Wizard Universe - Animal Attraction

Originally published at www.wizarduniverse.com, 20th November 2006

ANIMAL ATTRACTION

Returning to the character after 16 years in ‘52,’ Grant Morrison looks back on how he and Animal Man changed each other’s lives

The lion may be the natural ruler of the animal kingdom, but a single bite from a tiny spider can turn the “king of the jungle” to yesterday’s news. Grant Morrison has a thing for animals that others underestimate. Following the overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception his Arkham Asylum prestige-format hardcover earned from DC Editorial in 1989, Morrison could write his own ticket in terms of what DC character he’d like to tackle next. With Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more at his disposal, Morrison selected…Animal Man?

An obscure Silver Age character with the power to mimic animals’ natural abilities, Buddy Baker had never carried his own series, but Morrison saw something in the character. Over the next 26 issues, the Scottish writer would use Animal Man as his platform to explore the “realistic comics” craze sweeping the industry and examine the “wall” separating fiction from reality, culminating with an historic meeting between Animal Man and Morrison himself.

Over a decade later, creator and character reunite in one of the key plots of 52. We asked the writer to put in his own words what came before and what lies ahead for him and Buddy Baker.

ON CHOOSING ANIMAL MAN

“I wanted a character that gave me a chance to show off and show America what I could do. I thought it was better to take a character nobody cared about and build him from the ground up. Animal Man had always been a favorite of mine. I was a vegetarian at the time and getting into animal rights, so I thought I could use [the book] to put across some of those ideas. If I’d tried some of what I did with Superman or Batman there would have been no chance. I snuck it in under everybody’s noses because DC didn’t even know what I was doing until later and then they tried to pretend it hadn’t happened. [Laughs] Nobody cared enough about the book when it was coming out but the fans.”

ON THE MISSION STATEMENT OF ‘ANIMAL MAN’

“I’d been reading Watchmen and other ‘real-life superhero’ books and I thought they were a dead end. I wanted to make a stance against that stuff and get back to the big, weird, imaginative stuff that said comics could do anything. With Animal Man, it’s clear that I’m planting a flag in the sand, trying to suggest a way you can still be intelligent but be wilder and more imaginative.”

ON BUDDY BAKER

“Once you think about the guy—he’s an ex-stuntman, he’s married—suddenly a voice starts to emerge. I felt as though I really got into his life. I knew what music he liked, what foods he liked. He was one of the warmest characters I’ve ever written. I don’t really get a lot of that in what I do—most of the characters are f---ed up or cool or whatever. Animal Man was just a normal guy. He had to think about picking stuff up from the grocery store on the way back from the Crisis. He needs to be the guy who commutes to the DC Universe to give him his edge.”

ON PUTTING HIMSELF IN THE STORY

“The only way I felt I could bring ‘real-world concerns’ into it without it becoming Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns was to have me, the creator, talk to [Animal Man]. I wanted to talk about the role of the creator and that behind all these comic books is just some guy who feeds his cats. The character was around long before me and will live long after me—which one of us is the most real?”

ON ANIMAL MAN IN ‘52’

“We had a chance to kill a bunch of the characters left in space when we started 52. He was in the hat, but I said, ‘No! You can’t kill him! Let me write him!’ His moment is coming. I think there will be more than a few tears for old fans. This is my last Buddy Baker story. Take that any way you want.”