Post by The Agent on Jan 31, 2007 9:46:24 GMT -5
Animal Man has had quite a deal of costumes in his career. Except for the infamous black one, all suits presented very SLIGHT differences from each other, to the point it's very hard to track and properly classify them.
The Pre-Crisis Earth-One Animal Man Costumes.
After some adventures as super-powered human, the Pre-Crisis Buddy Baker eventually chose to don a costume and become Animal Man (Strange Adventures #190).
The first one:
Azure, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece black mask with tiny orange shades all over it; squamate suit; gloves and boots culminating in liquid-like filaments; googles flat across the top and rounded on the bottom (basically each lens was an half-circle). Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: black.
In the following decades, he made some modifications to either mask and suit:
A- Diamond shaped-googles (Strange Adventures #201), rhomb-shaped googles (Animal Man #12/18), rectangular ones (Wonder Woman #267/268), circular ones (DC Comics presents #77/78), triangular ones (Crisis on Infinite Earths). Shifts made for no apparent reason.
B- One-piece mask from black to blue. Black gloves and boots replaced by blue counterparts, featuring the liquid-like filaments fashion.
NOTE: in Secret Origins, when discovering the former existence of his older counterpart, the Post-Crisis Animal Man expressed his concern about the Pre-Crisis costume (featuring rhomb-shaped googles) and didn't recognize it as one of his own suits.
Likely, the suit featured some differences that only Buddy was able to spot. Maybe the liquid-like filaments of the gloves.
The Post-Crisis Earth-Clutter/Sigma Animal Man Costumes.
1) The First One (1980) - seen in Consequences (flashback sequences). Very raw and awkward, since at the time Buddy had a low budget and tried to fabricate the costume the best he could.
Azure, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask; squamate suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; rhomb-shaped googles. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
2) The Black One (1981) - never seen in its original asset (there's a brief glimpse of it in Consequences, when Ellen is washing it). Presumibly, Buddy dropped this version after few months.
White triangle-shaped, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; mask as facial extension of the suit; spandex suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; big wedge-like googles. Main colour: black. Secondary colour: white.
3) The Classic One (1982/1988) - briefly seen at the very beginning of the series, in The Human Zoo. This is the suit Buddy was wearing while he was a regular member of the Forgotten Heroes.
Identical to the First One, but featuring circular googles.
4) The Modern One (1988/1989) - the popular costume that Buddy wore until the events in Out of Africa.
Azure squared, stylized 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask; squamate suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; squared googles; blue jacket. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
5) The Alien One (1989) - the costume that the Agents gave him in Out of Africa. Likely, this suit is composed of an unspecified alien tissue that can adapt to Buddy's animal powers. The jacket is obviously made by terrestrial tissue, because Buddy acquired it slightly before the events depicted in Hour of the Beast.
Azure triangle-shaped, stylized 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask extended on shoulders; squamate suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; small wedge-like googles; futuristic-looking blue jacket. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
6) The Mean One (1990) - a souped-up variation of the Black One, that Buddy adopted in Tooth and Claws.
White triangle-shaped, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; mask as facial extension of the suit; spandex suit; gloves featuring undulatory design; black leather boots; big wedge-like googles; black leather jacket. Special accessory: brown, wolverine glove. Main colour: black. Secondary colour: white.
The Vertigo Animal Man Costumes.
Animal Man kept wearing the suit until he died and eventually rose as hybrid.
Sometimes, the azure triangle-shaped, stylized 'A' logo reverted to the squared, stylized one. At a certain point, Buddy was only wearing the upper side of the costume, re-arranged as a shirt.
Note: the Vertigo variations of the suit are irrelevant now, since during the transitions from Earth-Sigma to Earth-Zero, and Earth-Zero to New Earth, all events in the life of Animal Man following the end of the Second Crisis has been definitely retconned.
The Post-ZH Earth-Zero/Post-IC New Earth Animal Man Costumes.
The Post-Modern One (1999-2007) - the costume that Buddy wore in the 52 episodes. He firstly sported it in Totems, Resurrection Man #24-27, Justice League of America #40-41, and then in Hawkman #16-17.
Basically, it's a fusion between the Modern and the Alien suit.
Azure squared, stylized 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask extended on shoulders; slightly squamate suit; gloves featuring undulatory design; ordinary boots; squared googles; light blue jacket. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
Variation (2008): a costume featuring an azure, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, similarly to his debut as superhero.
The New 52 Prime-Earth Animal Man Costumes.
Since his life and history has been totally retconned, the only costume Buddy ever wore from the beginning was a dark blue and white version (without googles) that the "aliens" fabricated for him. On Prime-Earth, this is the most famous Animal Man appearance. The orange and blue suit has been erased from continuity.
The costume: mask/cowl with face uncovered; dark blue suit; white, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest with the bottom of the letter constituted by a thin white belt shaped as one 'W'; white arms with dark blue hands; white boots.
The Pre-Crisis Earth-One Animal Man Costumes.
After some adventures as super-powered human, the Pre-Crisis Buddy Baker eventually chose to don a costume and become Animal Man (Strange Adventures #190).
The first one:
Azure, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece black mask with tiny orange shades all over it; squamate suit; gloves and boots culminating in liquid-like filaments; googles flat across the top and rounded on the bottom (basically each lens was an half-circle). Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: black.
In the following decades, he made some modifications to either mask and suit:
A- Diamond shaped-googles (Strange Adventures #201), rhomb-shaped googles (Animal Man #12/18), rectangular ones (Wonder Woman #267/268), circular ones (DC Comics presents #77/78), triangular ones (Crisis on Infinite Earths). Shifts made for no apparent reason.
B- One-piece mask from black to blue. Black gloves and boots replaced by blue counterparts, featuring the liquid-like filaments fashion.
NOTE: in Secret Origins, when discovering the former existence of his older counterpart, the Post-Crisis Animal Man expressed his concern about the Pre-Crisis costume (featuring rhomb-shaped googles) and didn't recognize it as one of his own suits.
Likely, the suit featured some differences that only Buddy was able to spot. Maybe the liquid-like filaments of the gloves.
The Post-Crisis Earth-Clutter/Sigma Animal Man Costumes.
1) The First One (1980) - seen in Consequences (flashback sequences). Very raw and awkward, since at the time Buddy had a low budget and tried to fabricate the costume the best he could.
Azure, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask; squamate suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; rhomb-shaped googles. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
2) The Black One (1981) - never seen in its original asset (there's a brief glimpse of it in Consequences, when Ellen is washing it). Presumibly, Buddy dropped this version after few months.
White triangle-shaped, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; mask as facial extension of the suit; spandex suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; big wedge-like googles. Main colour: black. Secondary colour: white.
3) The Classic One (1982/1988) - briefly seen at the very beginning of the series, in The Human Zoo. This is the suit Buddy was wearing while he was a regular member of the Forgotten Heroes.
Identical to the First One, but featuring circular googles.
4) The Modern One (1988/1989) - the popular costume that Buddy wore until the events in Out of Africa.
Azure squared, stylized 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask; squamate suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; squared googles; blue jacket. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
5) The Alien One (1989) - the costume that the Agents gave him in Out of Africa. Likely, this suit is composed of an unspecified alien tissue that can adapt to Buddy's animal powers. The jacket is obviously made by terrestrial tissue, because Buddy acquired it slightly before the events depicted in Hour of the Beast.
Azure triangle-shaped, stylized 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask extended on shoulders; squamate suit; gloves and boots featuring undulatory design; small wedge-like googles; futuristic-looking blue jacket. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
6) The Mean One (1990) - a souped-up variation of the Black One, that Buddy adopted in Tooth and Claws.
White triangle-shaped, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; mask as facial extension of the suit; spandex suit; gloves featuring undulatory design; black leather boots; big wedge-like googles; black leather jacket. Special accessory: brown, wolverine glove. Main colour: black. Secondary colour: white.
The Vertigo Animal Man Costumes.
Animal Man kept wearing the suit until he died and eventually rose as hybrid.
Sometimes, the azure triangle-shaped, stylized 'A' logo reverted to the squared, stylized one. At a certain point, Buddy was only wearing the upper side of the costume, re-arranged as a shirt.
Note: the Vertigo variations of the suit are irrelevant now, since during the transitions from Earth-Sigma to Earth-Zero, and Earth-Zero to New Earth, all events in the life of Animal Man following the end of the Second Crisis has been definitely retconned.
The Post-ZH Earth-Zero/Post-IC New Earth Animal Man Costumes.
The Post-Modern One (1999-2007) - the costume that Buddy wore in the 52 episodes. He firstly sported it in Totems, Resurrection Man #24-27, Justice League of America #40-41, and then in Hawkman #16-17.
Basically, it's a fusion between the Modern and the Alien suit.
Azure squared, stylized 'A' logo on the chest, wrapping around his waist; one-piece mask extended on shoulders; slightly squamate suit; gloves featuring undulatory design; ordinary boots; squared googles; light blue jacket. Main colour: orange. Secondary colour: blue.
Variation (2008): a costume featuring an azure, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest, similarly to his debut as superhero.
The New 52 Prime-Earth Animal Man Costumes.
Since his life and history has been totally retconned, the only costume Buddy ever wore from the beginning was a dark blue and white version (without googles) that the "aliens" fabricated for him. On Prime-Earth, this is the most famous Animal Man appearance. The orange and blue suit has been erased from continuity.
The costume: mask/cowl with face uncovered; dark blue suit; white, alphabet-looking 'A' logo on the chest with the bottom of the letter constituted by a thin white belt shaped as one 'W'; white arms with dark blue hands; white boots.
Compiled by T. Caliendo.