Animal Man

Cover Description: A ghostly apparition of Animal Man appears before his young daughter Maxine. (No Booster Gold.)

Brief Synopsis: Animal Man attempts to travel back in time to prevent the death of his family.

Issue Summary: After an unsuccessful visit with the Time Commander, Animal Man is able to acquire a time machine from Rip Hunter (with Booster Gold's assistance). Meanwhile, trapped in a padded cell at Arkham Asylum, the Psycho Pirate breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the reader.

When Animal Man activates his time machine, he is sent into his own past in an attempt to save his wife and children from assassination (thus revealing that he is the mysterious stranger that he himself had seen in previous issues). Animal Man tries to interact with his wife, Ellen; son, Cliff; daughter, Maxine; his father; and even his prior self at various times, but soon learns that he is unable to alter his own history. Despairing, Animal Man is approached by the Phantom Stranger with an offer of aid.

Unbeknownst to Animal Man, Dr. James Highwater of Arkham Asylum is approached by the yellow men, as predicted by the Psycho Pirate. Reveal Potential Spoilers

Booster Gold's role in this story:
Supporting (Booster Gold plays a lesser role)

Costume Worn: MARK I power-suit

Issue Notes: Booster Gold's appearance in this book retells the events of his appearance in Time Masters #4, though from a slightly different perspective.

This story has been reprinted in:
Animal Man Vol. 3: Deus Ex Machina (2003)

Page 4, panel 2
As shown in Time Masters #4, Booster Gold and Animal Man are negotiating with Rip Hunter for the use of a time travel device while Bonnie Baxter and Jeff Smith watch. However the dialogue in this issue, while still telling the same story - Animal Man's search for and acquisition of Rip Hunter's time backpack - is significantly different. Even the panel depictions are skewed towards Animal Man's point of view. (It's always enlightening to see different artists' interpretations of the same scene.) Noticeably different in this particular panel is the presence of a nearly completed Time Sphere, Rip Hunters signature time travel machine, which was not shown in Time Masters #4.

Page 4, panel 3
Booster excuses himself from the conversation between Animal Man and Rip Hunter. This panel explains Booster's comment at the conclusion of these events as shown in Time Masters #4.

Page 5, panel 5
The conversation in this panel between Rip Hunter and Animal Man is an allusion to the two heroes' pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths time spent as teammates on the short-lived team Forgotten Heroes. A major theme of writer Grant Morrison during his time writing Animal Man was the transient and subjective nature of fictional comic book continuity.

Page 5, panel 7
As Booster and Animal Man leave, Animal Man tells Booster that he lied to Rip Hunter to gain possession of the backpack. In response to this revelation, Booster ironically asks, "what kind of superhero are you?" At least Animal Man doesn't steal from museums, Booster.