Comments on: The Last Days of Animal Man: A Medical Review

By: Xenobiologista

Xenobiologista — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:08:59 +0000

There ya go. If you think of “transmitting dangerous bacteria” as a superpower of fleas…

By: EL

EL — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:45:16 +0000

By the way, he could have gotten it fairly easily by hanging out with some prairie dogs. He didn’t have to get it from CDC.

By: EL

EL — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:43:45 +0000

@ Jeff: I was trying to think of a way to say what you said in your first paragraph, but couldn’t. Thanks!

@GAZZA: Plague is still killing people and is quite dangerous. It is endemic in most of the West and is commonly misdiagnosed until too late.

Do you think it might be too late for the villains in Animal Man?

By: Jeff Edsell

Jeff Edsell — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:36:30 +0000

How about this: if a plague bacteria’s “power” can be described as “breaking down cellular materials in the body to build new bacteria,” all Buddy would have to do is exercise that power to build a colony of bacteria in the bad guy, then that colony would continue to grow on its own.

As for being able to tap the abilities of creatures technically outside the animal kingdom, after Buddy dies in 52 he’s brought back to life by the aliens who gave him his powers, who expand his abilities, allowing him to utilize alien creatures as well. That could well mean that he’s not limited to just “animals” any more.

I seem to remember a much earlier issue of Animal Man where he borrowed the replicating ability of bacteria to make a bunch of full-sized copies of himself. That bothered me a lot more than this does.

By: RichterCa

RichterCa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:03:59 +0000

Oh, hey, that’s the Flash on the left in that second panel. Here I was thinking it was some red, random, rock formation in the hospital.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:11:49 +0000

Little known fact, on Krypton, all bacteria are animals. Superman just forgot which planet he was on (which is easy to do since he commutes so much between planets).

By: animus

animus — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:17:16 +0000

Was it laundry day for the girl in white (first panel), or is that her normal costume?

That's her normal costume.

By: GAZZA

GAZZA — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:06:52 +0000

Is the plague even a particularly dangerous disease any more? Certainly it seems to be against comic book morality to give them a fatal disease, but I’m not sure that if what he’s done is the equivalent of forcing them to be bedridden for a few days with antibiotics is all that bad – certainly Batman and even Superman have probably put criminals in hospital for (hopefully minor) injuries in the past. Pacifist Man doesn’t seem to have made it into any major titles.

By: Dan Grendell

Dan Grendell — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:32:39 +0000

It doesn’t seem all that heroic to me to defeat the bad guys by giving them the plague. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer my heroes not to hand out crippling pustules and painful buboes.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:53:58 +0000

I actually don’t have a problem with Animal Man hitting up the occasional bacteria or virus for powers, I just get annoyed when they’re referred to as “animals” (as Superman does here).