I was 11 when those aliens gave stunt man Buddy Baker his animal powers in DC’s Strange Adventures 180 (Sept. 1965), courtesy of writer Dave Wood and artist Carmine Infantino.
I enjoyed his adventure then and in The Return of the Man with Animal Powers (Strange Adventures 184, Jan. 1966), despite the fact that his super powers caused cognitive dissonance even in a child.
For example, how could you “borrow” the flying ability of an eagle without also acquiring wings or an avian bone structure? Superman’s powers — mostly amplifications of human abilities — seemed almost plausible by comparison.
But Infantino’s clean-lined, graceful art was always refreshing to the eye, and I also found it refreshing that Baker chose to go into super-powered action without fancy dress.
Much as I love superhero costumes, the cliché was already becoming a bit shopworn by 1965. I had been attracted to Gold Key’s quasi-omnipotent Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom in 1962 in part for that reason, and my interest waned when he put on red spandex in his fifth issue.
I breathed another small sigh of regret when, in Strange Adventures 190 (July 1966), Baker put on his costume. I didn’t read him much after that. In part it was because with the Batman craze in full swing, we had an embarrassment of superheroic riches. Just as we have today.
Meanwhile, over in House of Mystery 153, the Martian Manhunter had settled into his first cover-featured run, fighting a giant version of his old archenemy Professor Hugo (introduced battling Batman in Detective Comics 306, Aug. 1962).
“A 1964 editorial shake-up resulted in J’onn J'onzz’s ouster from Detective Comics in favor of a Flash supporting character, the Elongated Man,” noted comics historian Don Markstein. “The Martian was transferred to House of Mystery, which had hitherto carried only non-series sci-fi/fantasy stories. He started in the 143rd issue (June 1964). After over eight years in comics, he finally held down a lead feature.”
Charles W. Fouquette wrote:
ReplyDeleteWhat drew me to the "Man with the animal powers." issue was the orange hairy alien that he fought. It was striking to me how he appeared and that sold me on buying a copy. Carmine Infantino knew how to draw aliens!
Mark Engblom wrote:
ReplyDeleteI always get a kick out of the civilian occupations of the Silver Age DC superheroes. They're always a bit (or quite a bit) off what you would imagine the standard, conventional jobs of the average 50's/60's fellow to be. Test Pilot (Hal Jordan), Forensic Scientist (Barry Allen), Detective (J'onn J'onzz), College Professor (Ray Palmer), Museum Curator (Katar-Hol) or, here, a Stunt Man (Buddy Baker)...all jobs on the periphery of the standard list of occupations every kid would associate with grown-up men.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteStrange Adventures, after the 1964 editorial shake-up, was just not the same anymore, without Julie Schwartz' guiding hand and SF approach. Yeah, the stories could be exceedingly unrealistic but they never seemed that way to me. Authors Fox, Broome, Binder and the others always gave the stories a veneer of SF polish that made it all seem possible. And the beauty of the art of Infantino, Anderson and Gil Kane kept me coming back for more. And then they were gone. Oh, I kept buying the book for a while, and an occasional issue jumped out at me, but the excitement was mostly gone.
But-there were some exceptions. Gil Kane kept his hand in the book by taking on Star Hawkins, the only Schwartz-era strip in the book that was continued (Space Museum, Atomic Knights and Star Rovers all had bitten the dust). Mike Sekowsky had drawn the strip previously but having Kane on it was enjoyable. And then Infantino would pop up every so often on a cover or for the first couple Animal Man stories. It was like a breath of fresh air to see him return to the book, even briefly, which was so unusual back then when it seemed that most artists were tied to individual editors with an umbilical cord.
Like you, I enjoyed the early non-costumed stories; and Buddy was an unlikely, shy hero. I think he fainted when he proposed to his girl friend. The costume he eventually got was not one of Infantino's better design; and then Infantino was off the book. I think I began to pick and choose which issues of SA I purchased at that time until Deadman popped up with Infantino returning again, albeit for only one issue. I sticked with the book from then to my comic book hiatus in the spring of 1968; but then returned to it in 1971, buying the back issues from the previous three-years, filling out my Deadman run and being very happy with the reprints of Adam Strange and classic Schwartz-era SF stories that filled the book for the rest of its run.
Bruce Kanin wrote:
ReplyDeleteI preferred the early Animal Man when he wasn't costumed. It's a little surprising that there hasn't been a TV series or movie about the character (well, we had "Manimal", but that wasn't quite the same).
Remember, too, that Archie Comics' The Jaguar came first. Hmmm... which artist drew their respective character better... the underrated John Rosenberger (The Jaguar) ... or industry giant Carmine Infantino (Animal Man)?
I replied:
I liked them both, and I agree with you about the costume. I felt the same way about Dr. Solar.
Joseph Lenius wrote:
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming at least partially inspired by the 1959 Journey to the Center of the Earth movie.
I replied:
Good point. They were going through the great Verne revival then.
Foster H. Coker III wrote:
ReplyDeleteI was two in these stories first came out, so I missed them, obviously. I first read them as reprints in the back of Supergirl, if I recall correctly.
John Scott wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe Grant Morrison run in the 1980s was pretty interesting, particularly the issue where Baker meets his creator.
Alan Bradford wrote:
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on Doctor Solar. The lack of costume was one of the attractions of Dell's Brain Boy, as well. His abilities and origin were no more believable than those of the typical superhero, yet his ordinary clothes gave him much more credibility than he would have had otherwise.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:Strange Adventures took a nosedive when Jack Schiff took over the editorship from Julie Schwartz. While still directed to young readers, Schwartz and his writers Broome and Fox seemed to have more respect for the intelligence of his readers. And, for the most part the artists were simply of a higher caliber---Infantino, Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson. Mike Sekowksy and Sid Greene also did fine jobs but not the superstars the other three were.
ReplyDeleteAll of the strips in SA were gone except for Star Hawkins; and the one good thing about that was that Gil Kane was now drawing it. His occasional forays and that of Infantino, somehow finding time to work for a different editor in that very feudal editorial set-up at DC where artists rarely crossed the editorial moats, were among the highlights of that period before Deadman rejuvenated the title for a while. There were some other highlights-such as Howard Purcell's Enchantress and some good covers such as on issue 170, but for the most part, seeing Infantino or Kane was finding an oasis in the desert.
I was never particularly troubled by what gave you cognitive dissonance. Was Animal Man's powers any less head-scratching than Beast Boy actually changing into all those animals? Or the characters that could grow to giant size -- where did that mass come from and where did it go? No, comic book readers just have to... believe!
Buddy Baker was a down-to-earth guy and his relationship with his girl friend was refreshing. Writer Dave Wood got no recognition at all -- I had to look up at Mike's to see if an author was identified, and Wood is on the first few stories and no one on the last few -- but he deserved some for a fresh take on the character. But Jack Schiff rarely recognized writers.
I thought that I stuck with this title for a long time but my card catalog from the 1960s shows huge gaps in my run --issue 170 and then 180 (amazingly, I had not retained any of the Schwartz issues except for three 1950s issues that I picked up years after they came out) and then jumping around until about 197. Usually, the issues that featured one of the super-hero characters (including Immortal Man). Clearly, I was not enamored by what was going on in this book.
And then came Deadman....
As for Buddy, I really enjoyed the Animal Man series from the late 80s early 90s when Grant Morrison was doing the book. He really played with the whole concept of reality.