Strange Adventures #190
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStrange Adventures #190 marks the pivotal transition of Buddy Baker from a costumed-identity-free oddity into a proper Silver Age super-hero: it is the first time he dons a costume and takes the name A-Man (later refined to Animal Man), making it the foundational issue for one of DC's most critically celebrated characters of the modern era. The fact that a character who spent his first two decades in relative obscurity — appearing only five times across the entire anthology run — would eventually anchor Grant Morrison's landmark 1988–1990 series made this costuming moment retroactively indispensable to DC history. The issue also contains the third sequential appearance of Immortal Man, a character whose concept of reincarnating immortality across centuries would later feed directly into the 'Forgotten Heroes' team mythology and, through that, into Crisis on Infinite Earths. Together the two features make #190 the single densest concentration of Silver Age-to-modern-era connective tissue in the entire Strange Adventures run.
In "A-Man — The Hero with Animal Powers," Buddy Baker harnesses his unique animal abilities to take on a gang of crooks armed with a machine capable of mind-controlling animals. Written by Dave Wood and brought to life by Carmine Infantino’s dynamic art and George Roussos’s inks, this 1966 Strange Adventures standout showcases a hero testing his limits in a world where even nature can be manipulated. The cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson captures the high-stakes tension of a man facing a threat that turns the animal kingdom itself into an enemy.
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 6.5 ▾ $90–$200 2 listings
Raw — VG+ ▾ $64.95–$100 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $34.99–$174 4 listings
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Both features in the issue were written by Dave Wood, who had scripted every Animal Man story from the character's debut in #180. The Animal Man story was drawn by Carmine Infantino (pencils) and George Roussos (inks), the same team responsible for the character's first appearance; Murphy Anderson joined Infantino on the cover. The Immortal Man back-up was drawn by Jack Sparling, who illustrated all four of that character's Strange Adventures appearances. The book was edited by Jack Schiff and went on sale May 26, 1966, under DC's National Periodical Publications banner; a statement of ownership printed in the issue recorded an average press run of roughly 313,000 copies with a paid circulation near 187,000.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Animal Man (Buddy Baker) in a super-hero costume — he takes the name 'A-Man' in this issue; the name 'Animal Man' itself would not appear in story dialogue until Strange Adventures #195.
- Animal Man was created by writer Dave Wood and penciler Carmine Infantino; the #190 story was inked by George Roussos, with a cover by Infantino and Murphy Anderson.
- In the story, Buddy Baker formally commits to a crime-fighting life and breaks off his engagement to girlfriend Ellen, a plot point later revisited and reversed in Grant Morrison's acclaimed 1988 ongoing series.
- The issue contains the third appearance of Immortal Man (first: Strange Adventures #177, June 1965; second: #185, February 1966), written by Dave Wood and drawn by Jack Sparling.
- Immortal Man's #190 story features him living as 'Kirk Jason,' battling a giant creature spawned by an earthquake before sacrificing his current life — consistent with the reincarnation hook that defines the character.
- Immortal Man appeared on the cover of all four Strange Adventures issues in which he starred (#177, #185, #190, #198), indicating DC editorial saw him as a marketable feature.
- The Animal Man story from this issue was later reprinted in Adventure Comics (DC, 1938 series) #415.
- Animal Man made only five total appearances across Strange Adventures (#180, #184, #190, #195, #201), all written by Dave Wood — the entirety of the character's Silver Age material before Grant Morrison's 1988 revival.
Cast · 2 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Buddy Baker uses his animal powers to fight crime and learns the limitations of those powers as he pursues a gang of crooks who have a machine that can telepathically control animals.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
Key issues in Strange Adventures
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.