Grant Morrison's run (1988–1990)
Grant Morrison developed several long-running plots, introducing mysteries, some of which were not explained until a year or two later. The title featured the protagonist both in and—increasingly—out of costume. Morrison made the title character an everyman figure living in a universe populated by superheroes, aliens, and fantastic technology. Buddy's wife Ellen, his son Cliff (9 years old at the beginning of the series), and his daughter Maxine (5 years old) featured prominently in most storylines, and his relationship with them as husband and father was an ongoing theme.
The series championed vegetarianism and animal rights, causes Morrison supported. In one issue, Buddy helps a band of self-confessed eco-terrorists save a pod of dolphins. Enraged at a fisherman's brutality, Buddy drops him into the ocean, intending for him to drown. The man is saved by a dolphin.
Buddy fought several menaces, such as an ancient, murderous spirit that was hunting him; brutal, murderous alien Thanagarian warriors; and even the easily defeated red robots of an elderly villain who was tired of life. The series made deep, sometimes esoteric, reference to the entire DC canon, including B'wana Beast, Mirror Master, and Arkham Asylum.
Post-Morrison (1990–1993)
Following Morrison's run, Peter Milligan wrote a 6-issue story (#27–32) featuring several surreal villains and heroes, exploring questions about identity and quantum physics and utilizing the textual cut-up technique popularized by William S. Burroughs.
Tom Veitch and Steve Dillon then took over for 18 issues (#33–50) in which Buddy returns to his work as a movie stuntman and explores mystical totemic aspects of his powers.
Jamie Delano wrote 29 issues (#51–79) with Steve Pugh as artist, giving the series a more horror-influenced feel with a "suggested for mature readers" label on the cover.
Vertigo (1993–1995)
After Jamie Delano's first six issues, wherein, among other things, he killed off the central character of Buddy Baker, created the "Red" and resurrected Buddy as an "animal avatar" (analogous to the "Green" of Swamp Thing), the series became one of the charter titles of DC's new mature readers Vertigo imprint with #57, and its ties to the DC Universe became more tenuous. Vertigo was establishing itself as a distinct "mini-universe" with its own continuity, only occasionally interacting with the continuity of the regular DC Universe. The title evolved into a more horror-themed book, with Buddy eventually shapeshifting into a non-human animal god. The superhero elements of the book were largely removed — since Buddy was reborn as a kind of animal elemental, and legally deceased, he discarded his costume, stopped associating with other heroes, and generally abandoned his crime-fighting role. He co-founded the Life Power Church of Maxine to further an environmentalist message, drifting along U.S. Route 66 to settle in Montana. Delano's final issue was #79, culminating in Buddy dying several more times.
Between issues #66 and #67, Delano also penned the Animal Man Annual #1, focusing on Buddy's daughter Maxine. It was the third part of Vertigo's attempt to create a crossover event titled "The Children's Crusade". This event ran across the Annuals of the five then-Vertigo titles – Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Black Orchid
Return to DC (2011–2014)
In July 2009, DC Comics released a six-issue limited series The Last Days of Animal Man by Gerry Conway and Chris Batista. The series takes place in the year 2024 and addresses a Buddy Baker who is losing both his family and his powers.
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity, which included merging the Vertigo universe into DC's. In this new timeline, Animal Man is re-established for DC by the creative team of writer Jeff Lemire and artists Travel Foreman and Dan Green.[2][3] The series follows Buddy and his family as his daughter Maxine begins to display powers of necromancy-based animal control.[4] Buddy is then forced to go on a journey to discover the source of this power and his own. He finds it in a life force known as the "Red", the animal counterpart to the "Green" from
