A death touch. Can you believe it? All those mystery-men that could lift trucks or fly, and I had to get a death touch. The one thing I always wanted was to be able to fly. Maybe if I'd just found a different meteor. 
Animal Man #7 is an issue of the series Animal Man (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 1989. It was published on December 1, 1988.
Synopsis for "The Death of the Red Mask"
After helping to deal with the events of the invasion, Animal Man stops by Miami, where it appears that the city has been overrun by rampaging red robots. Fortunately, the robots are fairly ineffective and simply explode and walk into things. Despite this, Buddy decides to seek out the source.
Buddy comes across portly man in a super-villain costume, preparing to jump from the top of a building. Buddy manages to pull him back, and he introduces himself as the Red Mask. He offers to reveal his secret origins to Animal Man.
Red Mask explains that in 1945, he had touched a meteor which gave him the power of a death-touch, killing everything he laid his hands on. When his wife left him, for obvious reasons, he became a super-villain, teaming up with The Veil to commit robberies. Unfortunately, The Veil went insane as a result of his powers, and was put in Arkham Asylum, bringing an end to the careers of both.
When asked why he has shared this story, Red Mask explains that he is dying, and that the robots and his imminent suicide are his last-ditch effort to go down in a blaze of glory. Buddy offers to use his connections to get Red Mask some air-time on TV, in lieu of suicide, and flies off. But, in the meantime, the Red Mask becomes impatient, and throws himself from the top of the building—finally experiencing his dream of the power of flight before hitting the concrete below.
Buddy finishes off the robots and begins flying back to Los Angeles, but he is startled by something unseen.
Appearing in "The Death of the Red Mask"
Featured Characters:
- Animal Man (Flashback and main story)
Supporting Characters:
- Cliff Baker (Flashback only)
- Ellen Baker (Mentioned only)
Antagonists:
- Khunds (Mentioned only)
- Red Mask (Single appearance; dies) (Flashback and main story)
- Veil (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Billy the cat (Mentioned only)
- Captain Atom (Mentioned only)
- Captain Triumph (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Roger Denning (Mentioned only)
- Doctor Fang (Mentioned only)
- Hawkman (Mentioned only)
- Justice Society (Mentioned only)
- Ronnie (Single appearance)
- Roy the dog (Single appearance; dies) (Flashback only)
- Harry S Truman (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- 1945
- California (Flashback only)
- Los Angeles (Mentioned only)
- San Diego (Flashback only)
- Florida
- Gotham City (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- Arkham Asylum (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- California (Flashback only)
Items:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Animal Man Vol. 1 and Animal Man Omnibus.
- Animal Man appeared last in Invasion! #2. He appears next in Invasion! #3.
Trivia
- The Edgar Allen Poe story that Red Mask references as the inspiration for his moniker is The Masque of the Red Death.
- On page 7, the Red Mask tells Animal Man: "Listen, if you have five seconds to spare, I'll tell you the story of my life". This sentence is almost identical to part of the lyrics of "Half a Person" by British band The Smiths, released the previous year.