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Jamie Delano Era (1992-1994) |
 Jamie Delano's
run on Animal Man began and ended with Buddy Baker's death. While many derrided his run
as it progressed, it is important to note that it deteriorated over time. Indeed, it started
with a strength probably exceeding most of
Grant Morrison's
lauded work on the title.
When Delano took the reigns, Animal Man was badly in need of new
vibrancy. Wheras Morrison's run had felt tremendously vibrant, the two years following his
departure had seen a slow but progressive deterioration. Delano, like his predecessors, had an
impressive pedigree as a comics writer -- but in his case, his pedigree seemed all the more
impressive; indeed, it seemed almost perfectly suited for Animal Man. Delano, after
all, had taken a secondary character in
Alan Moore's
Swamp Thing
and turned him into the protagonist of
Hellblazer.
While Delano's work was hit and miss on that title, it was not only far more hit than miss but
had created the fully-fledged character of John Constantine, telling masterful horror
stories along the way.
It is one of the forgotten aspects of Animal Man's history that
Delano's early run did indeed fulfill this promise. #51, Delano's first issue, went as far as
to kill off the title's protagonist -- and did so in a particularly brutal fashion. It was a
maneuver that would later win James Robinson great acclaim following his first issue of
Starman.
In his first issue -- ocurring some time after Veitch's conclusion, with Animal Man and his
family settled down at the farm in Vermont -- Delano introduced Ellen's uncle Dudley, a
gun-carrying, arch-conservative hick who effectively kidnaps Buddy Baker's son, Cliff. The son
of the environmentalist Animal Man, Cliff was traumatically made to witness and even
participate in the brutal killing of the very animals his father represented. Pursuing his
son, Animal Man was literally run over by Dudley's car and left mangled in the street to die.
Which he did.
As the storyline -- entitled "Flesh and Blood" -- continued, united by
the dark art of Steve Pugh (the main artist throughout Delano's run; the two had previously
collaborated on Hellblazer), we found that Animal Man's life force had survived and
began reincarnating itself in the bodies of various animals. In the process, Animal Man
discovered the Red -- the animal equivalent of Swamp Thing's the Green -- a bloody field of
sorts that unites all animal life. Delano had masterfully succeeded in the desire to do for
Animal Man what Moore had done for Swamp Thing -- and he had done so complete with Moore's tone
of true horror. Central to Delano's storyline was the violence of nature, an
intellectually necessary counterpoint to the title's past sanitary depiction of nature -- not
to mention Swamp Thing's more vegetative Green. Mangled and dead animals abounded, and
the reader was left haunted by the brutal implications of ourselves as animals, as "flesh and
blood." Delano had turned Animal Man into a first-class horror title.
The storyline concluded in December 1992's #56 (cover-dated February
1993), a truly double-sized issue meant to clear the decks before January's launching of DC's
Vertigo imprint, which would take in Animal Man as well as DC's five other ongoing
mature readers books. In the two-part conclusion, Buddy Baker, reborn as a frightening hybrid
animal avatar, rescued Cliff and discovered the ability to recreate his original human form.
#57, the first Vertigo issue, began Buddy's new life as a sort of animal
elemental. Now legally deceased, Buddy Baker felt content to live a quiet life with his
family. Fearing that nature would eventually exterminate the human beings despoiling it,
Animal Man began trying to make them understand the consequences of their actions. The farm
became a kind of commune, a haven for environmentalist outcasts -- including Annie Cassidy, a
woman who also was in contact with the Red, and her daughter named Lucy who began a
relationship with Cliff -- a relationship they consummated in animal passion. Buddy,
overwhelmed by the Red, again adopted the body of the hybrid animal avatar and flew to
Washington, D.C., where he attacked the city with all kinds of animals, trying to pressure
humanity to change its ways. The storyline led to Buddy's capture by the authorities, but he
was released in part due to public sympathy.
Between Buddy's agenda and the many who shared his sentiments on the
farm, Annie suggested starting a cult. Called the Life Power Church of Maxine, Buddy served as
prophet and Maxine as savior. Despite resistance from the establishment, the church grew,
especially among the young. This, combined with the revelation that Buddy had had an affair
through the Red with Annie, placed tremendous stress on Ellen, who felt alienated from the
movement and temporarily left Buddy. The church careened across the country along Route 66,
acquiring both new converts and various rebellious animals. Finally settling down in Montana,
all that remained was for Buddy Baker to die -- once again -- in Delano's final issue, #79.
Delano's run commenced with a brilliant storyline that created the Red,
the necessary animal component of Swamp Thing's vegetative Green. But the tone of horror
brought to Delano's original storyline failed to maintain itself, as the series gave way to
themes of religion and state persecution. While Delano's run is remembered as disappointing,
we can only imagine how history would record his run had the attention Vertigo brought to the
title ocurred six months earlier, allowing new readers to encounter -- and remember -- that we
are all "flesh and blood."
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