This is a great video, but it's worth pointing out that Grant Morrison uses They/Them pronouns now. They came out about this fairly recently so I can't blame you for getting it wrong, but in future it would be a good thing to keep in mind.

I once summarized this issue's, and this run's in general, message as "perhaps we should be kinder to both animals, and to fictional characters that we create."

I like how grant Morrison still has a soft touch for the Pre-crisis characters and give them a good send-off on his animal man run.

When I read it when teen I finished it with a "wow." Best Morrison in my opinion is when there is some editorial oversight. Fully unleashed is a bet.

Concept: Since we now have a DC/Looney Tunes crossovers, let Grant Morrison do a remake of Coyote Gospel with actual Wily E Coyote. I mean, WB owns them...

I read this last night. I hadn't heard anything about this issue. Man, what a read!

"He was known as A-Man..." "That's *Mister A* Man to you." "What?" "I've been reading Ayn Rand. Ditko was spot on about that Objectivist thing." :)

Probably the best series to introduce readers to Grant Morrison.

Only two issues later by #7 ("The Death of the Red Mask"), Animal Man is beginning to see clues of the "grand cosmic plan" (the "meta" take on the comic book scripts that make up his life), as he says to another minor villain, "Listen, you don't want to die. It'd be pointless. People keep dying on me. It's getting really depressing." Only seven issues into the series, he's already seen enough death that he's getting tired of it. Of course, the worst is yet to come.

Bob looks like a young Carl from ATHF.

This issue was a rewiring of my brain!

May I suggest that "Bob", may be standing in for Freleng/Jones/McKimson, who were routinely injuring the coyote, as the directors, in the cartoons.

There's so much to unpack in just these 24 pages. Now I want to give Animal Man a try

I just wish this story didn't begin with Buddy announcing to his adult, sane, bread-winning wife that SHE is now becoming a vegetarian, and the proceeds to throw out the groceries she bought with her money in front of her, and yells at her when she has the nerve to very lightly protest against him doing that. Nobody talks about this, or how Buddy gaslights his own son by telling him he doesn't want to force him to be a vegetarian (after jumping out of the bushes at him with a scowl and accusingly pointing at the burger he's eating and a demands to know "What is THAT ?!") but that any time he eats a burger, he helps kill the planet. I love TCG but the fact is people ignore Buddy's horrible behaviour to his wife and kinda give him a free pass on it.

Deep stuff...of course, I didn't make all the intellectual threads when this came out...but it certainly made a profound influence on me.

YES! The best comics YTuber reviews one of my favorites from the 90s.

Blatant Gnostic Christ allegory.. the Trickster/Coyote/Anubis/Set/Legba-Ellegua-Eshu/Yurugu as Messiah.. originally derived from African Kemetic/Dogon inner mysteries as implied during the Invisibles...

You should try Grant Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol.

Great vid, as always. On thing I'll mention is that Crafty, in a sense, is the devil like Bob thinks him to be. Crafty is cast out of his cartoon world for his disobedience as Lucifer was from Heaven. I think this is a very intentional parallel given the active decision to have Bob think Crafty is "The Devil" rather than some other sort of monster, which is very interesting when paired with the imagery of the crucifixion.

Appropriate enough topic for Easter, I’d say

One of my favorite single issues of any comic. Amazing how there is still things to discover about it years after I read it!

I just finished reading the whole series. I read this issue and felt like I semi understood but missed a lot of the meaning. This is a great breakdown. This issue is loaded with ideas and it really is concise as hell. How you can be this profound in 24 pages is beyond me. It just has me thinking back more and more of the other issues and what’s trying to be said. This was one of the greatest things I’ve ever read. This comic is worth the hype. Thanks for the breakdown, it’s phenomenal.

Ooooohhh this is a classic issue!

Holy shit, I was talking about this last night. What an amazing issue in a phenomenal run.

Actually read this whole run last year. Fantastic stuff.

the LOL dance machine advert that cannot be skipped is intolerable and i cannot continue but great video so far

Makes me wish I'd paid more attention to the story when I read it years ago. I knew Morrison hated the Watchmen and Dark Knight, but never connected it in my mind. Quick question, have you done a video on Resurrection Man? Love to hear your take on that story.

Wow. For a guy who's read this issue a zillion times since he was 9, I didn't think this video could tell me anything new. Well done!

Great work

I really enjoyed this analysis. A great book in a great series.

I always like to think the true recipient of the message wasn't animal man but to us the readers, A-man is just a conduit to deliver that message, that's why he couldn't understand the letter.

I just finished rereading this run for the 3rd time. Excellent work on the video. I was wondering if you were willing to cover Jamie Delano's run on Animal Man as well? I feel the Delano run is very underappreciated. He did some interesting character work, turned Buddy into an unlikely cult leader and pushed a lot of radical ideas when they certainly were not mainstream

Thank you

Man we are too much alike! I was editing on an episode about this haha. Gonna put it off for a bit now. Amazing deep dive analysis! You always hit on my favorite stuff. This has to be one of the 5 best single issues I've ever read, great to see it getting some love. Also, had no idea about Morrison being them they, gonna have to watch that in my video

Crafty moving realities feels reminiscent of the hoping creation myth where they're brought up from the lower worlds

Great review. Missed some of those parallels between #5 and the series as a whole before. I did know #5 was something really special at the time though.

I have a whole run of Animal Man in the attic - I'm going to have to go and find this issue and re-read it.

This video made me get out my hardcover of Animal Man

if only people took this and made comic fun again

jack Kirby's 2001 series might be fun to do a short vid about

what does the "10 minutes into the future, in an implicate universe" means?

There are so many characters that need this type of treatment

You should do a whole video on the Grant Morrison Animal Man series.

9:21 Impliate and Explicate Order

I don't know why but animal man's leather jacket really sticks out as being a size too big and bulky in some panels, I can't help but find it annoying especially when it looks fine in other panels

:-D

This was excellent analysis on entertainment, if we look in today’s comics nothing more then political garbage everywhere you know?

I still dislike the chas troug art. I dont think morrison ever figured out how to write to the strengths of the artist. Other 80s writers like miller or moore are notable bc they tend to lean in to how comics are a visual medium. i dont think morrison ever figures out that synergy. his best work is with quitlely, sure. but i dont think he writes in a way to lean into quietley. also, morrison never consistently works with an artist of that quality and never exploits it.

I disagree with the premise of this video. F*ck the golden age.

Amazing video, The only problem I have with it is Morrison is non binary and your using He/Him pronouns but I feel like that’s just me trying to find something bad.

Fuck. You spoiled the ending of the series. Cofronting Morrison wasnt a necessary info to us...