InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "where's the beef!"

superfan1 (superfan1) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-10-06 20:24:00

Entry tags:

char: animal man/buddy baker, creator: chris batista, creator: dave meikis, creator: gerry conway, title: animal man

The Last Days of Animal Man #5
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	hybrid2 2009-10-07 01:46 am UTC (link)
	why do they keep talking as if being a super hero was the most importent part of animal man's life. He is known for it coming after is family. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	jlbarnett 2009-10-07 01:51 am UTC (link)
	because the writer came up with a plot, suggested it to the editors and Animal Man was the character he was allowed to use. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	daningram 2009-10-07 01:57 am UTC (link)
	What's sad is how easily the writer copped to it. God forbid that they personalize a plot! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arbre_rieur 2009-10-07 02:17 am UTC (link)
	Yes, because clearly nothing at all in this plot is Animal Man-specific... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	daningram 2009-10-07 02:23 am UTC (link)
	Not so'd you'd notice, character wise. Alot of the plot is about how Buddy missed out on his family, wasn't there for them because of his hero career and can't give it up. That hardly sounds like Animal Man to me, and by the writer's own admission, they threw the plot at a character. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arbre_rieur 2009-10-07 02:26 am UTC (link)
	Throwing a plot at a character and personalizing a plot aren't mutually exclusive. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-10-07 02:48 am UTC (link)
	But they didn't accomplish it here. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arbre_rieur 2009-10-07 03:17 am UTC (link)
	The plot is clearly personalized for Animal Man. How well the personalizing was handled is a separate matter, but some tailor-fitting's clearly gone on. Just looking at the scans here, we have Buddy Baker's stuntman career, hsi friendship with Starfire, and his history with Mirror Master each shaping the plot in important ways. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

box_in_the_box
2009-10-07 05:31 am UTC (link)

The fact remains that the plot itself is inherently wrong for the character. The entire DEFINITION of Buddy Baker's personality was "the guy who put his family ahead of being a superhero," and the entire POINT of this plot was "man regrets always putting his superhero career ahead of his family." The combination of character and plot in this case is INHERENTLY WRONG, no matter HOW much they try and tailor the plot to fit the character. The character should ALWAYS dictate the plot, and NEVER the other way around.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arbre_rieur 2009-10-07 07:22 am UTC (link)
	I have no disagreement with any of that. (Well, at least not in principle. I can't judge how much it applies to this particularly series just from the scans.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jaybee3 2009-10-07 02:23 am UTC (link)
	I'm actually glad that Conway said where the story came from and that it had nothing originally to do with Animal Man - it's honest at least. And it also hopes me ignore this story entirely knowing this out-of-continuity future Animal Man is not really Buddy Baker but a creature of Conway's invention. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	xdoop 2009-10-07 03:01 am UTC (link)
	where did he say that? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jaybee3
2009-10-07 03:27 am UTC (link)

In one of the interviews he gave to either CBR or Newsarama or one of those sites prior to the series coming out. He basically said he pitched DC a story about a super-hero with a family having a mid-life crisis (or something like that) but not with Animal Man in mind. DC then basically said he could use Buddy (one of the few true family men in the DCU) in an out-of-continuity story that takes place in the future (so it can be ignored by future writers) and Conway went with it. The main thrust was that Conway had the idea for this story he wanted to do which had nothing to do with Animal Man and they just shoe-horned him into it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	jlbarnett 2009-10-07 02:26 am UTC (link)
	honestly nothing about the plot works for Animal Man so I don't see how the could have personalized it. Not and have it be the story he pitched. Still, there's a muttiverse these days, so it's easy to just say it takes place on some other Earth. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mullon 2009-10-07 01:54 am UTC (link)
	So I guess that whole Animal Man/Starfire relationship didn't work out. Glad to hear it. (Reply to this)

	sailorlibra 2009-10-07 02:45 am UTC (link)
	Gah! The art burns! It's okay in some places, but the panel where Buddy's asking his kids about a ride and Ellen's all smiling at him... That is a creepy face. (Reply to this)

	aaron_bourque 2009-10-07 02:50 am UTC (link)
	Hey! Buddy's actually somewhat sort of starting to act like himself! Just in time for only one more issue! grmph (Reply to this)

	jlroberson 2009-10-07 07:24 am UTC (link)
	Wow, this thing's already up to 5? I hadn't noticed. But then, when Jamie Delano said Buddy was dead, I was fine with that. (Reply to this)

	unknownscribler 2009-10-08 07:20 am UTC (link)
	I love that line about med students studying exobiology. (Reply to this)