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In the 1960s, Animal Man was just another B-grade super hero, a dim-bulb movie stuntman who stumbled into some alien radiation and acquired the ability to absorb the powers of animals.  But in the 1980s, in the hands of Scottish writer Grant Morrison, he was transformed - like Swamp Thing and the Sandman - into one of the new breed of postmodern comic book protagonists.  His eponymous title became a vehicle for Morrison to address topics ranging from animal rights to religion to the precarious nature of reality.  Brian Bolland, fresh off his first taste of mainstream success, was enlisted as cover artist for what was supposed to be a four-issue run - and ended up doing covers for the first sixty-three issues.  "After Killing Joke, I was offered a lot of work, " Bolland recalled.  "I wasn't ready to dive into a big thing and a long commitment.  Editors would say: "How about doing covers then?  So I would do them."  Bolland's provacative cover for Animal Man # 5 - the acclaimed "Coyote Gospel" story recounting the Christlike torments of a thinly veiled Wile E. Coyote - perfectly captures the flavor of a series in which the "fourth wall" separating artist from audience was constantly in danger of crumbling down.  "Grant Morrison...seemed to have a taste for choosing the more ridiculous characters, celebrating that ridiculousness, and letting them loose in a more realistic, post-Watchmen world." - Brian Bolland.  Animal Man (Bernhard "Buddy" Baker) is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Comics Universe. As a result of being in proximity to an exploding extraterrestrial spaceship, Buddy Baker acquires the ability to temporarily “borrow” the abilities of animals (such as a bird's flight or the proportionate strength of an ant). Using these powers, Baker fights crime as the costumed superhero Animal Man.  Created by writer Dave Wood and artist Carmine Infantino, Buddy Baker first appeared in Strange Adventures #180 (September 1965) and adopted the name Animal Man in issue #190. Animal Man was a minor character for his first twenty years, never gaining the popularity of other DC heroes such as Batman or Superman. He made only five, non-consecutive appearances in Strange Adventures (four of which were reprinted in Adventure Comics), followed by two appearances in Wonder Woman, two in Action Comics, and two in DC Comics Presents, appearing in consecutive issues of each. These eleven stories constitute the entirety of his pre-Crisis appearances. However, he became one of several DC properties, such as Shade, the Changing Man and Sandman, to be revived and revamped in the late 1980s for a more mature comics audience. As seen in Strange Adventures #195, he was billed as a "full time hero", an aspect that would be the most changed by the revamp.  In the late 1980s, following the slate-cleaning Crisis on Infinite Earths event, DC began employing innovative writers, mostly young and mostly British, to revamp some of their old characters. In the period that saw Alan Moore reinvent Swamp Thing, and Neil Gaiman do the same with The Sandman, Animal Man was reimagined by Scottish writer Grant Morrison. Morrison wrote the first 26 issues of the Animal Man comic book, published between 1988 and 1990, with art by Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood; Brian Bolland provided the covers.  The series championed vegetarianism and animal rights, causes Morrison himself supported. In one issue, Buddy helps a band of self-described eco-terrorists save a pod of dolphins. Enraged at a fisherman's brutality, Buddy drops him into the ocean, intending for him to drown. Ironically, the man is saved by a dolphin.  Brian Bolland (born 1951) is a British comics artist. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in 1982 produced the artwork on Camelot 3000 (with author Mike W. Barr), which was DC's first 12-issue comicbook maxiseries created for the direct market.  His rare forays into interior art also include Batman: The Killing Joke, with UK-based writer Alan Moore, and a self-penned Batman: Black and White story. Bolland remains in high demand a cover artist, producing the vast majority of his work for DC Comics.  Bolland recalls that, in the wake of The Killing Joke, he "was offered a lot of work," but didn't feel ready to make a long commitment.So, instead “[a]fter Killing Joke, DC asked me to do the covers on Animal Man, and I said fine, expecting it to be maybe ten or so. I ended up doing sixty-three. It became almost habitual, and it did mean that there would at least be something new of mine out there to look at."  The first 63 issues of Animal Man featuring Bolland's artwork covered the tenures of writers Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Tom Veitch and Jamie Delano, with Bolland's images maintaining a continuity of style and imagery while the interior work underwent several changes of style and storyline.  Initially, he recalls that his cover images derived directly from the script.  He would "go through and find a scene that looked as if it would make a good cover," or "find a particular hook that cleverly summed up what's going on inside the book."  This included the incorporation of photographs into the later covers of Morrison's tale of metafiction and deus ex machina author-input. With the (post-Morrison) move of Animal Man to DC's new 'Mature Readers' imprint Vertigo, Bolland notes that the covers moved to "full color painted covers" with issue #57.  These of his covers were "a mixture of ink linework, color washes, airbrush and then, eventually, areas painted in poster color by my wife, Rachel," which ultimately saw her have significant input on some covers, with Bolland acknowledging that "some of the last Animal Man covers were more her than me."

Exclusive: Animal Man Movie In Development At DC

Animal Man is an often underrated character from DC comics. He first appeared in DC Comics in 1965. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that DC comics writer Grant Morrison did a run with Animal Man that made him more fun, more interesting, and someone that would be excellent to make a movie about. Now, thanks to work from one of our trusted and proven inside sources, we’ve learned that an Animal Man movie is in development at DC.

This meets up with some of the other projects from DC recently. For example, they recently announced a Blue Beetle movie they are creating for HBO Max. That is a project where they are taking a lesser-known hero that may have never seen the big screen, and giving him a solo movie straight away for the streaming service. While we were unable to confirm if this is their plan for the Animal Man movie, it does seem like the most likely next step for the film around the lesser-known hero. Hopefully, they’ll be taking a lot of notes from Grant Morrison’s 26 issue run, where they made the character so much more fun.

One of the things about this hero has typically been that he’s kind of an “every man” type of character. He has a wife and kids. He goes by the name Buddy Baker. He’s all around just a normal happy guy, who happened to have a run-in with some aliens and develop some superpowers. At first, it seems that he can focus on the strengths of a nearby animal and then borrow what they can do, so he can then fly like a bird.

Eventually, he realizes he can draw on the powers of the animal kingdom and can call up the powers of any animal, even extinct ones. While this makes it sound like his powers are limitless and extraordinary, he isn’t generally considered as strong as a character like Superman. While the “every man” angle may make him more relatable, it didn’t give him a story that stood out. It would certainly not be something that made a great Animal Man movie.

Then, there was Grant Morrison’s run. Hopefully, this is where they’ll be borrowing story to write the Animal Man movie script. In Grant Morrison’s run, the writer focused a lot more on the fact that Animal Man knows he’s in a comic book. This means that, like Deadpool for Marvel, Buddy Baker should be breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience. While we were unable to confirm if the studio plans on having him break the fourth wall, it feels like they have to know that this is where the comics got great for Buddy. The Animal Man movie should develop a fun Baker family, have quirky moments with the animals, and see the main character talking to the screen.

One of the bigger questions is whether they will have Grant Morrison appear as a character. In their Animal Man run, Morrison was written into the story. Animal Man confronted the writer about all the terrible things they had made the hero suffer through. After that, Morrison appeared in other DC comics (eventually dying). The writer is still alive and well, and has worked as a producer and writer in Hollywood. While it’s unclear if DC will get Morrison involved, hopefully, this will happen. It’s one of the more fun and easily cinematic things in the comics for the Animal Man movie to pull from.

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