Resumo de Animal Man #1-26 - Grant Morrison; Chas Truog; Doug Hazlewood; Brian Bolland

'Animal Man' was a series published by DC Comics beginning in September 1988. It?s perhaps most notable for being part of the new wave of 'mature' comics (alongside Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons' 'Watchmen' and Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns') that would largely define the era for the industry. It?s also particularly notable for being amongst the first work at DC written by Grant Morrison, who would go on to write such highly acclaimed work as 'The Invisibles', 'Flex Mentallo' 'JLA' and 'Seven Soldiers' for them. However, the series itself is noteworthy enough purely for its handling of such weighty issues as animal rights, violence in entertainment and the nature of God and reality, all whilst maintaining its primary guise as an accessible Superhero adventure comic.

The titular Animal Man is one Buddy Baker who, after being in the vicinity of an exploding alien spacecraft, earned himself the power to attain the abilities of nearby animals for a limited time (the illogic nature of this is explored during the series). So, naturally, he became a superhero, and used his powers to fight crime. The series was part of DC's ongoing attempts to revitalize old, obscure characters, and the first few issues re-introduce Buddy and his family (as unlike many of his peers, he is happily married) and deal with him restarting his superhero career. In issue #5, though, the series takes a sharp turn into altogether different territory. 'The Coyote Gospel' involves Buddy coming across a coyote in the desert, who turns out to be from a Loony Tunes-esque dimension where cartoon animals are in constant conflict with one another at the pleasure of a deific artist. What might seem to be a fairly goofy premise on paper is elevated to a miniature work of high art, largely due to the emotional and dramatic implications of the Coyote?s fate. The issue deliberately draws parallels between being God and being an artist, and therefore sets the tone for where the rest of the story is ultimately heading.

In later issues, Buddy increasingly finds himself on the fringes of events that he doesn?t quite understand, and becomes more aware of the limitations upon his world. This partially culminates in issue #19 where, under the influence of hallucinogenic peyote beans, he is confronted with the original version of himself (before the reboot) who isn?t at all happy with his non-existence. Buddy then goes on to break the fourth wall and witness his own reader. The remainder of Morrison?s run on the book ties in more and more explicitly to DC?s groundbreaking crossover event ?Crisis on Infinite Earths? that had occurred several years ago at that point, where the many universes contained within DC were erased and reconstructed into a new, singular continuum. This caused many older and ?outdated? characters to be ejected from the continuity, something that Morrison makes light of in the penultimate issues, where these characters return, upset at the fickle nature of their existence and the fact they were so disposable.

The use of self-awareness and post-modernism is now common within Popular Culture, to the extent that it?s often used rather flippantly, and can detract from the core of a story. The beauty of Morrison?s Animal Man is that these moments of fourth-wall breaking and such are accompanied with the appropriate emotional response from the characters, so that we still relate and adhere to them despite these reminders of their fictional nature.

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