History YMMV / AnimalMan

* NightmareFuel:
** The ape-blob-thing that closes issue 1, with tendrils and tooth and slime leaking out of it.
** Issue 2 ends with a classic one: [[AnArmAndALeg The rat-human hybrid slices Buddy's arm and leaves him to bleed on an alley.]] He gets better though.
** In general, the EvilPoacher subplot from the first arc: A bunch of ilegal hunters who kill animals for the sport and almost rape Ellen.
** The "New 52" reboot has plenty. Considering that the main antagonists are beings known as the "Rotten" that take the appearance of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that can inflict '''a lot''' of BodyHorror on people. Even the main characters are not immune to these effects.
* TearJerker:
** Djuba, the gorilla pal of B'wanna Beast. She was captured from Africa and experimented upon by S.T.A.R. labs scientists and
** The very last couple of pages during Morrison's run. It's already a tearjerker in of it's self, but what makes it moreso sad is what happens at the end. [[spoiler:After Grant shines their light to try to signal Foxy, they get no response and leaves. A light then shines back from the hill. Grant doesn't see it.]]
** The characters still in limbo, though some might eventually return to continuity, several won't. As Merryman of the Inferior Five pointed out, times have changed where certain characters won't likely return, like the Space Canine Patrol Agents.
--->"Let's face it, who cares about the ''Space Canine Patrol Agents'' in this day and age?"
** The Injustice version of the character sees animals being hunted to extinction by poachers.

** Issue 2 ends with a classic one: [[AnArmAndALeg The rat-human hybrid slices Buddy's arm and leaves him to bleed on an alley.]]

** There are a lot, including the tragedy of B'Wana Beast in the first arc, The Coyote Gospel, the life story and death of Red Mask, [[spoiler:Buddy's family being murdered]], and the final issues Creator/GrantMorrison wrote where [[spoiler:they and Buddy met.]]

** The ape-blob-thing that closes issue 1, with tendrils and tooth and slime leaking out of it.

* NightmareFuel: The "New 52" reboot has plenty. Considering that the main antagonists are beings known as the "Rotten" that take the appearance of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that can inflict '''a lot''' of BodyHorror on people. Even the main characters are not immune to these effects.

** At the end of Grant Morrison's run, their AuthorAvatar acknowledges that whoever will write the comic afterwards may disregard what they've established and gives Buddy eating meat as an example. Sure enough, Creator/PeterMilligan would be the next writer to take over and his run had Buddy bite into a horse's neck due to becoming more feral under the influence of the life-web, plus subsequent runs in the Vertigo era frequently disregarded Buddy's vegetarianism by having him openly consume animal meat whenever he became more detached from his humanity. In addition, much of the Vertigo run (that is, the majority of the comic that ''wasn't'' written by Grant Morrison) was eventually rendered CanonDiscontinuity after Buddy and his family were reinstated to the main DCU.

** At the end of Grant Morrison's run, their AuthorAvatar acknowledges that whoever will write the comic afterwards may disregard what they've established and gives Buddy eating meat as an example. Sure enough, Creator/PeterMilligan would be the next writer to take over and his run had Buddy bite into a horse's neck due to becoming more feral under the influence of the life-web, plus subsequent runs in the Vertigo era frequently disregarded Buddy's vegetarianism by having him openly consume animal meat whenever he became more detached from his humanity. In addition, much of the Vertigo run (that is, the majority of the comic that ''wasn''t written by Grant Morrison) was eventually rendered CanonDiscontinuity after Buddy and his family were reinstated to the main DCU.

** At the end of Grant Morrison's run, their AuthorAvatar acknowledges that whoever will write the comic afterwards may disregard what they've established and gives Buddy eating meat as an example. Sure enough, Creator/PeterMilligan would be the next writer to take over and his run had Buddy bite into a horse's neck due to becoming more feral under the influence of the life-web, plus subsequent runs in the Vertigo era frequently disregarded Buddy's vegetarianism by having him openly consume animal meat whenever he became more detached from his humanity. In addition, much of the Vertigo run was eventually rendered CanonDiscontinuity after Buddy and his family were reinstated to the main DCU.

** At the end of Grant Morrison's run, their AuthorAvatar acknowledges that whoever will write the comic afterwards may disregard what they've established and gives Buddy eating meat as an example. Sure enough, Creator/PeterMilligan would be the next writer to take over and his run had Buddy bite into a horse's neck due to becoming more feral under the influence of the life-web, plus subsequent runs in the Vertigo era frequently disregarded Buddy's vegetarianism by having him openly consume animal meat whenever he became more detached from his humanity.

** At the end of Grant Morrison's run, their AuthorAvatar acknowledges that whoever will write the comic afterwards may disregard what they've established and gives Buddy eating meat as an example. Sure enough, Creator/PeterMilligan would be the next writer to take over and his run had Buddy bite into a horse's neck due to becoming more feral under the influence of the life-web.

** The alternate future miniseries ''The Last Days of Animal Man'' features an African-American version of The Flash, years before the ''ComicBook/New52'' introduced the first African-American Kid Flash Ace West (who was initially intended as the New 52 canon's equivalent to Wally West before ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' restored the original Wally West to continuity and retconned Wally's New 52 counterpart as being the original Wally's younger cousin).

** Morrison's run ends with their AuthorAvatar undoing the deaths of Buddy's family as a final favor before departing to leave the series in the hands of a different writer and acknowledging that the writer to succeed them will likely throw what they've done out the window at the first opportunity. In the ''ComicBook/New52'' series by Creator/JeffLemire, Buddy's son Cliff dies again, but this time his death stuck and wasn't even undone by ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' in spite of the primary purpose of the Rebirth intiative being to restore the DC Universe to how it was prior to the ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' event that led to the ''New 52'' reboot.

** The alternate future miniseries ''The Last Days of Animal Man'' features an African-American version of The Flash, years before the ''ComicBook/New52'' introduced Ace West (who was initially intended as the New 52 canon's equivalent to Wally West before ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' restored the original Wally West to continuity and retconned Wally's New 52 counterpart as being the original Wally's younger cousin).

* The alternate future miniseries ''The Last Days of Animal Man'' features an African-American version of The Flash, years before the ''ComicBook/New52'' introduced Ace West (who was initially intended as the New 52 canon's equivalent to Wally West before ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' restored the original Wally West to continuity and retconned Wally's New 52 counterpart as being the original Wally's younger cousin).

* At the end of Grant Morrison's run, their AuthorAvatar acknowledges that whoever will write the comic afterwards may disregard what they've established and gives Buddy eating meat as an example. Sure enough, Creator/PeterMilligan would be the next writer to take over and his run had Buddy bite into a horse's neck due to becoming more feral under the influence of the life-web.

** Tom Veitch's run features a CorruptedCharacterCopy of ComicBook/ThePunisher and was largely illustrated by Creator/SteveDillon. Years later, Dillon would do the artwork for the actual ''Punisher'' comics, most notably ones written by Creator/GarthEnnis.

** Tom Veitch's run features a CorruptedCharacterCopy of Comic/ThePunisher and was largely illustrated by Creator/SteveDillon. Years later, Dillon would do the artwork for the actual ''Punisher'' comics, most notably ones written by Creator/GarthEnnis.

** Morrison's run ends with their AuthorAvatar undoing the deaths of Buddy's family as a final favor before departing to leave the series in the hands of a different writer. In the ''ComicBook/New52'' series by Creator/JeffLemire, Buddy's son Cliff dies again, but this time his death stuck and wasn't even undone by ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' in spite of the primary purpose of the Rebirth intiative being to restore the DC Universe to how it was prior to the ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' event that led to the ''New 52'' reboot.

** Morrison's run ends with their AuthorAvatar undoing the deaths of Buddy's family as a final favor before departing to leave the series in the hands of a different writer. In the ''ComicBook/New52'' series, Buddy's son Cliff dies again, but this time his death stuck and wasn't even undone by ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' in spite of the primary purpose of the Rebirth intiative being to restore the DC Universe to how it was prior to the ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'' event that led to the ''New 52'' reboot.

** When reading the endorsement of PETA in the final issue, one must remember that back in the '80s they weren't quite the [[AnimalWrongsGroup organization]] they are now. Especially since organizations like PETA as it is today are exactly the kind of group the comic would've vilified or mocked.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Grant Morrison's stories frequently conveyed the author's environmentalism, such as by encouraging the reader to embrace vegetarianism and by raising the argument that scientific progress isn't enough to justify the cruel experiments many animals are subjected to. In the final issue, [[spoiler:Morrison himself acknowledges that his scripts may have been too "preachy", as he jokingly compares the comic book to a monthly pamphlet on animal rights]].

** Pretty much everyone in Limbo eventually returned in some form or another, including [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Mr. Freeze]], [[WesternAnimation/KryptoTheSuperdog the Space Canine Patrol Agents]], ComicBook/TheGreenTeam, [[Franchise/TheFlash Quicksilver/Max Mercury]], and [[ComicBook/TheMultiversity the Love Syndicate]]. Heck, even Merryman and the Inferior Five returned briefly as part of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''.