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Animal Man Reading Order

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Buddy Baker aka Animal Man is a DC Comics superhero created by writer Dave Wood and artist Carmine Infantino in the pages of Strange Adventures #180 (September 1965) who has the ability to temporarily borrow the abilities of animals—he gained them after encountering a spaceship that blew up, infusing him with radiation.

For a long time, he was considered a second-rate superhero and didn’t really appear in a lot of books between the 1960s and the 1980s. Everything changed after the Crisis on Infinite Earths event when DC started to use British writers to revive old almost forgotten properties. That’s when Scottish writer Grant Morrison came on board. He reintroduced Buddy Baker in what was thought as a four-issue limited series, but its success led to a change and it became an ongoing series.

At that point, we met Buddy who is married to his high school sweetheart, Ellen, a storyboard artist. They have two children, Cliff and Maxine, and live in a suburban area outside of San Diego. As Animal Man, Buddy found his way by progressively becoming an animal rights activist, an environmentalist, and a vegetarian.

Animal Man profile was boosted by the success of the series and the character even briefly became a member of Justice League Europe. Once Morrison concluded his run, Peter Milligan took over, then Tom Veitch and Steve Dillon, and Jamie Delano and Steve Pugh, all exploring different aspects of the hero, from his stuntman past to the origin of his powers.

The story of Buddy changed when he was killed to be resurrected as the “Red” (like the “Green” of Swamp Thing, but for animals!) in the Vertigo Line for mature readers. After that, he occasionally made cameos in the regular DC Universe, including during the Infinite Crisis and 52.

After the New 52 relaunch, he made a comeback and later joined again with the JLA. During the Rebirth era, he also worked with the Justice League, but he never went on to become a major superhero.

Animal Man Comics Reading Order

Animal Man: The Pre-Crisis Era

At first, Animal Man appeared in Strange Adventures #180-201, but those issues are not properly collected for now. That said, the origin story “I Was The Man With The Animal Powers” was later collected in Weird Secret Origins #1, available in DC Universe Secret Origins.

  • DC Universe Secret Origins
    Collects Secret Origins #1, More Secret Origins #1, Even More Secret Origins #1, and Weird Secret Origins #1.

 

In 1980, Gerry Conway brought back Animal Man for a team-up with Wonder Woman (in Wonder Woman #267-268)—for now, this story has not been collected. Buddy met up with Superman in Action Comics (issues #552-553). He is with The Forgotten Heroes, a group of old DC heroes that are mostly … forgotten. Those issues are available in:

  • Adventures of Superman: Gil Kane
    Collects Superman #367, 372, 375, Action Comics #539- 541, 544, 545, 546 and 551-554, Superman Special #1-2 and DC Comics Presents Annual #3.

Animal Man and The Forgotten Heroes are back in action next to Superman in (the not collected) DC Comics Presents #77-78 before appearing in Crisis on Infinite Earths (issues #11-12).

Animal Man: The Post-Crisis era aka The Modern Age

Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Buddy Baker finally became a recognizable hero with Grant Morrison’s work on the first ongoing Animal Man series. This run is still celebrated today and was published in multiple editions.

Animal Man by Grant Morrison & Chaz Truog

Without a doubt, this is the most popular run starring Animal Man, the issues drawn by Chaz Truog and written by Grant Morrison have been collected in multiple formats.

The Omnibus Edition

The Compendium Edition new

The Deluxe Edition

Animal Man post-Morrison

Once Grant Morrison and Chaz Truog left the series, first Peter Milligan took over (for issues #27 to #32), then Tom Veitch (from #33 to 50), with Steve Dillon as the main artist.

Jamie Delano became the main writer of the Animal Man series with art by Steve Pugh and, after the first six issues, the title left the main DC Universe to join Vertigo–becoming then a book for mature readers.

  • Animal Man Vol. 6: Flesh and Blood by Jamie Delano
    Collects Animal Man #51-63.
  • Animal Man Vol. 7: Red Plague by Jamie Delano
    Collects Animal Man  #64-79, Animal Man Annual #1.

    • Between issues #66 and #67, Delano wrote Animal Man Annual #1, focusing on Buddy’s daughter Maxine, that is part of the Children’s Crusade event.
  • Animal Man Vol. 8: An Altered State of Mind by Jerry Prosser
    Collects Animal Man  #80-89. This book is still not available. No date yet.

Once Jerry Prosser’s run ended, Animal Man’s time at Vertigo ended as well, but he didn’t come back to the main DC Universe with a new series. In fact, he was back to making cameos and guest appearances. The most interesting may be the one in Hawkman #16-17 (collected in Hawkman by Geoff Johns Book Two).

Animal Man got the opportunity to play his part in the Infinite Crisis event by appearing in more than just a few pages. First, in some pages in Day of Vengeance #1 explaining his situation, then Infinite Crisis, and Infinite Crisis Special. He also appeared in the background multiple times in different tie-ins issues Check the Infinite Crisis Reading Order for more information.

  • Infinite Crisis Omnibus
    Collects Action Comics #826, #829, Adventures of Superman #639, #642, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Day of Vengeance #1-6, Day of Vengeance Infinite Crisis Special, JLA #115-119, Infinite Crisis #1-6, Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006, The OMAC Project #1-6, The OMAC Project Infinite Crisis Special, Rann-Thanagar War #1-6, The Rann-Thanagar Infinite Crisis Special, Superman #216, #219, Villains United #1-6, Villains United Infinite Crisis Special and Wonder Woman #219.

The Infinite Crisis event is important because it led to the 52 series in which Animal Man is one of the main characters (teaming up with Starfire and Adam Strange). Published weekly for one year, the 52 series consists of 52 issues, each issue detailing an actual week chronicling the events that took place during the missing year after the end of Infinite Crisis. The story is directly followed by the limited series Countdown to Adventure.

After that, Animal Man was back on Earth, but his powers are not what they used to be, as we learned in the pages of Justice League of America #24-26 (collected in Justice League of America: Second Coming)

Anyways, Buddy reunited with Starfire and Adam Strange for the Rann/Thanagar Holy War series:

Still limited to cameos and brief guest appearances after that, Animal Man also got a miniseries by Gerry Conway exploring his future. The story takes us to the year 2024. Buddy’s own hometown of San Diego has struggled for years to recover from a cataclysmic typhoon. His children have grown and his marriage has gotten colder … and now, as San Diego faces the most vicious Super-Villain it’s seen in years, Animal Man’s powers are starting to fail him!

Animal Man: The New 52 Era and Beyond

With the New 52 initiative, Animal Man finally got a new ongoing series. This time it is written by Jeff Lemire with art by Travel Foreman and Steve Pugh. It’s a new start, a good entry point for the readers.

Jeff Lemire’s run is also available in paperbacks:

After his run concluded, Jeff Lemire continued to write Animal Man in the Justice League United, a Justice League based in Canada.

Once New 52 concluded, the Rebirth era didn’t give us a lot of Animal Man. Buddy appeared in Justice League Vol. 4 in a limited capacity, like during the “Dark Nights: Death Metal” crossover event. Nothing of note, and this is more than in the Infinite Frontier era.

During the Dawn of DC era, Animal Man came back for very short appearances (with Animal Girl) in The Flash #786, Titans – Beast World #2, and Absolute Power #1.

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