Collecting Animal Man (Early Access for Crushing Comics Club members)

Today I have a guide for you that I went a little overboard in completing - Animal Man

Log in to CK to access this guide. You received a CK login via email; leave a comment if you have not seen it. This guide is tentatively scheduled for general public release on May 8.

Why did I go so wild on the Animal Man guide? I think I was searching for something that just wasn't there.

I loved Jeff Lemire's Animal Man in New 52 - it was my favorite title of all 52 launch books. When I picked it up, I already had a passing familiarity with the concept of Animal Man. I've always been aware of the 1988 Vertigo run on the character despite never having read it, but based on my awareness I assumed there was more to Animal Man than that.

Well, I've spent the last week reading every one of Animal Man's appearances outside of his own titles from 1965 to present and I'm here to tell you that there isn't too much other Animal Man out there for you to read.

He appears in just 15 comics prior to his Vertigo series, always as a slightly-bumbling Silver Age goof. He's in 12 issues of Justice League Europe early on in his 1988 run. After his series ends, he spends a decade making disconnected guest turns before becoming an unlikely space-faring hero in Infinite Crisis, which carries him through a few mini-series through 2009.

And then we're in New 52! 

It just speaks to the power of the original run by Morrison et al as well as Jeff Lemire's considerable talents that the New 52 Animal Man series implies so much history for a character that's used so sparsely.

Next up? This weekend I'll be digging in to complete at least one of my three major April projects - DC Alternate Realities, Marvel Cosmic, and the special project I keep hinting at.

Questions or comments? Let me know below!