Issue Description

Animal Man visits John Starr in hopes that he can help him find the key to time travel, so that Buddy can prevent the murders of his wife and children. Animal Man teams up with Booster Gold to go after the Time Masters!

Psycho Pirate has found(or managed to create) his medusa mask that allows him to control other people's emotions. He puts it on and we see that he has created a veritable treasure trove of multiversal items; including copies of Flash and Watchmen, a wanted poster of Abraham Lincoln, and a picture of Adolf Hitler with the American flag.

Pirate claims that it's time for the grand finale and goes walking through the halls of Arkham. We find that he has also begun creating various heroes and villains that were wiped out during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He walks past Johnathan Crane's cell, but refuses to let him out; saying that he's sick of fear. Pirate enters a room where various characters have gathered. Some of them(especially Ultraman) are having a hard time with having been brought back to life. Psycho Pirate uses his powers to calm them down, and tells them that they didn't really die; they were just in his head the whole time. And now they're all coming back.

The two yellow aliens who gave Animal Man his powers have brought Dr. Highwater to Arkham Asylum against his wishes. The aliens tell him that they have no choice in the matter and that they have to play their assigned roles in the story. Highwater is surprised to find that several different versions of Arkham are shifting from one to another. The aliens explain that lost worlds are returning and that soon the unified world will be torn apart. Highwater asks about Animal Man whom the aliens had said was important. The aliens tell him that Animal Man is in the continuum, but he is out of reach. They must do what they can.

Meanwhile, Animal Man has traveled to the past and is sitting at an outdoor cafe in San Francisco with the Phantom Stranger, Etrigan, and the Immortal Man.(Vandal Savage was supposed to be there, but he was too busy founding a desert cult.) Phantom Stranger explains that Buddy has recently suffered from a tragedy; the others want to hear all about it.

Back at Arkham, Psycho Pirate appears to be having trouble vomiting up the multiverse.

In the past, Animal Man tells the others about how horrible the future turns out to be, and all discusses his family's death. He tells them about a weight on his and and figures that it must be the time machine that he used in the future. Etrigan tells Buddy that humans were not made to travel through time; if he stays in the past the shock will eventually kill him. Animal Man remarks that he would rather be dead, but Etrigan kills a butterfly and makes a speech about how life is worth living and we ourselves make it a heaven or hell. Immortal Man helps by pointing out life goes on and he can't help them by dying inside. Buddy closes his eyes and thinks about the difference between life and death. He thinks about the destruction of the environment and how people can take a stand; and with that he disappears. The three immortals toast to the coming decade.

In the present, Psycho Pirate has begun to wear himself thin and is turning transparent, yet more and more characters keep appearing. The latest is a horrible alternate version of Superman named Overman. Overman contracted an STD and went crazy, killing all his earth's heroes. Psycho Pirate tries to keep him contained and thinks that he succeeded, but we see Overman behind him, totally deranged and clutching a gigantic bomb.

Dr. Highwater and the aliens have walked through the halls of Arkham Asylum until they reach a door. Past the door is where the aliens say the breach will occur. They open the door and we see an almost totally transparent Psycho Pirate rousing the recreated characters by offering revenge on the people who killed them... Us. While Pirate is talking, Ultraman notices the panel border and begins to push on it. Power Ring tries to stop him, but Ultraman ends up in the white space between panels. The insane Overman is giggling that he has the bomb, while Psycho Pirate looks directly at the reader and says that he's coming to get us. One of the yellow aliens remarks that the death of reality has come, and asks where Animal Man is. There's a flash of light from behind, and Animal Man appears with the other alien. Buddy tells that that everything is okay. He's here...

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