Animal Man

Animal Man
Animal Man #1 Art by Brian Bolland.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Strange Adventures #180 (September 14, 1965)
Created by	Dave Wood Carmine Infantino
In-story information
Alter ego	Bernhard "Buddy" Baker
Team affiliations	Justice League Forgotten Heroes White Lantern Corps
Notable aliases	A-Man
Abilities	Ability to gain the powers of any animal that exists or has existed via access to "The Red"

Animal Man (Bernhard "Buddy" Baker) is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Comics Universe. As a result of being in proximity to an exploding extraterrestrial spaceship, Buddy Baker acquires the ability to temporarily "borrow" the abilities of animals (such as a bird's flight or the proportionate strength of an ant). Using these powers, Baker fights crime as the costumed superhero Animal Man.

Created by writer Dave Wood and artist Carmine Infantino, Buddy Baker first appeared in Strange Adventures #180 (September 1965) and adopted the name Animal Man in issue #190. Animal Man was a minor character for his first twenty years, never gaining the popularity of other DC heroes such as Batman or Superman. He made only five, non-consecutive appearances in Strange Adventures (four of which were reprinted in Adventure Comics), followed by two appearances in Wonder Woman, two in Action Comics, and two in DC Comics Presents, appearing in consecutive issues of each. These eleven stories constitute the entirety of his pre-Crisis appearances. However, he became one of several DC properties, such as Shade, the Changing Man and Sandman, to be revived and revamped in the late 1980s for a more mature comics audience. As seen in Strange Adventures #195, he was billed as a "full-time hero," an aspect that would be the most changed by the revamp.