- Ellen, there was... meaning... in the power. Like... truth... You know, like seeing how everything is connected... Like there's an eye that watches over... everything... An intelligence.. and I... merged with it... For an hour... I became that intelligence... This god-like intelligence at the heart of nature--
Animal Man #41 is an issue of the series Animal Man (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1991.
Synopsis for "The Stone That Cracked Open the Earth Like an Egg"
After a night of love-making, Buddy Baker and his wife Ellen are awakened by the sound of her mother getting up to milk the cows. Unfortunately, she is unable to do so, because the cows and horses are all suspended several feet in the air. Ellen's mother rightly blames Buddy for the anomaly.
Elsewhere, Buddy's former assistant Travis Cody is in a bar talking with an acquaintance of the man called Stone. Travis complains that Stone told him to get a job, despite offering to train him as a junior shaman. Travis' companion reveals that The Stone is not a man to be trusted, considering that he had been 6 years in prison for killing a white man without touching him. The conversation is overheard by Buck Samson of S.T.A.R. Labs, who offers Travis a job as an engineer. Without giving Travis a chance to respond, Samson threatens that he knows that Travis has broken probation by leaving San Diego for New York.
Buddy and Ellen go for a walk in the woods as they discuss what they can do about the fact that their son Cliff is missing somewhere in between San Diego and New York. Buddy attempts to lie down and wait for a bird to fly by that he can tame, so he can fly around looking for Cliff. In the meantime, though, he and Ellen make love again, in the grass.
Back at the farm, Maxine Baker and her grandmother work on collecting eggs from the chickens. Maxine pulls out a strange blue egg, which hatches before their eyes. Surprisingly, instead of a bird, a small triceratops emerges, to Maxine's great delight and her grandmother's horror.
Mr. Samson shows Travis the lab where they are attempting to catalogue the entire human genetic code. Samson says they hope that Travis can design and build equipment required for their tests that doesn't yet exist. When Samson is called away for a minute, Travis opens a door to a restricted area, and sees pods containing man-made humanoid creations.
While Maxine plays with her new pet - claiming that she made him - her grandmother gets a call from Cliff, who leaves a message for his father that he is in San Francisco and needs help. Unfortunately, as he's on the phone, some men approach him, and kidnap him.
Buddy and Ellen lie in the grass, talking about the strange effects of his powers, when his hawk from San Diego, Harriet, appears. She communicates with him in a voice that even Ellen can hear, saying that she was sent by The Stone to get him. Despite Ellen's protests, Buddy and the hawk fly to Stone's location. As he flies, he hears Stone's voice saying that it was not aliens who gave Animal Man his powers, but Native Americans. When he lands, Stone welcomes him before punching him in the face as punishment for killing his messenger. He states that they have much work to do.
Appearing in "The Stone That Cracked Open the Earth Like an Egg"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Cliff Baker
- Mary Frazier (First appearance)
- Kami
- Winky
Locations:
- New York
- San Francisco
- Vermont
- Pownal
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Animal Man: The Meaning of Flesh.
See Also