I often wonder if comic book writers-similar to song writers of the past-sometimes depend on illegal substances to craft their ideas. Honestly, when you take a look at this week's Z-Lister, you have to wonder: how the hell did DC come up with this guy? Here he is, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man!
Oh God, avert your eyes! There are some things in this world mortal eyes were not meant to see! Featured prominently in 1964's "Doom Patrol #89", this villainous Chexmix of horror was once a Swedish scientist who fell into a vat of amino acids. And as we all know down here at The Panel Biter, acid gives you superpowers! Anyway, Doctor Larsen uses his new abilities to seek revenge on his former colleagues. Titled as The Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, he has the power to transform into any animal, vegetable or mineral! He can also juggle all three forms at once, resulting in the revolting monster you see before you. This guy makes Composite Superman look decent. There isn't much more detail I can go into about the character other than he was actually reused quite recently in DC's "The Ravagers" where characters continued to look at him without bleaching their eyes.
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man-or AVM as we call him in the streets-was clearly created with the intention of being weird. To be fair, The Doom Patrol is primarily centered around weird, deformed, disturbing characters. So having villains equally as unnerving makes some sense in the same way an insane man in a bat suit can fight mental patients. I think. But, what can we really take away from AVM? That as complex and interesting as comic books may be, they are still completely bonkers. Then again, there is always a weird side. Now if you excuse me, I have to deep fry some lemurs and feed my morbidly obese squirrel, Bubbles. Thanks for reading!
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