Issue Description

While hallucinating, Buddy comes to realize that there is much about his life he doesn't understand. When Buddy suddenly feels like his family might be in danger, he rushes home to a shocking scene.

An unknown person sits typing at a computer. He recaps where Buddy and Highwater were last at, and tries to figure out what happens next. Finally, he decides: the secrets of the universe.

Buddy and Highwater are still on the mesa undergoing their peyote trip. Everything is red, and Buddy wonders why. Suddenly, he realizes that he is an ocean of blood that turns out to be a whale's eye. The whale tels Buddy not to worry because it's just a hallucination and everything is connected. He then reveals to Buddy the first secret:

The next two pages are done up like an old "Who's Who in the DC Universe" entry. It recaps how Buddy was a teenager on a hunting trip when he received his powers from two yellow aliens. The final panel is of Buddy in a swirl of red; like blood going down the drain. Buddy lands in an are of plain whiteness and a voice proclaims the second secret:

An older version of Animal Man wearing a different costume approaches him and tells him that isn't how he got his powers at all. The alternate Buddy tells him that he was almost 30 when a spaceship exploded in his face. This Buddy was married, but with no kids. The other Buddy bitterly states that his life was wiped out and replaced with our Animal Man's. He begins to lose control. He grabs Buddy and tells him that he's not real anymore and he's afraid. Our Buddy starts to ask him questions, but his alternate disappears. A voice tells him that if he really wants to know answer to his questions to turn around and he'll see the third secret. Buddy does so and in a moment of total disbelief he sees us, the reader.

Highwater approaches Buddy who is standing at the edge of the mesa saying, "I can see you" repeatedly. He manages to calm Buddy, and they both sit down on the mesa. They talk about the nature of God and the Creator, and Buddy tells Highwater that he caught a glimpse into another world. The world of the Creator wasn't a paradise, though. To Buddy, it seems more like hell. He begins to wonder if they're just characters created for entertainment. Their mesa starts to float, and they see what they think is an island in the distance. The island turns out to be a giant whale, and it swallows them. Foxy appears and tells Buddy that the truth always comes with a price, and then tells him that he's sorry. Buddy cries out Ellen's name. Highwater looks around, but Buddy has disappeared. Suddenly, a giant hand comes through the panel border. Buddy has been taken outside of the panels and is now between space.

The pair finally come out of their peyote trip, feeling reborn. Highwater tells Buddy that since he's connected to the morphogenetic field; he doesn't have to be near an animal to use it's power, he can just "think" of it. Buddy asks him about the other stuff that he saw; the stuff about God and reality. Highwater tells him that he doesn't know, and asks him if it matters. He then quotes Edgar Allen Poe: "All that we see or see is but a dream within a dream."

Buddy uses his powers to fly home. He notices that everything is beautiful, but he has an uneasy feeling for some reason. He opens his front door and enters his house. He finds his wife and children laying dead on the kitchen floor.

Animal Man

Publisher

Vertigo

Volume Description

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Writer Grant Morrison was one of the" British Invasion" creators from the UK who were brought in to DC to revamp older and obscure properties after the success of Alan Moore 's Swamp Thing . Thus Morrison pitched the idea of Animal Man, originally as a four issue mini-series. Strong sales however, meant DC asked Morrison to continue his series an ongoing, which he did for 26 issues. During his run, Morison incorporated themes such as animal rights and vegetarianism as well as fourth-wall breaking story lines which ended in Morrison inserting himself into the comic and directly speaking to Animal Man and revealing his status as a fictional character. Morrison's series re-invented Buddy Baker as a suburban family man and "average Joe" character, he also introduced a new Mirror Master (McCulloch).

After Morrison's run ended, Peter Milligan took over briefly and then Tom Veitch, who focused on Baker's stuntman career. Writer Jamie Delano then came on board as writer, transforming the title into a horror book and lining Animal Man much closer to the Swamp Thing style character, by re-inventing him again as an avatar of "The red" a force of animal life similar to Moore's "The Green" in his Swamp Thing stories, something which Morrison was opposed to but became part of Baker's status quo, especially in Jeff Lemire's New 52 Animal Man series. it was during this time (issue #57) the book was placed under DC's new Vertigo imprint along side other mature readers titles at DC where it remained for the rest of its run. Between issues #66 and #67, Delano also wrote the Animal Man Annual #1, focusing on Buddy's daughter Maxine, the annual was the third part of Vertigo's crossover The Children's Crusade.

The series had never been fully collected though #1-26 (Morrison's run) have been collected in three trades so far, the first nine issues were collected soon after they had been printed back before Vertigo came around in Animal Man- through the art of reprinting the volume has been updated to Vertigo. Over a decade later, a second volume was released, Animal Man: Origin of the Species which collected the next eight issues as well as Animal Man's origin issue from the Secret Origins series. And finally, a year later the third volume was released, Animal Man: Deus Ex Machina which collected nine more issues though left the majority of the series (including all the issues that were printed after the Vertigo imprint got stamped onto the series) uncollected.

Peter Milligan's run on the book would eventually fill a fourth trade in 2013, possibly due to the revived interest in Animal Man after the New 52.

The Shifting Cast of Writers on the Title

Grant Morrison: # 1- 26Peter Milligan: # 27- 32Tom Veitch: # 33- 50Jamie Delano: # 51- 79Jerry Prosser: # 80- 89AnnualAnimal Man Annual #1 - MisfitCollected TradesVol. 1: Animal Man (#1-9)Vol. 2: Origin of the Species (#10-17)Vol. 3: Deus Ex Machina (#18-26)Vol. 4: Born to Be Wild (#27-37)Vol. 5: The Meaning of Flesh (#38-50)Vol. 6: Flesh and Blood (#51-63)Vol. 7: Red Plague (#64-79)OmnibusesAnimal Man Omnibus (#1-26 and Secret Origins #39)

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Status: Not in Collection