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Animal Man (1988-1995)
Animal Man, Vol. 3: Deus ex Machina
Written by Grant Morrison; Art by Chas Truog, Doug Hazlewood, Paris Cullins, Mark Farmer, and Steve Montano; Painted Cover by Brian Bolland This long-awaited third trade paperback completes the collection of Grant Morrison's legendary re-imagination of Animal Man. Reprinting ANIMAL MAN #18-26, DEUS EX MACHINA follows Buddy Baker through an incredible odyssey of discovery and features a new cover by renowned cover artist Brian Bolland.)
232 pages, Paperback
First published October 24, 2003
21 people are currently reading
647 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,791 books4,565 followersGrant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
February 6, 2022
WHOA!
WHOA!
Grant Morrison ends his run in his dramatic re-imagination of Animal Man in spectacular fashion. It was already cool but then he kicked it up a notch.
And then he turned the knob to eleven!
The multiverse and Crisis on Infinite Earths has long been one of the coolest aspects of the DC universe and Morrison digs deep in his bag of magic tricks and throws it all in, leaves nothing off the table in this opposite of Seinfeld – this is a comic about EVERYTHING.
No kidding, this has plenty of comic book action and fun, but also historic and pop references, Shakespearean quotes, philosophy and an existential discussion.
And breaking, shattering, jumping up and down and SMASHING the fourth wall.
That part, where Buddy meets his maker, reminded me of the classic Mike Grell issue #35 of Warlord, where Travis happens on a momentous board game.
This collection puts together issues 18-26, finishing up Morrison’s two year run on the title. Writer Peter Milligan would take over writing duties the following month and Animal Man would go on for another 60 issues and another five years on DC / Vertigo, but I feel like this may have been a high-water mark. In rare, high atmosphere air in the comic book multiverse, this is a grossly underappreciated body of work.
Highly, highly recommended for Grant Morrison fans, DC / Vertigo fans and for all of us who let our imaginations run wild, spinning spinning spinning around a spinner rack.
WHOA!
Grant Morrison ends his run in his dramatic re-imagination of Animal Man in spectacular fashion. It was already cool but then he kicked it up a notch.
And then he turned the knob to eleven!
The multiverse and Crisis on Infinite Earths has long been one of the coolest aspects of the DC universe and Morrison digs deep in his bag of magic tricks and throws it all in, leaves nothing off the table in this opposite of Seinfeld – this is a comic about EVERYTHING.
No kidding, this has plenty of comic book action and fun, but also historic and pop references, Shakespearean quotes, philosophy and an existential discussion.
And breaking, shattering, jumping up and down and SMASHING the fourth wall.
That part, where Buddy meets his maker, reminded me of the classic Mike Grell issue #35 of Warlord, where Travis happens on a momentous board game.
This collection puts together issues 18-26, finishing up Morrison’s two year run on the title. Writer Peter Milligan would take over writing duties the following month and Animal Man would go on for another 60 issues and another five years on DC / Vertigo, but I feel like this may have been a high-water mark. In rare, high atmosphere air in the comic book multiverse, this is a grossly underappreciated body of work.
Highly, highly recommended for Grant Morrison fans, DC / Vertigo fans and for all of us who let our imaginations run wild, spinning spinning spinning around a spinner rack.
January 9, 2013
If there's one thing, one plot element, that Morrison is famous for, it's here, in the on-the-page meeting of Animal Man and Grant Morrison. Everything, it seems, was working towards that moment, when the fourth wall abruptly ceased to exist entirely. It could have been gimmicky, but Morrison managed to pair that with a storyline about characters I actually cared about and were invested in. So when Buddy looks directly off the page and into the eyes of the reader? If you're invested enough, absorbed enough, care enough, it will give you a chill. It got me. It wasn't the last time in this book, either. The thing is, I really liked Buddy and his family, and the twists their story took were heart breaking.
There are faults, of course. The very Morrison fault of brilliant concepts presented as finished stories, which I expect. The meeting between Buddy and Morrison was a little underwhelming, too, though the background action added a surreal weight to Morrison's animal rights lecture. (And yes, although Buddy's newfound animal rights activism was Morrison putting his opinions in Buddy's mouth, they also make perfect sense for the character.) The art, too, is unremarkable. But there's such a solid core of decent metafiction and really great characters that I entirely forgive Morrison, this time.
There are faults, of course. The very Morrison fault of brilliant concepts presented as finished stories, which I expect. The meeting between Buddy and Morrison was a little underwhelming, too, though the background action added a surreal weight to Morrison's animal rights lecture. (And yes, although Buddy's newfound animal rights activism was Morrison putting his opinions in Buddy's mouth, they also make perfect sense for the character.) The art, too, is unremarkable. But there's such a solid core of decent metafiction and really great characters that I entirely forgive Morrison, this time.
December 5, 2020
This one is a left hook to my jaw.
It not only wraps up the meandering tales from before, but it, despite the soliloquy of a certain special character in the pages, has a TON to say in a very interesting way.
And it's not about Animal Man. It's not even about animal rights activism.
It is, however, one of the best treatments of the oft-maligned, devilishly decadent 4th-wall busting meta fictions I've ever read.
That was the left hook.
I won't pretend that I know all of the b, c, or d-lister characters in the reference-mill, but I'm to understand that any TrueFan (TM) of golden age comics WILL. And the way they're portrayed, used, and abused, is a wonderfully dark mirror to what we do to animals.
In other words, this simple, fairly silly, slightly weird comic just booted itself out from pre-Morrison banality into clever, weird Morrison stability, and THEN into off the charts full-out Morrison craziness. And I just fell over backward.
Very cool stuff.
It not only wraps up the meandering tales from before, but it, despite the soliloquy of a certain special character in the pages, has a TON to say in a very interesting way.
And it's not about Animal Man. It's not even about animal rights activism.
It is, however, one of the best treatments of the oft-maligned, devilishly decadent 4th-wall busting meta fictions I've ever read.
That was the left hook.
I won't pretend that I know all of the b, c, or d-lister characters in the reference-mill, but I'm to understand that any TrueFan (TM) of golden age comics WILL. And the way they're portrayed, used, and abused, is a wonderfully dark mirror to what we do to animals.
In other words, this simple, fairly silly, slightly weird comic just booted itself out from pre-Morrison banality into clever, weird Morrison stability, and THEN into off the charts full-out Morrison craziness. And I just fell over backward.
Very cool stuff.
October 13, 2024
The elements introduced in the previous volume - which I found frustrating because of their lack of readability - bear fruit here, and beautiful fruit at that.
Morrison goes right to the heart of meta - he even meets Buddy in the last issue, whose title "Deus ex machina" has rarely been so aptly named - and reflects on the comic book medium, its characters and its readers. It's brilliant and intelligent, absolute proof that it's stupid to limit comic books to mere teenage reading.
The only limitation of the book - and of the whole run in this case - is that, while the art is typical of this type of production at the time, it's relatively mediocre and probably an additional obstacle to discovering this universe, which is far removed from standard productions.
Conclusion: we need a new line similar to Vertigo.
Morrison goes right to the heart of meta - he even meets Buddy in the last issue, whose title "Deus ex machina" has rarely been so aptly named - and reflects on the comic book medium, its characters and its readers. It's brilliant and intelligent, absolute proof that it's stupid to limit comic books to mere teenage reading.
The only limitation of the book - and of the whole run in this case - is that, while the art is typical of this type of production at the time, it's relatively mediocre and probably an additional obstacle to discovering this universe, which is far removed from standard productions.
Conclusion: we need a new line similar to Vertigo.
April 9, 2017
So I've been rereading Animal Man to remind myself if I'd ever actually read the entirety of Animal Man, and it turns out I hadn't. Apparently I'd gotten about halfway through and then skipped to the end, because there were a couple of poorly-reprinted issues in the middle that were brand new to me. It was actually kind of odd to read them now. The issues focus on a weird pseudo-epilogue to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the first big continuity-focused DC crossover that took a narrative approach to editing the company's characters by explaining retcons through science fiction, an approach that now seems to happen in Marvel and DC every three years or so.
So now I think maybe Animal Man was actually Morrison having a sort of existential freakout about this newish revelation in modern comics, that continuity was even more meaningless than it had ever been, and all his favorite nooks and crannies of Silver Age weirdness had just been erased a few years prior? I could actually see that being a very real possibility, and the funny thing is that it's never occurred to me that Morrison just really, really loves Silver Age DC comics. Despite the fact that this should be totally obvious, I've always just thought he was always kind of making fun of them, but as soon as you stop and consider it, of course Grant Morrison loves Silver Age DC comics like a monk loves holy scripture. I think the idea that Morrison is always winking at the reader, laughing at the inanity of old comics -- I think this is the fabrication; this is the posturing. The real thing is that Grant Morrison. Loves. Old. Comics.
It's really the only way Animal Man achieves any kind of emotional resonance, because it's not a book that is in any way about the human condition or the nature of reality or all the things it could maybe say it was about. It's not. It's about comics as fetish objects, period, and once you see it, almost all of Morrison's other books sort of, I dunno, like, refract around this idea. I think that for someone like Grant Morrison, the real world might not be very real. But comics are, for him, genuinely real, and I don't actually think he's aware that other people have a notion of reality that is as real to them as comics are to him. I also think this is the fundamental thing that separates him from his contemporaries like Gaiman and Moore and any of the other British Invasion writers. They all snuck into American comics by using them to write postmodernism. Morrison pretended he was using comics to write postmodernism when in actuality, he was using postmodernism as an excuse to worship comics.
You know. Like how Jesus wrote the Bible.
Anyway, so I'm glad I figured that out, and how the fuck did it take me this long to figure it out? Whatever, time for food.
So now I think maybe Animal Man was actually Morrison having a sort of existential freakout about this newish revelation in modern comics, that continuity was even more meaningless than it had ever been, and all his favorite nooks and crannies of Silver Age weirdness had just been erased a few years prior? I could actually see that being a very real possibility, and the funny thing is that it's never occurred to me that Morrison just really, really loves Silver Age DC comics. Despite the fact that this should be totally obvious, I've always just thought he was always kind of making fun of them, but as soon as you stop and consider it, of course Grant Morrison loves Silver Age DC comics like a monk loves holy scripture. I think the idea that Morrison is always winking at the reader, laughing at the inanity of old comics -- I think this is the fabrication; this is the posturing. The real thing is that Grant Morrison. Loves. Old. Comics.
It's really the only way Animal Man achieves any kind of emotional resonance, because it's not a book that is in any way about the human condition or the nature of reality or all the things it could maybe say it was about. It's not. It's about comics as fetish objects, period, and once you see it, almost all of Morrison's other books sort of, I dunno, like, refract around this idea. I think that for someone like Grant Morrison, the real world might not be very real. But comics are, for him, genuinely real, and I don't actually think he's aware that other people have a notion of reality that is as real to them as comics are to him. I also think this is the fundamental thing that separates him from his contemporaries like Gaiman and Moore and any of the other British Invasion writers. They all snuck into American comics by using them to write postmodernism. Morrison pretended he was using comics to write postmodernism when in actuality, he was using postmodernism as an excuse to worship comics.
You know. Like how Jesus wrote the Bible.
Anyway, so I'm glad I figured that out, and how the fuck did it take me this long to figure it out? Whatever, time for food.
July 28, 2021
Bestial.
November 22, 2023
Morrison se deshace de la careta, empuja el personaje más allá de la frontera metaficcional, le revela su naturaleza y le lleva a un enfrentamiento con su némesis. En ese curso de colisión con su demiurgo, la serie se convierte en un curioso relato sobre el carácter pop de los superhéroes y su escritura, construido a partir de hebras a ratos atractivas, a ratos extremadamente cutres (esos superhéroes de saldillo que parecen sacados de los fondos de Marshall Law).
Leído 30 años más tarde, nada suena nuevo pero sí sorprendente; una serie convencional del Universo DC entró en la zona profunda de Vertigo antes de su fundación con un personaje que, en su ridiculez, era parte de la LJE y tenía un cierto recorrido mainstream. Claro, el aliento de Alan Moore y de Neil Gaiman están ahí, pero Morrison supo jugar sus cartas y salir airoso.
Leído 30 años más tarde, nada suena nuevo pero sí sorprendente; una serie convencional del Universo DC entró en la zona profunda de Vertigo antes de su fundación con un personaje que, en su ridiculez, era parte de la LJE y tenía un cierto recorrido mainstream. Claro, el aliento de Alan Moore y de Neil Gaiman están ahí, pero Morrison supo jugar sus cartas y salir airoso.
August 29, 2025
One of the finest books DC has to offer.
Grant Morrison finishes his run with a bang. An unforgettable experience complemented by meta-commentary, fourth wall breaks and character explosions. Despite the book juggling many elements at once, Morrison’s sublime writing and narration make it all remarkably easy to follow.
All in all Animal Man by Grant Morrison, is not your typical superhero story, but rather a once-in a lifetime experience.
Grant Morrison finishes his run with a bang. An unforgettable experience complemented by meta-commentary, fourth wall breaks and character explosions. Despite the book juggling many elements at once, Morrison’s sublime writing and narration make it all remarkably easy to follow.
All in all Animal Man by Grant Morrison, is not your typical superhero story, but rather a once-in a lifetime experience.
December 19, 2020
Último volumen de la etapa de Grant Morrison al frente de Animal Man de manos de Grant Morrison, último y brillante final, por cierto. Último, brillante y dramático final, ojo, donde el escritor escocés lleva a término todo lo que había ido preparando a lo largo de los dos tomos anteriores: el origen de los poderes de Animal Man, los dos extraterrestres que aparecen y desaparecen de su historia de forma eventual, su relación con Vixen y otros héroes asociados con los animales, un magistral uso del Psicopirata y de las Crisis, las visiones de la pequeña Maxine, y el destino de la familia de Buddy...
Y la verdad es que me da mucha rabia no hablar de ello directamente, pero es que el final de la historia de Animal Man es un auténtico golpe al lector, con las dos manos y luego cabezazo directo a la mandíbula. Es un ejercicio brillante de metaliteratura que nos habla del propio mundo del cómic y de las historias, y de la interacción entre el lector y la lectura, y una auténtica delicia a nivel narrativo y gráfico, y cuajado de personajes olvidados y de las estrafalarias creaciones de Morrison...
Y es algo que todo aficionado a los cómics debería leer, de verdad.
Y la verdad es que me da mucha rabia no hablar de ello directamente, pero es que el final de la historia de Animal Man es un auténtico golpe al lector, con las dos manos y luego cabezazo directo a la mandíbula. Es un ejercicio brillante de metaliteratura que nos habla del propio mundo del cómic y de las historias, y de la interacción entre el lector y la lectura, y una auténtica delicia a nivel narrativo y gráfico, y cuajado de personajes olvidados y de las estrafalarias creaciones de Morrison...
Y es algo que todo aficionado a los cómics debería leer, de verdad.
April 26, 2014
Okay… So now we’ve hit the apex of weird for Morrison’s series. The man takes the concept of breaking the fourth wall and laughs at it. Writing himself right into the story and giving poor Buddy Baker some serious meta drama.
When I’m recommending Animal Man to other people, I tend to recommend the first two, and suggest they don’t pick up the third trade unless they really enjoy the first pair. It’s odd, full of surreal situations and a lot of egotistical artistic back-patting. That being said, the story is still fascinating, and as a hardcore Buddy Baker fan I really enjoyed it.
So summing it up, Deus Ex Machina is odd, adventurous, and a touch self-congratulatory, but enjoyable for a true Animal Man fan.
When I’m recommending Animal Man to other people, I tend to recommend the first two, and suggest they don’t pick up the third trade unless they really enjoy the first pair. It’s odd, full of surreal situations and a lot of egotistical artistic back-patting. That being said, the story is still fascinating, and as a hardcore Buddy Baker fan I really enjoyed it.
So summing it up, Deus Ex Machina is odd, adventurous, and a touch self-congratulatory, but enjoyable for a true Animal Man fan.
January 4, 2018
No need to write a review when the book reviews itself.
May 14, 2018
Esta review es en realidad de la etapa completa de Morrison en Animal Man, es decir, este tomo y los dos anteriores.
Con esta etapa Morrison da una lección de cómo un autor puede llevarse a su terreno un personaje que siempre ha sido muy secundario y plano y darle una personalidad, un trasfondo y una relevancia a la altura de las etapas más importantes de la historia del género. Morrison hace borrón y cuenta nueva y nos ofrece varios puntos de interés ajenos a los clichés de los superhéroes, nos muestra un superhéroe con familia (mujer y dos hijos), sin identidad secreta, con muchas inseguridades y una trama principal que se va desgranando muy lentamente y se basa en eso que tanto le ha gustado a Morrison plasmar en sus cómics a lo largo de su carrera: el metalenguaje comiquero, o aún diría más, el metalenguaje literario.
Y es que esos momentos en que Buddy se encuentra con contrapartidas suyas de continuidades anteriores, ese enigma que se nos va presentando en forma de delirios del Psicopirata, esas viñetas en que el protagonista empieza a tomar consciencia de que a su realidad le falta algo, de que hay algo más ahí fuera... han pasado a formar parte de los grandes momentos del cómic de superhéroes a lo largo de la historia, trascendiendo además el género superheroico y poniéndose a la altura de las grandes obras maestras del medio (ponga cada uno aquí la que quiera).
Una gozada, además no son cómics densos ni difíciles de entender para nada, que es algo que se le puede achacar a otras obras de Morrison, lo único malo que veo es la papeleta que le dejó al siguiente guionista de la serie (Milligan, creo), que tuvo que continuar después de una etapa tan destacada y particular, en la que el autor dejó todo patas arriba,aunque tuvo la decencia de poner algo de orden antes de terminar no es que le facilitara la tarea a su sucesor.
Con esta etapa Morrison da una lección de cómo un autor puede llevarse a su terreno un personaje que siempre ha sido muy secundario y plano y darle una personalidad, un trasfondo y una relevancia a la altura de las etapas más importantes de la historia del género. Morrison hace borrón y cuenta nueva y nos ofrece varios puntos de interés ajenos a los clichés de los superhéroes, nos muestra un superhéroe con familia (mujer y dos hijos), sin identidad secreta, con muchas inseguridades y una trama principal que se va desgranando muy lentamente y se basa en eso que tanto le ha gustado a Morrison plasmar en sus cómics a lo largo de su carrera: el metalenguaje comiquero, o aún diría más, el metalenguaje literario.
Y es que esos momentos en que Buddy se encuentra con contrapartidas suyas de continuidades anteriores, ese enigma que se nos va presentando en forma de delirios del Psicopirata, esas viñetas en que el protagonista empieza a tomar consciencia de que a su realidad le falta algo, de que hay algo más ahí fuera... han pasado a formar parte de los grandes momentos del cómic de superhéroes a lo largo de la historia, trascendiendo además el género superheroico y poniéndose a la altura de las grandes obras maestras del medio (ponga cada uno aquí la que quiera).
Una gozada, además no son cómics densos ni difíciles de entender para nada, que es algo que se le puede achacar a otras obras de Morrison, lo único malo que veo es la papeleta que le dejó al siguiente guionista de la serie (Milligan, creo), que tuvo que continuar después de una etapa tan destacada y particular, en la que el autor dejó todo patas arriba,aunque tuvo la decencia de poner algo de orden antes de terminar no es que le facilitara la tarea a su sucesor.
May 8, 2022
Bloody hell. In so many ways, Grant Morrison has been telling the same story in so many different ways for his whole career. He tweaks aspects of it and finds new ways to do it, but there’s never been a writer as fascinated by the practicalities of the medium as Morrison has always been. The only real difference is the level to which he does this. So many of his books to come just flow from this early statement of intent and, if anything, Animal Man’s quietly boring nature means that Morrison does it with the least fuss here and with a more clearly expressed through line than some of the more cosmic bollocks he can get carried away with at his most hyper. In essence this is quite a straightforward comic and Morrison basically wants to delineate and discuss the cruelty of man to animals, albeit in a way that slowly grows and grows in scale by the end. The most shocking thing is the climactic issue, Buddy meets his literal maker, is almost shocking quiet and melancholy (albeit very funny in places) in how beautiful it’s written. It’s not the big chaotic end of everything story we so often get from him, but in essence it is - like The Filth - a story about a man who really loves his dying cat. It’s about everything and also about one very clear, very sad thing. It’s a phenomenal achievement and it’s also just another superhero comic among many. It’s proof positive for me that Morrison is absolutely one of the great geniuses the medium has ever produced
January 3, 2022
Uno de los momentos cumbre de la historieta contemporánea se encuentra acá. Muchas veces se habla de la obra de Moore y Miller como los cimientos fundacionales de la historieta moderna, pero el aporte metanarrativo que hace Morrison en este último volumen de su Animal Man tiene una fuerza arrolladora. Morrison se ha reinventado muchas veces a lo largo de su carrera, pero en Deus Ex Machina se vislumbra aquello que lo ha hecho grande: sangrar tinta, vivir las historietas con un amor y una reverencia impresionante y una capacidad de visionario que hasta el día de hoy sigue sin tener límites.
August 9, 2021
The final issues of Mozza's Animal Man are a beautiful post-modern take on the monthly superhero comic, elevating the previously already-strong run into something classic. A highlight of Morrison's career and the superhero comic genre.
December 4, 2018
Morrison doesn't have a word called Simple in his dictionary. I don't like his style. In my personal opinion the whole series can be omitted.
February 19, 2023
Surrealist fourth-wall-breaking but deeply personal
December 31, 2017
Some of the meta, meeting your author stuff was as expected, but mostly it was done creatively and actually thinking about the psychological and emotional implications of realizing you’re a creation with no free will. Cool stuff.
February 1, 2011
I was sad when I finished the last page of this volume (the last Grant Morrison Animal Man volume). In three volumes, Grant Morrison crafted a story about an obscure DCU superhero I had never heard of and reinvented the character, giving him, the characters surrounding him, the universe he exists in such wonderful depth that once you fall in (to the deep hole....depth?), you won't be able to get out but you won't mind, who would want to leave?
I'm not a fan of Watchmen and I'm very open about it. It's just not my thing. But, at the same time I love it for its EFFECTS. Firstly, probably the most important thing it did was cause DC to go looking for more "edgy" British writers. Cause, you know. Alan Moore is from there and so that's where you'll find other good writers...I MOCK BUT THEY DID. So, Alan Moore's Watchman opened the corporate doors to seeking out more experimental, mature, and "edgy" writers which led them to Grant Morrison (and Neil Gaiman <3, who reinvented Sandman around the same time Morrison was reinventing Animal Man). The second reason why it's important is because, although I don't care for Moore, MY gods were heavily influenced by him and will always say something like "If it wasn't for Alan Moore, I probably wouldn't be doing this." So cheers for that!
But Animal Man is sort of the antithesis of Watchmen. Kind of. It's dark and there are some mature, fucked up themes that are very real - similar to Watchmen in that respect, I guess. But the end-goal and style are quite quite different. By the end of Animal Man, what the reader has experienced his one of the greatest pieces of literary deconstruction AND ITS A COMIC TOO (PICTURES). But really, "literary deconstruction" is just the beginning, cause it's much more. Deconstruction of actual human perception, perhaps existence. Examination at controversial ethical topics. Examination of the culture of violence. And fucking hope.
Brilliantly written and executed, a story about so many things really is about one thing, to me: hope. But hope that isn't easy won and handed to us and the character in a nice box with nice wrapping. That hope would break easily. No, this is...well, you'll just have to read it to see.
The only thing that prevents me from recommending this to everyone is that toward the last half of the three volumes, Morrison starts pulling from quite a lot of DCU concepts and history in order to tell part of his story - it's not actually ABOUT the characters. You could probably replace them with any number of other fictional characters. But, he was writing in the DCU and writing not too long after the Crisis on Infinite Earths (a major DC crossover event that redefined the DC universe), so he made appropriate choices and I'm just lucky to have been pretty informed about DCU history at the time I got around to reading this (takes a lot of work...).
But, I'd say if Gaiman's The Sandman is number 1, then Animal Man is number 2..or 1.5..But, I haven't finished Morrison's Invisibles yet and it's a tight race!
I'm not a fan of Watchmen and I'm very open about it. It's just not my thing. But, at the same time I love it for its EFFECTS. Firstly, probably the most important thing it did was cause DC to go looking for more "edgy" British writers. Cause, you know. Alan Moore is from there and so that's where you'll find other good writers...I MOCK BUT THEY DID. So, Alan Moore's Watchman opened the corporate doors to seeking out more experimental, mature, and "edgy" writers which led them to Grant Morrison (and Neil Gaiman <3, who reinvented Sandman around the same time Morrison was reinventing Animal Man). The second reason why it's important is because, although I don't care for Moore, MY gods were heavily influenced by him and will always say something like "If it wasn't for Alan Moore, I probably wouldn't be doing this." So cheers for that!
But Animal Man is sort of the antithesis of Watchmen. Kind of. It's dark and there are some mature, fucked up themes that are very real - similar to Watchmen in that respect, I guess. But the end-goal and style are quite quite different. By the end of Animal Man, what the reader has experienced his one of the greatest pieces of literary deconstruction AND ITS A COMIC TOO (PICTURES). But really, "literary deconstruction" is just the beginning, cause it's much more. Deconstruction of actual human perception, perhaps existence. Examination at controversial ethical topics. Examination of the culture of violence. And fucking hope.
Brilliantly written and executed, a story about so many things really is about one thing, to me: hope. But hope that isn't easy won and handed to us and the character in a nice box with nice wrapping. That hope would break easily. No, this is...well, you'll just have to read it to see.
The only thing that prevents me from recommending this to everyone is that toward the last half of the three volumes, Morrison starts pulling from quite a lot of DCU concepts and history in order to tell part of his story - it's not actually ABOUT the characters. You could probably replace them with any number of other fictional characters. But, he was writing in the DCU and writing not too long after the Crisis on Infinite Earths (a major DC crossover event that redefined the DC universe), so he made appropriate choices and I'm just lucky to have been pretty informed about DCU history at the time I got around to reading this (takes a lot of work...).
But, I'd say if Gaiman's The Sandman is number 1, then Animal Man is number 2..or 1.5..But, I haven't finished Morrison's Invisibles yet and it's a tight race!
March 14, 2012
This final volume of Morrison's run on the Animal Man title culminates in balls out meta-fiction, which was interesting for all its implied, abstract elements of contemplation but as far as the text itself it worked as a kind of short hand for theoretical work a reader could do, you know, on his own time. Lack of intellectual rigor aside, this is a comic book, meaning it has certain responsibilities to entertainment as well as enlightenment and I thought Morrison balanced both wonderfully.
I am so glad I read Crisis On Infinite Earths before this series as much of the last issues in this volume deal directly with that event, even critiquing its foundation (what does it mean when a character is "outdated" and needs to end? What is a character? When does a character live?). Animal Man develops into a sort of comic book superhero version of Sartre's No Exit crossed with Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. Though the final surprise confrontation comes off a little kitschy (like Julia Roberts playing herself in Ocean's 12), this story was written at a time when postmodernism wasn't as familiar as it may be now.
I definitely recommend this three volume series but I think a reader gains more from reading Crisis On Infinite Earths as prerequisite literature, if only for the final volume. In any case, this certainly has been a great introduction to Grant Morrison's interests and daring as a writer.
I am so glad I read Crisis On Infinite Earths before this series as much of the last issues in this volume deal directly with that event, even critiquing its foundation (what does it mean when a character is "outdated" and needs to end? What is a character? When does a character live?). Animal Man develops into a sort of comic book superhero version of Sartre's No Exit crossed with Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. Though the final surprise confrontation comes off a little kitschy (like Julia Roberts playing herself in Ocean's 12), this story was written at a time when postmodernism wasn't as familiar as it may be now.
I definitely recommend this three volume series but I think a reader gains more from reading Crisis On Infinite Earths as prerequisite literature, if only for the final volume. In any case, this certainly has been a great introduction to Grant Morrison's interests and daring as a writer.
September 13, 2015
Animal Man volume three collapses the fourth wall and the panel; Morrison uses Crises on Infinite Earth as a way to reimagine the multiverse and the relationship of characters to comic creators. Furthermore, elements from issues nine forward start to make more and more sense as the story arc is wrapped up and some of the earlier rushed stories seemed to add into something. The utter destruction of the fourth wall and the extreme meta-textuality works here because the character and plot have built up to it, and because it allows Morrison to comment on many of the flaws he saw in superhero comics in the 1980s. This is not to say every element hits, it doesn't. Some plot lines seem too on the nose, and Morrison's conversation with Buddy in the book have some obvious and weighted philosophical commitments that are in keeping with the characters but seem a little cliche now.
The art is competent but not particularly ground-breaking, and the meta-textual elements are not as fresh now and a little too dead on. That said, it was definitely groundbreaking in 1989-1990 and did deconstruct the superhero in an early different way than say Alan Moore or Frank Miller. For those who enjoyed the first two volumes but felt a little underwhelmed, I think most will think this pays off. For those who did not enjoy the meta-textual elements, well, this won't be their cup of tea.
The art is competent but not particularly ground-breaking, and the meta-textual elements are not as fresh now and a little too dead on. That said, it was definitely groundbreaking in 1989-1990 and did deconstruct the superhero in an early different way than say Alan Moore or Frank Miller. For those who enjoyed the first two volumes but felt a little underwhelmed, I think most will think this pays off. For those who did not enjoy the meta-textual elements, well, this won't be their cup of tea.
January 19, 2021
Amazing. Morrison delivers an emotional story that truly reflects on the nature of comics storytelling, and the nature of mainstream super hero comics. Managing to lament the dearth or drab and “realistic” comics post-Watchmen, yet also explaining why those stories ultimately deserve to demoralize rather than inspire. I love also how Morrison talks about the tendency of modern comics writers changing fundamental aspects of characters they have no ownership of, to appeal to the slightly sadistic urges of the comic book audience. This comic is so unbelievably prescient, predicting the garbage Marvel and DC would try pull off in events like Identity Crisis, Civil War, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Death of Superman, the list goes on and on. As Morrison so aptly states, “...It’s easy to get a cheap emotional shock by killing popular characters”.
I don’t want to entirely free myself from blame either, as I reveled in Buddy’s slaughter of the people who killed his family. Even though Morrison himself acknowledges how it perverts Buddy’s character, I still couldn’t help but feel a sick sense of satisfaction as Buddy eliminates these destructive, murderous, and regressive pigs. “I think of Ellen and Cliff and Maxine and I put my hands on his shoulders. I hold him. I hold him until he stops kicking.” Wow.
Morrison is spectacular at taking obscure or ridiculous characters and completely recontextualize them. Taking old pre-Crisis characters erased from continuity, and having them comment on their relation to comics canon is genius, and manages to make them comments on the nature of meta-fiction as a whole. I even agree with Morrison’s slight criticism of Crisis on Infinite Earths, as Ultraman laments his removal from continuity, asking what so wrong with them that he had to be erased. Through Crisis’s attempt to simplify continuity, it removed much of the life and flavor the multiverse had added to DC comics. But Morrison deals with this well, asking if a character is real purely based on being real to someone, somewhere, at some point? Do they require a consistent presence in media to stay truly real, or as Morrison posits, they only die when people stop reading their stories. Morrison’s conception of comics limbo is great as well, really making you feel sorry for these ridiculous characters relegated to a life of nothingness.
I also appreciate Morrison’s malaise and doubt regarding the nature of single issue comic book story. Though I love comics, I do understand their constraints and flaws, and just how little freedom the nature of comic book storytelling entails. 24 pages is a very constrictive format, and the need to maintain that pace monthly can really hurt writer or artists ability to produce truly interesting, daring, or creative work. However, as I think Morrison realizes in the final pages, it can produce some fantastically concise, exciting, and innovative work if a writer ultimates the format to its fullest extent. Morrison does it multiple times throughout, consistently improving each issue, while delivering a deep and meaningful message or point every issue. I love comics’ ability to push the boundaries of storytelling, and make completely fantastical and extraordinary things seem natural or plausible. The suspension of disbelief is so much less important in comic books, and that allows for some amazingly ridiculous, insane, or mind blowing things to happen, as Morrison demonstrates. The trippy time travel, psychedelic visions, or characters literally breaking free from their reality of panel borders after realizing its false nature, so much of this would not work in any other medium. Comics have a unique ability to show moments of devastating realism balanced against ridiculous mind bending moments of pure creative genius, and I feel Morrison does this beautifully.
Morrison’s comments on life in general really resonate with me as well, and are beautifully real. We all expect to be the main character in our life, yet often end up as side characters who serve no grand purpose. Life doesn’t really have a main thread, or even side threads, it just has random events that may or may not be resolved or lead to anything important. It’s a brutal truth, and one I’m having trouble dealing with. Our society really emphasizes the role of the individual, and your own impact on the world around you. Even though you may never find it, you are expected to look for a meaning or purpose to fulfill, to create your own life and existence. But, life does not always work this way, and sometimes you lack control over your life, and you may never find that purpose or meaning you are looking for. We all just exist, and anything beyond that is shaky at best. It’s hard to accept, but necessary to truly grow and develop.
Morrison ends the story beautifully, with another fantastic rumination on the comic book reader condition. His comments on how so many comics fans and writers equate realism with more violence, anguish, and torture is especially relevant and predictive. Not only does he predict the nature of Marvel and DC for much of the last 20 years, he also captures the mentality that would eventually form Image and foment the near collapse of the comics industry. The horrible and lazy urge of many people in comics to replace actual maturation of stories and characters with cheap death and anguish is so real, and has destroyed so many characters, while leading to the comics industry completely abandoning its child audience that made up for its core demographic for 60 years. Focusing on making stories more “adult” by increasing their violence and anguish has massively decreased the comic buying audience, and is a huge factor in the eventual death of this industry I used to love.
In conclusion, Morrison delivers a fantastic story on the concept of stories, managing to balance a deeper message of hope against comics’ ceaseless death, decay, and inadequacy. Morison fights against the tide of mediocrity and lazy storytelling, and ruminates on the importance of trying even without a lack of meaning, and how our search for realism should not necessarily entail the worst aspects our life. “We thought that by making your world more violent, we would make it more “realistic”, more “adult”. God help us if that is what it means. Maybe, for once, we could try to be kind.”
I don’t want to entirely free myself from blame either, as I reveled in Buddy’s slaughter of the people who killed his family. Even though Morrison himself acknowledges how it perverts Buddy’s character, I still couldn’t help but feel a sick sense of satisfaction as Buddy eliminates these destructive, murderous, and regressive pigs. “I think of Ellen and Cliff and Maxine and I put my hands on his shoulders. I hold him. I hold him until he stops kicking.” Wow.
Morrison is spectacular at taking obscure or ridiculous characters and completely recontextualize them. Taking old pre-Crisis characters erased from continuity, and having them comment on their relation to comics canon is genius, and manages to make them comments on the nature of meta-fiction as a whole. I even agree with Morrison’s slight criticism of Crisis on Infinite Earths, as Ultraman laments his removal from continuity, asking what so wrong with them that he had to be erased. Through Crisis’s attempt to simplify continuity, it removed much of the life and flavor the multiverse had added to DC comics. But Morrison deals with this well, asking if a character is real purely based on being real to someone, somewhere, at some point? Do they require a consistent presence in media to stay truly real, or as Morrison posits, they only die when people stop reading their stories. Morrison’s conception of comics limbo is great as well, really making you feel sorry for these ridiculous characters relegated to a life of nothingness.
I also appreciate Morrison’s malaise and doubt regarding the nature of single issue comic book story. Though I love comics, I do understand their constraints and flaws, and just how little freedom the nature of comic book storytelling entails. 24 pages is a very constrictive format, and the need to maintain that pace monthly can really hurt writer or artists ability to produce truly interesting, daring, or creative work. However, as I think Morrison realizes in the final pages, it can produce some fantastically concise, exciting, and innovative work if a writer ultimates the format to its fullest extent. Morrison does it multiple times throughout, consistently improving each issue, while delivering a deep and meaningful message or point every issue. I love comics’ ability to push the boundaries of storytelling, and make completely fantastical and extraordinary things seem natural or plausible. The suspension of disbelief is so much less important in comic books, and that allows for some amazingly ridiculous, insane, or mind blowing things to happen, as Morrison demonstrates. The trippy time travel, psychedelic visions, or characters literally breaking free from their reality of panel borders after realizing its false nature, so much of this would not work in any other medium. Comics have a unique ability to show moments of devastating realism balanced against ridiculous mind bending moments of pure creative genius, and I feel Morrison does this beautifully.
Morrison’s comments on life in general really resonate with me as well, and are beautifully real. We all expect to be the main character in our life, yet often end up as side characters who serve no grand purpose. Life doesn’t really have a main thread, or even side threads, it just has random events that may or may not be resolved or lead to anything important. It’s a brutal truth, and one I’m having trouble dealing with. Our society really emphasizes the role of the individual, and your own impact on the world around you. Even though you may never find it, you are expected to look for a meaning or purpose to fulfill, to create your own life and existence. But, life does not always work this way, and sometimes you lack control over your life, and you may never find that purpose or meaning you are looking for. We all just exist, and anything beyond that is shaky at best. It’s hard to accept, but necessary to truly grow and develop.
Morrison ends the story beautifully, with another fantastic rumination on the comic book reader condition. His comments on how so many comics fans and writers equate realism with more violence, anguish, and torture is especially relevant and predictive. Not only does he predict the nature of Marvel and DC for much of the last 20 years, he also captures the mentality that would eventually form Image and foment the near collapse of the comics industry. The horrible and lazy urge of many people in comics to replace actual maturation of stories and characters with cheap death and anguish is so real, and has destroyed so many characters, while leading to the comics industry completely abandoning its child audience that made up for its core demographic for 60 years. Focusing on making stories more “adult” by increasing their violence and anguish has massively decreased the comic buying audience, and is a huge factor in the eventual death of this industry I used to love.
In conclusion, Morrison delivers a fantastic story on the concept of stories, managing to balance a deeper message of hope against comics’ ceaseless death, decay, and inadequacy. Morison fights against the tide of mediocrity and lazy storytelling, and ruminates on the importance of trying even without a lack of meaning, and how our search for realism should not necessarily entail the worst aspects our life. “We thought that by making your world more violent, we would make it more “realistic”, more “adult”. God help us if that is what it means. Maybe, for once, we could try to be kind.”
October 15, 2016
Had read dis one previously though never clicked button. Not crazy about artwerke though ole Grant Morrison creatively subverts the genre. Deus ex Machina - God from the Machine (aka "an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel.") Spoiler : Animal Man Buddy confront the writer Grant Morrison. Although this 4th wall has a bit of hokey look at me I'm clever to it, Grant does manage to cast light on symbiotic quality of art to it's creator. Thought process extends to one's own person. Who writes the script ? At ending of graphic novel it mentions that there are no concise stories : "Life doesn't have plots and subplots and denouments. It's just a big collection of loose ends and dangling threads that never get explained." The impulse is to make something 'important.' Go beyond flashy drivel and repetitive fighting. Hero of story is even slightly mocked and called "A generic comic book hero with blond hair and good teeth. One of hundreds." To wrap up this brief review : Enjoyed though felt this work was still coming to terms with the elements. Doom Patrol began to refine it in psychedelic synergy where "The Invisibles" manage to make it all click. Boom!
February 8, 2014
I was absolutely blown away by this last volume of Animal Man by Grant Morrison. Everything that had been written up until this point, is utilized in such a special way. It's so hard to ignore the absolute talent of Grant Morrison. When his writing makes sense, it can really be of some of the best quality writing period, let alone in graphic novels themselves. This was of graphic novel classic quality, and I see now why so many hold this high on the list of comic classics. The fourth wall isn't just broken in this volume, it's completely removed and eventually ends in an issue with Animal Man being lectured by Grant Morrison about the world he lives in. So many other writers could have attempted this, and it wouldn't have read nearly quite as well as it does here. When Buddy Baker first realizes the audience, being the reader, it's an absolute blast to the brain and you wonder, am I really reading someone's life? Morrison is definitely one of the most creative comic writers, and this volume of Animal Man that composes his last few issues in his run, are definite proof of this.
October 26, 2016
All Buddy Baker wanted to do was use his animal powers to fight for animal rights but he had to go and be written by Grant Morrison, who's obsessed with obscure comic book characters and commentary on comic book continuity and the metafictional levels of reality. All of this might make sense if you get really high, and Animal Man does give that a shot (Morrison has incorporated/appropriated a lot of Native American shamanistic beliefs about totem animals), but then we have to address the Crisis and the multiverse and finally we get to the moment we've all been waiting for, and it is indeed meta as hell, though I'm not quite sure what the purpose of it all was (ie, why Animal Man). I do like how Morrison ties together a lot of his run, making callbacks to previous standalones and bringing back various characters so that it feels like a cohesive story that was all leading up to this. All in all, this was a pretty good time, and very Grant Morrison, for better and for worse.
May 7, 2016
I wonder if this is the longest anyone has ever taken to read a volume by GM, or all the volumes he wrote in the series for that matter. Although I somewhat enjoyed the existential abstraction of Animal Man's universe, it just didn't grab me. Of course I'm relatively knew to the whole graphic novel scene so I may not have the "time in" to fully appreciate the ground breaking nature of this run. Probably why I procrastinated so long in coming back to it. To be honest I think I jumped back in just to say I finished it! I've never really enjoyed shows or novels that cross-over from a fantasy or sci-fi world with our reality. It's just two different frames of mind I prefer to keep separate.
Anyway, my next foray into the superhero world will be something a little less thought provoking with some raw rock 'em and sock'em escapism.
Anyway, my next foray into the superhero world will be something a little less thought provoking with some raw rock 'em and sock'em escapism.
April 11, 2011
This is the book where the Morrison-type stuff comes together. Not only is it smart, but it's fun, too -- as much a page-turner as anything. The metafiction peaks here, but it's not as stodgy as that might sound. Reading it this far after the fact lets us see not only the obvious take on Crisis on Infinite Earths, but also some of the early ideas that would get a much bigger working in Final Crisis (and, to some extent, the sort of multi-year structuring that worked so well in, say, his run on Batman).
That said, I imagine this was far crazier and challenging a read in the late 1980s than it is now, but that might also allow it to feel more playful now.
That said, I imagine this was far crazier and challenging a read in the late 1980s than it is now, but that might also allow it to feel more playful now.
January 2, 2008
Ah, the days when metafiction and comics were just going on their first dates. I'm so glad this is finally collected in trade paperback. Animal Man was so much fun. The art is kind of lame early 90s bad DC house style, until the end of the book. I always cry at the end.
November 7, 2023
Grant Morrison ile frekansımız hiç tutmuyor.
June 2, 2025
As I expected, volume 2 and one issue of volume 1 set up this great ending.
The themes of god, creation, breaking the fourth wall, etc come to fruition in this final volume.
Morrison doing what he does best:
1- He brings obscure characters to the book, and in this one is on steroids.
We see Overman, The Inferior Six, Merryman, Ultraman, Skipper the dog, etc.
Not only we see them, they fit the story very well even when some of them just do cameos.
2- He writes about Meta stuff.
We saw a foreshadow of things to come from issue #5, so clearly something plan way ahead (at least 2 years).
I loved how he incorporated DCs Crisis events into the narrative, in this case was the Crisis on Infinite Earths that happened a few years before this final volume.
We get to see Animal Man (and other characters) break panels in several issues (image for reference):
And finally, in the last issue we get to see Animal Man meet his maker, the comic book writer and his character face to face. I don't want to spoil anything, just read it is good!
so... Why the 4 stars?
Even though this is an amazing book my main issue is that I did not see much of Animal Man. Yes, he is in the book, but really all this Meta stuff could have been done with any character and the story would have worked just fine.
After reading 26 issues and the Secret Origin what did we learn about Buddy that wasn't already part of his story?
Maybe I'm wrong, but we only got:
- The first 4 issues which were the worst part of this whole run. They were mediocre at best
- Buddy is now a Vegetarian, but this is more Morrison pushing his thoughts into the reader.
- Some sub par story about Africa and the B'Wana Beast
- In the end the status quo is returned, so did anything matter to the Animal Man mythos?
Honestly I thing this a great book, but is a great Animal Man book?
Normally when I read a book as good as this final volume I just want more of the character or the universe is set in. For example, I loved Daredevil by Bendis, and when I finished it I had to go directly to the next writer to see where the story would go next. Same with Aquaman by Geoff Johns and a lot of other runs.
I'm glad I've read this, but do I want more Animal Man? Not really
Do I care where the story goes after this in the Peter Milligan run? Not really
Do I know more about the character? Not much
So again... This is a great book and a great story... But not a great Animal Man story.
The themes of god, creation, breaking the fourth wall, etc come to fruition in this final volume.
Morrison doing what he does best:
1- He brings obscure characters to the book, and in this one is on steroids.
We see Overman, The Inferior Six, Merryman, Ultraman, Skipper the dog, etc.
Not only we see them, they fit the story very well even when some of them just do cameos.
2- He writes about Meta stuff.
We saw a foreshadow of things to come from issue #5, so clearly something plan way ahead (at least 2 years).
I loved how he incorporated DCs Crisis events into the narrative, in this case was the Crisis on Infinite Earths that happened a few years before this final volume.
We get to see Animal Man (and other characters) break panels in several issues (image for reference):
And finally, in the last issue we get to see Animal Man meet his maker, the comic book writer and his character face to face. I don't want to spoil anything, just read it is good!
so... Why the 4 stars?
Even though this is an amazing book my main issue is that I did not see much of Animal Man. Yes, he is in the book, but really all this Meta stuff could have been done with any character and the story would have worked just fine.
After reading 26 issues and the Secret Origin what did we learn about Buddy that wasn't already part of his story?
Maybe I'm wrong, but we only got:
- The first 4 issues which were the worst part of this whole run. They were mediocre at best
- Buddy is now a Vegetarian, but this is more Morrison pushing his thoughts into the reader.
- Some sub par story about Africa and the B'Wana Beast
- In the end the status quo is returned, so did anything matter to the Animal Man mythos?
Honestly I thing this a great book, but is a great Animal Man book?
Normally when I read a book as good as this final volume I just want more of the character or the universe is set in. For example, I loved Daredevil by Bendis, and when I finished it I had to go directly to the next writer to see where the story would go next. Same with Aquaman by Geoff Johns and a lot of other runs.
I'm glad I've read this, but do I want more Animal Man? Not really
Do I care where the story goes after this in the Peter Milligan run? Not really
Do I know more about the character? Not much
So again... This is a great book and a great story... But not a great Animal Man story.
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