I repeat SPOILERS, if that didn't get through, there are SPOILERS ABOUT 52!!!!


I can't believe Animal Man died. I knew he was going to be the one, but I've been in denial since I figured it out. Buddy is one of my favorite DC characters. He's fun, lovable and a very real character. If you haven't read his old series you should. I'm going to miss Buddy a lot and hopefully we'll still see him in clix form.

Well, near as I can tell he's still confirmed for "Origins" so you'll have him in Clix. (I wonder if his E will be a vastly more powerful Vertigo version? ).

He's also getting an action figure soon. Interestingly, the same set includes the new Batwoman which leaves me wondering if the release of the "lipstick lesbian superheroine" isn't the first time a major toy/comic company has put out a figure along those lines besides some of the LSH members.

Considering Buddy's tied three times that I can remember - not counting this death - I wouldn't say we've seen the end of Animal Man. It's entirely likely he was picked because it does allow a bit of angst but with a character that can be "readily revived" if so desired.

Like all heroes, I figure he'll come back, but it doesn't mean that I won't miss him.
Thanks for the reminder Rokk, I completely forgot he was in Origins.

I'm gonna miss Buddy too. I've been dreading this issue ever since 52 began and I read that Morrison interview. I'm glad we got a clix of him before it happened, he's one of the coolest C-listers in the DC universe and I hope his dials are competitive.

And from the look of that spoiler list that's been floating around, the uber Vertigo version is the LE, the Animal Master. Mystics TA and all, good times.

I just finished Morrison's Animal Man run (thanks winndwalker). Right when I find a great new hero, he's killed! I look forward to having him in 'clix.

Btw, before I forget again...

Check out "Justice League Unlimited" #29 (yes, I'm going to continue to push this title - they're good stories in most cases and just because it's for the "Johnny DC" youth line it doesn't mean the book doesn't work for adults; last issue's Christmas special with the Phantom Stranger, Flash and Batman had one of the most gut-wrenching Batman scenes I've ever read). Anyway, the issue came out last week and the reason you might want to check it out: it's told from the viewpoint of Buddy (and also featuers B'Wana Beast).

Yea... just read 52... super disappointed... Buddy was one of the last "family man" super heroes. Just some guy that you can totally identify with that just happened to get powers.

RIP Buddy, may DC bring you back sooner than later.

The space story has been my favorite part of 52 but this puts a huge damper on that part of the story for me. How depressing.

This was my first exposure to Buddy, and I think he is a great character. I was surprised to see him go, since everything pointed to Adam Strange.

It's probably more likely he was killed because of Vixen. Two charcters with "animal powers" is redundant, and Meltzer wanted to use her in JLofA which is probably what made the decision an easy one for editorial to approve.

Isn't Buddy pretty much completely reviveable?

I thought he was pretty much the Animal Elemental on Earth? Hasn't he risen from the dead in the past just from being buried in the ground?

I mean, isn't he similar to Swamp Thing in that respect?

He is which is what I was talking about earlier in the thread. Buddy basically just "works his way up the animal chain" to recreate himself when he dies. So, yeah, he's 'dead' but unlike a lot of characters his death isn't really "death".

Which means technically they can still cheat and say one of the characters they advertised as dying in "52" - remember how they put up the main characters and said, "One of these people won't survive"? - still gets off'ed in the series because Animal Man isn't really dead. In other words, don't rest yet - no one's safe and I imagine it'll be dragged out on the "Who dies?" until near the end of the series.

Awesome, I knew that door wasn't closed for him!

One quick question, however:

Does he really need to be buried on Earth for him to be revived? He seemed to be copying the abilities of the space dolphins and other aliens....which kinda tells me that he'll be able to revive himself ANYWHERE, won't he?

I'm not sure he even needs to be buried. His consciousness just goes into the Red - the "animal/blood" equivalent of Swamp Thing's "The Green" - and starts off reforming. One of the times, for example, he first started as a micro-organism, than a flea and so on up the chain until he rebuilt his body. Mind you it was Pete Milligan and Vertigo doing the story so expect much weirdness.

Remember too that Buddy "died" when he first got his powers (and this gets into the whole Grant Morrison bit on "comic reality" and the beings who created Buddy were familiar that they were in comics and, well, standard Grant Morrison heavy thinking writing. ) so it's almost his shtick that he dies on a fairly regular basis. Heck, come to think of it, it was CoIE that caused Morrison to rewrite Buddy's origin involving Buddy dying at the time he got his powers so it's actually par for the course for Animal Man to die right after a Crisis.

So he's Sean Connery then?

So who is Supernova?

Is it Ray Palmer?