Joshua undergoes the Sun Dance ritual after being granted his powers in an attempt to understand them.
* WeatherManipulation: One of Joshua's powers. He most commonly uses it to create rain.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Pending and Patoff are able to justify their actions by claiming that the Blood are not human--merely a higher form of animal--and therefore do not have human rights. This forces Joshua to come up with a JusticeByOtherLegalMeans solution.
* WhiteGangBangers: In #6, a gang consisting of two white guys and a black guy attempt to mug Joshua Brand in a MuggingTheMonster moment.

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