Animal Man

Title Animal Man series
Author Grant Morrison
Illustrators: Chas Truog & Doug Hazelwood
Review:Originally published in the late 1980s, Grant Morrison re-imagined a lame 60s second-rate hero into a book that challenged social issues on animal rights as well as telling a story that became increasingly metaphysical and metatextual. Buddy Baker is an "out" superhero. He doesn't have a secret identity, but still goes by the name Animal Man. His wife and children are aware of what he does, his friends and neighbours also know who he is. Buddy is able to "borrow" the abilities of animals: a bird's flight, the strength of a rhino, and the smell of a bloodhound.

His story starts out with him coming up against the usual run of two-bit super villians but gradually he is made aware of the terrible predicament of live animal experimentation and whaling. Joining up with a band of animal liberationists he raids labs to free animals and tries to stop a dolphin hunt in the Faroe Islands that is being done in the name of "cultural heritage".

During all this Buddy seeks the origin of his super powers. His memories of finding a crashed alien spacecraft and being exposed to radiation don't seem to tally. In New Mexico, on the advice of a Native American shaman, he takes peyote mushrooms and has strange visions that culminate in Buddy's realisation that he may be a fictional character. At the critical moment he slowly turns his head back over his shoulder and looks directly out of the page at the reader shouting, "My god! I can see you!" Stuff that makes you spine tingle.

Morrison has done a fantastic job of making us care for Buddy and his family. We see them at their best and their worst, gradually the super heroics becomes secondary to what happens to Buddy, but not in a soap opera way. All the emotions are played for real rather than a cheap thrill. It's no wonder that Glasgow born Morrison is ranked up there with Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore when it comes to graphic novels.
Staff Reviewer: Derek Binns, Launceston Library

You can find the Animal Man graphic novels on the State Library of Tasmania catalogue here.