Animal Man: Consequences

[alicemacher]

Warning for graphic depiction of cruelty to animals. (Thus my not posting the issue cover as a preview this time.)


From Animal Man #17 (Nov. 1989).



The assassin Lennox arranges a meeting with Evan McCulloch, the Mirror Master, in Glasgow. It doesn't go as he'd hoped, as McCulloch plays his usual mirror tricks and otherwise stalls him.







At night, Buddy and a team of animal-rights activists break into a University of California research lab, in order to rescue monkeys which... well, see for yourself.










Highwater's arms get re-inked in time for him to regain control of his car, but he's still shaken of course. Meanwhile, Buddy catches Cliff eating a burger (recall that he and Ellen had the family go vegetarian) and has a gentle talk with him.







Buddy explains the ecological effects of clearing the rainforests to make space for livestock farming. He wraps up by telling Cliff he can't, and doesn't want to, force him not to eat meat; he just wants him to think it over.

In Glasgow, the Mirror Master refuses to give Lennox the layout of the Bakers' house. "I thought you might say that," says Lennox, and shoots him... or so he thinks. "McCulloch" and the entire landscape shatter around him, and the assassin finds himself in a black void trap.

Buddy finds out his own choices have had unintended consequences: Ellen tells him three firefighters were injured, one of them critically, by the U. of California lab fire he'd failed, through inaction, to prevent.







She tells Buddy Roger wants to meet, which they do at the site where Buddy first gained his powers. Roger reflects on how his friend's superhero career had started out so simply and casually, taking on the occasional robber or whatever. "Now," he says, "I don't know whether you're a super-hero or a super-villain..."










"And this time you did the wrong thing, Buddy," says Roger in parting.

"Yeah," says Buddy once alone. "Guess I did."

However, he has one more prior obligation before he quits: appearing on a talk show to debate pharmaceutical animal testing with one Dr. Whitmore. Animal Man handles himself well against his rather smarmy opponent -- until Whitmore brings up the question of adherence to the law. Buddy argues that moral principles take precedence over the "law of the land." So you'd break the law, asks Whitmore. Buddy pauses and says he would, if he felt the law was unethical.

Now Whitmore has Buddy where he wants him. Noting that he, as a superhero, is a "role model to countless American children," he asks, "Have you broken the law?"










In Glasgow, the Mirror Master taunts Lennox one final time before releasing him from his trap. He says that if he and his employers want the layout of the Bakers' house, they can "whistle for it. [...] You've not heard the end of this, pal. Not by a long chalk."

Following his on-air meltdown, Buddy tells another one of his militant activist acquaintances that not only will he no longer help such people out, he's also resigning from the JLE, throwing away his costumes and donating his final paycheck to the critically-injured firefighter. Ignoring the other's protests, he flies home, where he once again finds an unexpected visitor.