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"Tooth and Claw": After the trauma of his family's murder, Buddy Baker cuts his own hair and returns to his black leather Animal Man costume.

Quote1 When I said there was no way I was going to kill a woman and her weans, they gave my job to this other guy, right? "Lennox"... the "White Owl"... don't know his real name. Quote2
Mirror Master

Animal Man #21 is an issue of the series Animal Man (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1990. It was published on February 1, 1990.

Synopsis for "Tooth and Claw"

After the trauma of his family's murder, Buddy Baker cuts his own hair and returns to his black leather Animal Man costume.

Buddy uses his new knowledge of the morphogenetic field to track the events of the murder through his animal powers. He allies himself with the Mirror Master, vowing that he will kill Mr. Lennox and the three business men who ordered the hit.

Using the mirror dimension to travel, Animal Man finds the first business man, Mr. Elson, on a fishing boat in the ocean. He drags Elson under the water, and holds him there until he drowns.

Elsewhere, Mr. Lennox warns his employer, Mr. Brumley, that Animal Man and the Justice League Europe will likely take retaliatory action against them. He demands his money before injecting himself with an unknown substance.

On a golf course, Mr. Shaver scores a hole-in-one, and happily runs toward the hole until Buddy's hand shoots up from beneath the earth and drags him underground. Buddy says that Mr. Shaver is now in the dirt where his family was put. He then leaves Mr. Shaver buried alive.

Before hitting their last target, Animal Man mails a cheque to Greenpeace. Mirror Master expresses concern for Animal Man, because good guys aren't supposed to kill. Even so, they head to their next target.

They corner Mr. Brumley in a washroom, forcing him to write a cheque to Mirror Master, and another to Greenpeace. Meanwhile, Brumley's security, an mechanized armour called Bug-Man arrives, and Brumley uses the opportunity to escape. Mirror Master zaps Bug-Man with his ray gun, disabling it, while Animal Man pursues Brumley.

Animal Man follows Brumley to the elevator, and once his target is inside, he punches the entire elevator car through the wall and it crashes onto the street below with a doomed Brumley inside. Then Animal Man tracks down Mr. Lennox by following the scent of his aftershave.

Lennox has put on the Bug-Man armour, and attacks Animal Man, burning his shoulder badly. Buddy finds himself at a disadvantage, and is nearly burned by acid until he uses his powers to adopt the perception of a fly. The fly's perception slows down time because its lifespan is so short. Using this opportunity, Buddy dodges attacks and breaks Lennox's arm. He then uses the powers of an electric eel to electrocute Lennox. The shock doesn't kill him, however, and Buddy begins to rip him apart.

Mirror Master arrives, and Buddy reveals that even though he has killed everyone responsible for his family's death, he feels nothing. Buddy believes that with the use of a time-machine, he can fix everything that's happened.

Appearing in "Tooth and Claw"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Mr. Brumley (Dies)
  • Mr. Elson (Dies)
  • Lennox (First appearance as Bug-Man) (Dies)
  • Mr. Shaver (Dies)

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Notes

Trivia

  • As Animal Man and Mirror Master walk the streets, there is a Bat symbol accompanied by a (­™) on a billboard seen above them.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

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