The Forgotten Heroes and The Watcher

 

Sad to say, most of these heroes are still somewhat forgotten.  Growing up, I enjoyed reading their adventures whenever I would come across them.  There were a few Animal man short cartoons about a decade ago and Rick Flag has appeared in the DCU, but I'm still waiting for the rest to find their way out of the comics pages. Cave Carson's rope is attached to a spaceship, in case you're wondering.

Animal Man and Machine Man in: "Man To Man Defense!"

 

These two heroes first appeared together in STF #4095, and I thought I would bring them back together.  The FGG (Foreground Gun Guys) are back, and someone has to take them down, after all!

Animal Man Vs. Werewolf By Night

 

Would Animal Man be able to take on the properties of a werewolf?  If so, what kind of effect would that have on his psyche?  It might be interesting to find out!

Animal Man and Machine Man

 

Just from their names, these two clearly don't have a lot in common.  That's of course until they come face to face with a monstrosity that perverts both of their abilities.  It would be a fun battle to see go down.  

Animal Man and Roger Rabbit

This cover poses an interesting question - would Buddy Baker be able to mimic the abilities of a toon?  I don't know if his powers extend that far, but it would be fun to find out!

 

Shanna the She-Devil and Animal Man

 

Grant Morrison has worked on many comic properties and has made quite an impact with major ones like The X-Men, JLA, Batman and more.  I've enjoyed the big concepts that he has brought to those runs , but my favorite works of his are when he takes over lesser known or new characters and really runs with them.  I still count the first 26 issues of Animal Man to be some of the best comics that I have ever read and feel that Aztek: The Ultimate Man is an overlooked gem of a series.

Animal Man Vs. Aliens

 

We had fun speculating what would happen if Deadman attempted to take over a werewolf in STF #3105, now I pose the question - what happens if Animal Man tries to absorb the abilities of a Xenomorph?  Would he be able to go toe to toe with one of them or would their ability to overtake a host body lead to complications for good old Buddy Baker?  I'm not sure what the effects would be, but it would be fun to find out.

Spider-Ham, Animal Man and Atom Ant

I got a kick out of the four Animal Man shorts that ran on the Cartoon network a few years back.  The voice of Buddy Baker seemed familiar to me, and now I know why - it was provided by none other than Weird Al Yankovic!  Now, that's inspired casting, almost as good as John Mulaney as Spider-Ham!

Lockjaw and Animal Man

Continued from yesterday's cover, we see that the Inhuman pooch was able to get away and find an ally.   Regular STF visitors will know that Buddy Baker, originally met the Pet Avengers back in STF #441... and it only stands to reason that he would be one human hero that they know they can turn to in a time of need.

Animal Man Vs. The Lizard

I wasn't crazy about Andrew Garfield's take on Peter Parker and I wish that the Lizard had retained his lab coat look from the comics, but I have to admit that The Amazing Spider-Man had some of the bet fight sequences of all the Wall-Crawler's movies.  One of those battles that took place in the high school also included my favorite Stan Lee cameo.  I loved when he was cleaning up, wearing headphones, oblivious to the chaos unfolding directly behind him.

Animal Man, Man-Thing and Concrete (Vs. The A-V-M Man!)

When I first featured this trio together in STF #2425, more than one commenter felt it only natural that they face off against the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, so - here you go!

Today is my 50th Birthday,  and I honestly still feel very young at heart. This blog has been a part of that - reading, collecting and creating comics brought me a lot of happiness as a kid and this project has helped me stay in touch with the good feelings that the hobby brings.

Animal Man, Man-Thing and Concrete

I like all of these guys for their offbeat natures - Concrete would prefer to be a pacifist despite his powerful new body, Animal Man is conflicted by the very nature of his being a fictional character, and Man-Thing's silent nature always makes his motives tough to figure out.  It might be fun to have them thrown together to face a common enemy.

Animal Man Vs. Godzilla

I watched Kong: Skull Island this week and my quick review is that I thought that the monsters were cool (even if the best action scene is the first one which is never matched) and the humans were almost all completely forgettable.  Still, even though I thought that this film and the new Godzilla could have been a lot better, I am really looking forward to them battling in the big screen, it should be a blast.  We'll get a straight up Godzilla sequel before that, which promises some more of the classic monsters.  I am personally hoping for Rodan and Gamera to make appearances.

Animal Man in Jurassic Park

I had just finished reading Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park when  the movie adaptation was announced.  Dinosaurs had usually been pretty unconvincing on the big screen at that point, so I was glad that Stephen Spielberg would be directing, I knew he would pay close attention to the visuals.  And did he ever, that first groundbreaking movie still stands up on present day viewings.

Spider-Man and Animal Man

Well, the final Captain America: Civil War trailer has hit, and we have finally gotten a glimpse of the new Spider-Man.  It's just a fleeting moment, but what I see is promising.  The voice denotes a clearly younger Spidey and the costume looks to be the classic one we all love with only a few minor tweaks.  Coolest of all was that his eyepieces actually moved when he spoke - I am not sure how they will explain how a teeenager created a costume that can do that (I'm assuming Stark helps out there), but it will really help the character emote when in full costume - no more ripping your mask off every  other scene. Spidey!

Animal Man and The Hulk

I was doing some comic inventory today and I came across my run of Animal Man by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog.  This is a series that I really have to pull out of storage and read again - particularly the first 26 issues.  I remember being blown away by the individual issues and becoming increasingly impressed as the series went on and I began to see the overall arc.  It is still my favorite work by Grant Morrison, he was really firing an all cylinders.

Animal Man and The Pet Avengers

With so much teeth-clenching, grim and gritty comics out there, it's nice to have concepts on the fun side like The Pet Avengers to lighten things up from time to time.  I think vast universes like Marvel and DC have built can support characters and titles of all kinds and there is room for whimsy along with the angst. Given Buddy Baker's power to mimic the abilities of any animal in his vicinity, I think this would make for a formidable partnership.

Animal Man Vs. Kraven The Hunter

It's good to see that Animal Man finding an audience again in the New 52.  I loved the earlier series as written  by Grant Morrison, but after he left the title, DC didn't seem to know what to do with Buddy Baker.  I can't say that I am a huge fan of Animal Man's new costume design, but I am glad he is back in his own comic.

Animal Man and Ant-Man

Of all of the Marvel films on the horizon, the one I am most curious about is Edgar Wright's Ant-Man film.  Wright is mostly known for his comedies, but he insists this film will not be a parody.  I hear there was some impressive test footage shot as a proof of concept and I hope that is released on the web soon so that we could get an idea of what Wright has in mind.  Will frequent collaborator Simon Pegg be playing Hank Pym?  Will The Wasp be involved? Hopefully we will learn some of these answers soon.

The Thing and Animal Man

This is a match up that I would really like to see, because I get the feeling that Buddy Baker and Ben Grimm would get along well. Despite all of the crazy and fascinating things that these characters have seen and experienced, there are still just regular guy's at heart. I think Animal Man would fit right in at one of The Thing's famous poker nights.

Animal Man has been out of the spotlight since his last mini series. Hopefully DC will rectify that soon, he's a character that I love to follow and I will give any title prominently featuring him a try.