Comic Title: Animal Man #12
Publisher: DC
Imprint: Vertigo
Cover Date: June 1989
On Sale Date: April 25, 1989 Shipping Date April 25, 1989
Source: Amazing Heroes, #163

Shipping Date April 25, 1989
Source: Previews, #2

Copyright Date April 25, 1989
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1989

Direct Market Date April 27, 1989
Source: Comic Shop News, #93, #94, #95

Cover Price: $1.50
Page Count: 32
Editor: Karen Berger

Title: "Secret Origins"
Pages: 24

Feature(s):
Animal Man (Post-Crisis)

Writer: Grant Morrison
Penciller: Chas Truog
Inker: Doug Hazlewood
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Tatjana Wood

Reprinted In:
Animal Man:Origin of the Species TPB (2002)
Animal Man Omnibus HC (2013)
Animal Man by Grant Morrison 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 HC (2019)
Animal Man by Grant Morrison Vol. 1 TPB (2020)

Feature Character(s)

• Animal Man (last appearance in Animal Man #11; next appearance in Animal Man #13)

Guest Star(s)

• Vixen (last appearance in Animal Man #11; next appearance in Animal Man #13)

Villain(s)

• Hamed Ali (last appearance in Animal Man #11; no further appearances)
• Tabu (last appearance in Animal Man #11; no further appearances)
• Ali's men (last appearance in Animal Man #11; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Two aliens (last appearance in Animal Man #11; next appearance in Animal Man #22)
• A shaman (last appearance in Animal Man #11; no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Ellen Baker (in flashback to Buddy's origin)
• Roger Denning (in flashback to Buddy's origin)

Comments:
This story is continued from Animal Man #11 and continues in part in Animal Man #13.

This story is related to Crisis on Infinite Earths. The term "Post-Crisis Continuum" is used to describe the current reality.

Synopsis:
Animal Man and Vixen escape from Hamed Ali when Buddy uses his powers to replicate himself like bacteria. During their escape, the heroes pass an excavation site with weird energy coming out of it. Animal Man enters the hole in the ground. Vixen is forced to follow when Ali's forces surround her.

Animal Man meets the two aliens responsible for his powers. One explains that Buddy's body had been completely destroyed in an explosion. He was rebuilt cell by cell and his powers were grafted into him. Now due to the recent Crisis, Animal Man is a paradox which threatens reality. The aliens use Animal Man to restore the continuum, then they depart. Before leaving, one of the aliens unmakes Hamed Ali.