A review by dantastic
Animal Man by Grant Morrison 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Book Two by Grant Morrison

4.0

As Animal Man becomes an eco-terrorist, his life unravels and reality frays along the edges...

Here we are, the concluding volume of Grant Morrison's Animal Man run, collecting issues #14-26. It's been quite a journey over the last 26 issues.

In this volume, Animal Man learns of his true origins, the nature of reality, and the meaning of the life, the universe, and everything. Some seriously crazy stuff happens in this. Morrison does some deconstruction, using Animal Man to show the nature of comics and the super heroes that dwell within.

It gets extremely meta toward the end with Grant Morrison appearing in the story. Speaking of Morrison, did the Matrix get 75% of its material from the tail end of Animal Man plus The Invisibles? Morrison shows a deep knowledge of the DC universe, throwing deep cuts like Ultra the Multi Alien, the Inferior Five, Red Bee, the Gay Ghost, and Red Bee, among others.

Shit got really weird for a while there but Morrison had a plan the entire time, apparently. In the end, Animal Man is back where he started, ready for the next writer. I have to wonder if the editors just gave up and trusted Morrison to tie everything together at the end.

Animal Man by Grant Morrison 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Book Two concludes a coherently weird voyage into the nature of comics and reality. Four out of five stars.