Post by The Agent on Feb 5, 2007 3:13:12 GMT -5
The Post-Crisis Earth-Sigma Animal Man's secret origins were conceived and told by Grant Morrison. They were mainly narrated in Animal Man #12 and #17.
In the transitions from Earth-Sigma to Earth-Zero, and from Earth-Zero to New Earth, most of the pivotal events in the life of Animal Man had been definitely retconned and/or discarded from the mainstream continuity.
The Pre-Crisis Earth-One Animal Man Secret Origins.
Basically, the secret origins of the Post-Crisis Earth-Sigma Animal Man are modelled after the Pre-Crisis version. That's an account from Wonder Woman Volume One #267 - an english transcript by Frank Fournier:
Buddy: "Ten years ago, I was hunting in the mountains area, east from Los Angeles when I discovered a crashed spacescraft. From what I could see, it wasn't one of ours... or even from Earth... because when I came closer, it exploded. I was surrounded by a kind of weird radiation. When I came to, I found out the radiation gave me the ability to absorb the powers of any animal nearby. Of course, these powers ran out, sometimes suddenly (on the panel: a gorilla in a zoo cage provided enough strength for Buddy in his civilian clothes to lift the back of a car). But I did what I always wanted to do as a kid. You're laughing. I made a costume and I became a real super-hero (on the panel: A-Man in his super-hero costume, pounced at two jewels thieves, thanks to a cat alley by him). But my career didn't last long. Oh, I did some good things at first. Sadly, the L.A. cops were not like the N.Y. cops. They were more mean and harsh. So, I was like a fifth wheel. Useless! I came back to what I was doing before my meeting with the spacescraft: a movie stuntman. Maybe not as heroic as a super-hero, but... there, that was how I became a super-hero."
The Pre-Crisis Animal Man was rendered sterile by the radiation which conferred him the powers.
Once the Anti-Monitor was defeated, the retconning wave generated by the cementation of the newly-born Post-Crisis universe started to affect the superheroes still stuck in space, and the Pre-Crisis Animal Man vanished from the quantic reality and went instantaneously "replaced" by the Post-Crisis Animal Man.
The Post-Crisis Earth-Sigma Animal Man Secret Origins.
The Agents are a couple of yellow-skinned creatures whose habit is travelling from one so-called Stratum (universe) to another of the infinitely multi-layered existence. Their vehicle, the Traveller, is a sophisticated product of their advanced alien technology, and it permits them to trespass the boundaries of the Strata. Periodically, the Agents undergo a state of quiescence (sort of hybernation), while the Traveller teleport itself into a remote place of the Stratum in order to not be disturbed by anyone or anything.
The technology is also capable of manipulating any given reality, as much as any parallel plane behind it.
The ultimate purpose of these two beings is generally unknown, but it has been speculated that they are a cross between scientists and avant-garde experimentators.
More than a mere thesis, they consider themselves "agents" of a superior "higher power" - often referenced here and there.
Since their primordial migration to the DC Universe, the Agents had always experimented with human nature in order to create a solid link between man and animal (likely, they were willing to fabricate a "sample" for the next human evolutionary step).
Thus, they discovered the Morphogenetic Field (M-Field), an existential net interconnecting all living beings on planet Earth, storing the basic infos of their genetic and physiological characteristics.
Disguised as a "mnemonic form" (a recognizable figure taken from the collective imaginery) - specifically that of the Ananse Spider - the Agents gifted African warrior Tantu with an artifact: a special collector of morphic transmissions which imbues the owner with animal faculties.
Later, they created the helmet and the serum of the Beast, and a full set of special masks imprisoning animal avatars.
After millennia, such moves would have brought to the inception of three superheroes and a supervillain: Vixen, B'Wana Beast, Freedom Beast and Tabu.
In an unprecised time, the Traveller transferred itself to a safe underground place located in the southern Californian area, and the Agents embraced their necessary state of metabolic hiatus.
In 1979, young punk and hellraiser "Buddy" Baker was on the mountains area, east from Los Angeles, for a little hunt to share with his friend, Roger Denning.
While on the edge of an hill, Buddy stumbled upon the partially buried Traveller. The spacecraft apparently exploded.
The concussive energetic blast incenerated the facade of the hill and Baker himself.
In truth, the two mysterious being had engineered such a terrific emission of energy for technical reasons, maybe to get rid of the debris and thus uncover the upper structure of the vehicle.
Feeling guilty for this unnecessary casuality, they captured the spiritual essence of Buddy Baker, still present on the place of the accident, and put it into the Morphogenetic Field to recover. In the process, the creatures implanted into his "matrix" (like a software, a basic program depicting the specific form of life) a strategical number of "grafts", deep interconnections with all possible morphic configurations originated and contained by the Field.
After that, they reconstructed Baker's body from a scratch, cell by cell, reproducing both original and acquired traits (even a scar he had since was a 10 years old kid).
By doing so, the Agents realized the best achievement in their long-time experimentation.
To understand more about the M-Field:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphogenetic_field
Eventually, Buddy Baker was repositioned on the (damaged) hill, still unconscious, while the Traveller moved elsewhere, leaving behind only scarceful remnants to fake an "U.F.O. crash" of some sort.
In the following days, Buddy realized to be able to absorb the abilities of all the animals in the proximity, and replicate them under the form of highly-operative metahuman abilities.
The boy erroneously presumed that the "mysterious radiation" which bathed him - coming from the "crashed" alien ship - had affected him on a molecular level.
In search for an answer, he returned to the place where everything happened, and was attacked by a mysterious creature (the Agents were merely testing him with a mnemonic figure), which he supposed to be the former "occupant" of the destroyed alien ship. The monster showed to retain similar animal abilities. Buddy successfully eluded it.
After weeks, Roger discovered in the woods a capsule featuring a template very similar to the Traveller's one. As matter of facts, the Agents were playing with Buddy's life again, in hope to make him realize his role in the bigger scheme of the things.
Buddy confronted the Agents, now pretending to be the average aliens trying "to conquer the world", and made large display of his animal powers.
Believing to "have won" what he supposed to be a pair of foes from outer space, Buddy finally became confident in his astonishing faculties.
Pleased with the final results of the mystification, the Agents retired, and the Traveller moved to an African underground site to let the couple of aliens embrace their long sleep for the many years to come.
In hope to buy music instruments and gear to start a punk-rock band - and further encouraged and guided by Roger - Buddy created his first costume and became Animal Man.
His exploits consisted in stopping minor thefts (even protecting an animal shop assaulted by robbers). At this early stage, his activity as superhero was very minimal and unfocused.
In 1980, he married his long-time fianceé Ellen Frazier and conceived his first son, Clifford. In 1984, the Bakers took the decision to make a second baby, and Cliff was soon joined by Maxine. They moved to an home in the L.A. area.
While not trying to revive his ever-stalling superhero career, Buddy worked as movie stuntman to make a living.
Finally, Animal Man joined the team known as Forgotten Heroes for a while, and even assisted them during the enigmatic event known as Crisis (1985). One of his teammates was Dolphin.
In late 1985/early 1986, Buddy Baker dropped the identity of Animal Man and fully dedicated himself to his husband and family father life, engaging into movie stunts. Anyway, the Bakers' salary was still revolving on Ellen's promising career as graphic designer.
The rest is history...
NOTES:
1- It should be noted that the Agents are aware of the Crisis and its real nature. They also aknowledge that the "original" Animal Man was a much older Buddy being an adult in 1965.
In conclusion, the Agents were working for Grant Morrison, they also knew to operate in a fictional universe and be themselves just a "fictional mechanism" of it.
2- The Pre-Crisis Earth-One Forgotten Heroes history had been retconned, of course. Consequentially, Rip Hunter never was one of Animal Man's teammates nor Animal Man ever met Superman before Animal Man #2.
3- When Animal Man took the peyote and experienced a rivelatory trip inside his own intimate nature, his "secret origins" were illustrated to his consciousness in a oversimplicistic way, resembling a dull WHO'S WHO page:
"Animal Man, a.k.a. Buddy Baker, received his powers when he was 19 years old.
While out hunting with a friend, Roger Denning, Buddy stumbled upon a partially buried alien spacecraft.
The spacecraft exploded and Buddy was incinerated in the blast.
This apparent accident was, in reality, engineered by two alien beings whose motives were uncertain. These aliens, agents of some "higher power," rebuilt Baker's body from scratch.
In addition to this reconstruction work, they performed "morphogenetic grafts", linking Buddy's spirit to the lifefield of the planet Earth.
Like a tribal shaman assuming the characteristics of an animal totem, Buddy found that he was able to interact with this field.
Drawing directly on fundamental evolutionary energies, he learned to adapt specific animal abilities into useful metahuman skills.
At Roger's suggestion, Buddy donned a costume to fight crime as Animal Man. Animal Man was inactive for a number of years before recently resuming his super-hero career. He now divides his time between membership in Justice League Europe and the animal rights movement, to which he is passionately committed.
Buddy is married to his childhood sweetheart, Ellen Frazier, and has two children - Cliff (9) and Maxine (5).
He still remains unaware as to the full extent of his animal abilities."
The Vertigo Branch Animal Man Secret Origins.
It is believed that the "branching" occurred in 1990, when the Vertigo sub-section sprouted from Hypertime.
Buddy Baker was identified like an Animal Master and his powers entirely connected to shamanism. The Agents were "dismissed" as a kind of hallucination/avatar.
Accordingly, the incident happened on the Adirondack Mountains in 1984.
His birthname was addressed as being Bernhard.
His location was always supposed to be San Diego.
Through a Hypertime anomaly, the Vertigo Branch Animal Man crossed the Post-ZH Earth-Zero Aquaman during an adventure of the latter one.
The Post-ZH Earth-Zero Animal Man Secret Origins.
Vastly unknown, likely based on the Earth-Clutter version.
On Earth-Zero, Superman's debut is set in a floating "10 years ago" block, thus Animal Man's secret origins must be placed "9 years ago" in relationship with the Post-ZH "current time".
The Post-IC New Earth Animal Man Secret Origins.
Apparently, Animal Man's secret origins had been retconned by the merging of New Earth:
www.dccomics.com/heroes_and_villains/?hv=animal_man
A "mild" reboot: Buddy Baker was a long-haired grunge rocker in the mid-nineties and the incident seemed (slightly) different from its previous versions too.
On New Earth, Superman's debut is set in a floating "13 years ago" block, thus Animal Man's secret origins must be placed "12 years ago" in relationship with the Post-IC "current time".
As result, by the year 2008, his children are still teenagers and he may be 33.
The New 52 Prime-Earth Animal Man
When the incident happened, Buddy Baker was already an adult, married with Ellen. Cliff was about 6 years old. The aliens ("The Tailors") were just agents of the Red in disguise. The Red was attempting to create a "champion" who would have later fathered - and protected - the real Avatar of the Red (Maxine Baker).
In this continuity, Buddy is not the first Animal Man (his predecessor was black), but he's rather the first Animal Man to not be the Avatar but a mere defender of him/her. Hence, his animal powers are supposed to be a "toned down" version of the Avatar's powers.
In the transitions from Earth-Sigma to Earth-Zero, and from Earth-Zero to New Earth, most of the pivotal events in the life of Animal Man had been definitely retconned and/or discarded from the mainstream continuity.
The Pre-Crisis Earth-One Animal Man Secret Origins.
Basically, the secret origins of the Post-Crisis Earth-Sigma Animal Man are modelled after the Pre-Crisis version. That's an account from Wonder Woman Volume One #267 - an english transcript by Frank Fournier:
Buddy: "Ten years ago, I was hunting in the mountains area, east from Los Angeles when I discovered a crashed spacescraft. From what I could see, it wasn't one of ours... or even from Earth... because when I came closer, it exploded. I was surrounded by a kind of weird radiation. When I came to, I found out the radiation gave me the ability to absorb the powers of any animal nearby. Of course, these powers ran out, sometimes suddenly (on the panel: a gorilla in a zoo cage provided enough strength for Buddy in his civilian clothes to lift the back of a car). But I did what I always wanted to do as a kid. You're laughing. I made a costume and I became a real super-hero (on the panel: A-Man in his super-hero costume, pounced at two jewels thieves, thanks to a cat alley by him). But my career didn't last long. Oh, I did some good things at first. Sadly, the L.A. cops were not like the N.Y. cops. They were more mean and harsh. So, I was like a fifth wheel. Useless! I came back to what I was doing before my meeting with the spacescraft: a movie stuntman. Maybe not as heroic as a super-hero, but... there, that was how I became a super-hero."
The Pre-Crisis Animal Man was rendered sterile by the radiation which conferred him the powers.
Once the Anti-Monitor was defeated, the retconning wave generated by the cementation of the newly-born Post-Crisis universe started to affect the superheroes still stuck in space, and the Pre-Crisis Animal Man vanished from the quantic reality and went instantaneously "replaced" by the Post-Crisis Animal Man.
The Post-Crisis Earth-Sigma Animal Man Secret Origins.
The Agents are a couple of yellow-skinned creatures whose habit is travelling from one so-called Stratum (universe) to another of the infinitely multi-layered existence. Their vehicle, the Traveller, is a sophisticated product of their advanced alien technology, and it permits them to trespass the boundaries of the Strata. Periodically, the Agents undergo a state of quiescence (sort of hybernation), while the Traveller teleport itself into a remote place of the Stratum in order to not be disturbed by anyone or anything.
The technology is also capable of manipulating any given reality, as much as any parallel plane behind it.
The ultimate purpose of these two beings is generally unknown, but it has been speculated that they are a cross between scientists and avant-garde experimentators.
More than a mere thesis, they consider themselves "agents" of a superior "higher power" - often referenced here and there.
Since their primordial migration to the DC Universe, the Agents had always experimented with human nature in order to create a solid link between man and animal (likely, they were willing to fabricate a "sample" for the next human evolutionary step).
Thus, they discovered the Morphogenetic Field (M-Field), an existential net interconnecting all living beings on planet Earth, storing the basic infos of their genetic and physiological characteristics.
Disguised as a "mnemonic form" (a recognizable figure taken from the collective imaginery) - specifically that of the Ananse Spider - the Agents gifted African warrior Tantu with an artifact: a special collector of morphic transmissions which imbues the owner with animal faculties.
Later, they created the helmet and the serum of the Beast, and a full set of special masks imprisoning animal avatars.
After millennia, such moves would have brought to the inception of three superheroes and a supervillain: Vixen, B'Wana Beast, Freedom Beast and Tabu.
In an unprecised time, the Traveller transferred itself to a safe underground place located in the southern Californian area, and the Agents embraced their necessary state of metabolic hiatus.
In 1979, young punk and hellraiser "Buddy" Baker was on the mountains area, east from Los Angeles, for a little hunt to share with his friend, Roger Denning.
While on the edge of an hill, Buddy stumbled upon the partially buried Traveller. The spacecraft apparently exploded.
The concussive energetic blast incenerated the facade of the hill and Baker himself.
In truth, the two mysterious being had engineered such a terrific emission of energy for technical reasons, maybe to get rid of the debris and thus uncover the upper structure of the vehicle.
Feeling guilty for this unnecessary casuality, they captured the spiritual essence of Buddy Baker, still present on the place of the accident, and put it into the Morphogenetic Field to recover. In the process, the creatures implanted into his "matrix" (like a software, a basic program depicting the specific form of life) a strategical number of "grafts", deep interconnections with all possible morphic configurations originated and contained by the Field.
After that, they reconstructed Baker's body from a scratch, cell by cell, reproducing both original and acquired traits (even a scar he had since was a 10 years old kid).
By doing so, the Agents realized the best achievement in their long-time experimentation.
To understand more about the M-Field:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphogenetic_field
Eventually, Buddy Baker was repositioned on the (damaged) hill, still unconscious, while the Traveller moved elsewhere, leaving behind only scarceful remnants to fake an "U.F.O. crash" of some sort.
In the following days, Buddy realized to be able to absorb the abilities of all the animals in the proximity, and replicate them under the form of highly-operative metahuman abilities.
The boy erroneously presumed that the "mysterious radiation" which bathed him - coming from the "crashed" alien ship - had affected him on a molecular level.
In search for an answer, he returned to the place where everything happened, and was attacked by a mysterious creature (the Agents were merely testing him with a mnemonic figure), which he supposed to be the former "occupant" of the destroyed alien ship. The monster showed to retain similar animal abilities. Buddy successfully eluded it.
After weeks, Roger discovered in the woods a capsule featuring a template very similar to the Traveller's one. As matter of facts, the Agents were playing with Buddy's life again, in hope to make him realize his role in the bigger scheme of the things.
Buddy confronted the Agents, now pretending to be the average aliens trying "to conquer the world", and made large display of his animal powers.
Believing to "have won" what he supposed to be a pair of foes from outer space, Buddy finally became confident in his astonishing faculties.
Pleased with the final results of the mystification, the Agents retired, and the Traveller moved to an African underground site to let the couple of aliens embrace their long sleep for the many years to come.
In hope to buy music instruments and gear to start a punk-rock band - and further encouraged and guided by Roger - Buddy created his first costume and became Animal Man.
His exploits consisted in stopping minor thefts (even protecting an animal shop assaulted by robbers). At this early stage, his activity as superhero was very minimal and unfocused.
In 1980, he married his long-time fianceé Ellen Frazier and conceived his first son, Clifford. In 1984, the Bakers took the decision to make a second baby, and Cliff was soon joined by Maxine. They moved to an home in the L.A. area.
While not trying to revive his ever-stalling superhero career, Buddy worked as movie stuntman to make a living.
Finally, Animal Man joined the team known as Forgotten Heroes for a while, and even assisted them during the enigmatic event known as Crisis (1985). One of his teammates was Dolphin.
In late 1985/early 1986, Buddy Baker dropped the identity of Animal Man and fully dedicated himself to his husband and family father life, engaging into movie stunts. Anyway, the Bakers' salary was still revolving on Ellen's promising career as graphic designer.
The rest is history...
NOTES:
1- It should be noted that the Agents are aware of the Crisis and its real nature. They also aknowledge that the "original" Animal Man was a much older Buddy being an adult in 1965.
In conclusion, the Agents were working for Grant Morrison, they also knew to operate in a fictional universe and be themselves just a "fictional mechanism" of it.
2- The Pre-Crisis Earth-One Forgotten Heroes history had been retconned, of course. Consequentially, Rip Hunter never was one of Animal Man's teammates nor Animal Man ever met Superman before Animal Man #2.
3- When Animal Man took the peyote and experienced a rivelatory trip inside his own intimate nature, his "secret origins" were illustrated to his consciousness in a oversimplicistic way, resembling a dull WHO'S WHO page:
"Animal Man, a.k.a. Buddy Baker, received his powers when he was 19 years old.
While out hunting with a friend, Roger Denning, Buddy stumbled upon a partially buried alien spacecraft.
The spacecraft exploded and Buddy was incinerated in the blast.
This apparent accident was, in reality, engineered by two alien beings whose motives were uncertain. These aliens, agents of some "higher power," rebuilt Baker's body from scratch.
In addition to this reconstruction work, they performed "morphogenetic grafts", linking Buddy's spirit to the lifefield of the planet Earth.
Like a tribal shaman assuming the characteristics of an animal totem, Buddy found that he was able to interact with this field.
Drawing directly on fundamental evolutionary energies, he learned to adapt specific animal abilities into useful metahuman skills.
At Roger's suggestion, Buddy donned a costume to fight crime as Animal Man. Animal Man was inactive for a number of years before recently resuming his super-hero career. He now divides his time between membership in Justice League Europe and the animal rights movement, to which he is passionately committed.
Buddy is married to his childhood sweetheart, Ellen Frazier, and has two children - Cliff (9) and Maxine (5).
He still remains unaware as to the full extent of his animal abilities."
The Vertigo Branch Animal Man Secret Origins.
It is believed that the "branching" occurred in 1990, when the Vertigo sub-section sprouted from Hypertime.
Buddy Baker was identified like an Animal Master and his powers entirely connected to shamanism. The Agents were "dismissed" as a kind of hallucination/avatar.
Accordingly, the incident happened on the Adirondack Mountains in 1984.
His birthname was addressed as being Bernhard.
His location was always supposed to be San Diego.
Through a Hypertime anomaly, the Vertigo Branch Animal Man crossed the Post-ZH Earth-Zero Aquaman during an adventure of the latter one.
The Post-ZH Earth-Zero Animal Man Secret Origins.
Vastly unknown, likely based on the Earth-Clutter version.
On Earth-Zero, Superman's debut is set in a floating "10 years ago" block, thus Animal Man's secret origins must be placed "9 years ago" in relationship with the Post-ZH "current time".
The Post-IC New Earth Animal Man Secret Origins.
Apparently, Animal Man's secret origins had been retconned by the merging of New Earth:
www.dccomics.com/heroes_and_villains/?hv=animal_man
A "mild" reboot: Buddy Baker was a long-haired grunge rocker in the mid-nineties and the incident seemed (slightly) different from its previous versions too.
On New Earth, Superman's debut is set in a floating "13 years ago" block, thus Animal Man's secret origins must be placed "12 years ago" in relationship with the Post-IC "current time".
As result, by the year 2008, his children are still teenagers and he may be 33.
The New 52 Prime-Earth Animal Man
When the incident happened, Buddy Baker was already an adult, married with Ellen. Cliff was about 6 years old. The aliens ("The Tailors") were just agents of the Red in disguise. The Red was attempting to create a "champion" who would have later fathered - and protected - the real Avatar of the Red (Maxine Baker).
In this continuity, Buddy is not the first Animal Man (his predecessor was black), but he's rather the first Animal Man to not be the Avatar but a mere defender of him/her. Hence, his animal powers are supposed to be a "toned down" version of the Avatar's powers.
Written by T. Caliendo.