Anima (DC Comics) (1994) [COMICS]

Anima is hard to describe.  It reads to me like a sort of halfway cross between a normal DC title and a Vertigo title; it's a super hero series set in the mainstream DC universe, but with a high-concept, confusing, metaphysics/Jungian unconscious mythos that (with a harder edge and better writing) could fit alongside something like Sandman or Shade the Changing Man.  The other thing that definitely jumps out is just how early-to-mid 1990s it is: everyone has the grunge look, and major subplots include the HIV/AIDS crisis.  It's a series that was meant to appeal to teens of the era, but the writers weren't able to pull it off and the book was cancelled after about 18 months.  I guess I'd label it an interesting experiment, but not exactly a "hidden gem" or something I'd mourn the loss of.

Issue # 1 really throws the reader into deep water.  The title character was introduced in one of the Bloodlines crossover annuals, but surprisingly we don't get a recap or origin here.  As best as I can tell, a  teen girl named Courtney can manifest/transform into a spectral-hallucinogenic weird monster thing called Anima that has the powers to age people, fly, create armor, and generally stomp the bad guys.  Courtney really misses her family because its Christmas Eve and she's living homeless on the streets of Gotham City.  Each of her family members has a subplot at some point in the series, and here we're introduced to her mom, Willow, who is undergoing dream therapy with a woman named Maxilla Yale who works for an evil corporation named Tellus.  Anyway, Courtney meets some other street kids who perform as a rock band named Boojum; after stopping an attempted rape by a street gang named the Scorpions, Courtney decides to accompany the Boojum kids a journey to Rain City (i.e., Seattle--max grunge!).  We're also introduced to a Special Agent Kyle Woodleaf who works for a secret government agency.  I read the issue carefully and took notes, and I was still pretty lost--I feel bad for the casual reader!

Issue # 2 jumps to a new scene literally every page: from Rain City, to Gotham City, to northern California, to New Orleans, etc.  From what I could figure out, Courtney and Boojum arrive in Rain City. Courtney/Anima saves a pickpocket named Pockets from some thugs. A band member named Slam is looking for someone named Harper, but she's overdosed and died.  Slam is distraught and led to a rehab center named "New Dawn" that is evil and practices some type of aversion therapy.  Courtney/Anima rescues Slam, but gets captured herself.  Meanwhile, somewhere else, Maxilla Yale is trying to unleash the "mythogenic unconscious" through "oneiroshock" therapy on Courtney's mom, Willow.  I know that dry summaries of fantasy stories can make them sound a lot sillier and worse than they are, but Anima just isn't very good.

Issue # 3 reveals that the classic Batman villain The Scarecrow is behind the New Dawn clinic.  He puts in a call to Maxilla Yale about Courtney/Anima (bad guys always know each other!).  Courtney's mom and brother have dreams about her.  The members of Boojum decide to break into New Dawn to rescue her, and there's a big battle, but Courtney is kidnapped by Maxilla Yale. It sounds pretty chaotic, but according to my notes, it makes better sense than previous issues.  Also, Agent Woodlead arrives in town.

In Issue # 4, we realise that Courtney is happy to be at the Tellus facility,  It turns out that Maxilla Yale is her aunt.  However, Maxilla is still secretly evil and drugs Courtney with the Scarecrow's fear gas to bring out her Anima side.  We then learn about a sort of Jungian unconscious realm, where beings exist.  Courtney channels one called Animus.  Animus has a brother named Fenris, which is the one her mom is in contact with.  Both Animus and Fenris are fighting a bad guy called the Nameless One.  Anyway, Anima realises her aunt is evil and ages her as punishment.  Elsewhere, a member of Boojum named Liv is in the hospital with HIV.  The doc does a good job explaining the facts in a PSA-style.  Whew, writing these summaries is like running uphill!

I'm not really sure what happened in Issue # 5.  There's a big battle in Nevada, and something to do with portals, supercolliders, and Native American legends.  Also, Anima searches for the Nameless One before crashing in the desert and being found by a Navaho named "Gateway Woman".  My notes call the issue "random and unsatisfying".

Somehow, I am completely lost as if I missed an issue--but I didn't!  Issue # 6 fleshes out the mythos a bit more, as three robed figures (allies of Gateway Woman) are named as the "Archai" (good guys in this dream world), while Nameless One is leader of the "Mania" (bad guys).  Anima and Animus (in the dreamworld, they're separate) go to the Shadowlands and meet someone named "Lost Johnny".  Meanwhile, Boojum is heading to Los Angeles--I don't know why, or why we care.  Agent Woodleaf is in some weird Casablanca-like reality/dream/I don't know what.  And Courtney's brother Jeremy is plugged into Maxilla Yale's dream machine and releases a Mania called Eris.

The Zero Hour crossover comes to Anima with Issue # 7.  We get some key backstory.  In the dream world space dimension thing, Animus long ago imprisoned the Nameless One (his father) in ice.  But, the Nameless One planted his genes in the Mason family, which is why they're each able to serve as conduits for figures from that realm.  However, every time Courtney becomes Anima, a small hole in the barrier between dimensions opens up.  Jeremy's archetype-creature is an evil-doer named Eris and attacks Anima and her guide, Lost Johnny.  Oh, and Superman appears.

One of the annoying things about the Zero Hour crossover is the numbering confusion they created.  Issue # 0 of Anima (the eighth issue in series) is sort of an origin of the Nameless One (viewed by Jeremy in a weird music festival tattoo van?), but it would completely incomprehensible to new readers--thus failing the point of a crossover entirely.

Issue # 8 (the ninth issue in the series) has "Johnny Come Lately" and Anima arriving at the Palace of the Archai.  They go to find Animus, and find him fighting a shadow demon.  Meanwhile, Liv (the band member of Boojum with HIV) is revealed to be in love with Anima.  And Mania and the Nameless One are in Hollywood.  And mom/Fenris awakes!  I read all of these issues in order and took notes, and I'm still lost.

The good guys kill a dragon in Issue # 9, but Anima feels guilty.  They're looking for the Gate of Worlds.  Somehow, for some reason, Boojum and Fenris are in the Arkana dreamworld looking for Anima; when they do, everyone escapes back to earth but Anima finds herself in something like a post-apocalyptic alternate timeline.  Meanwhile, the Mania are going to become movie producers.  Talk about evil!

Superboy guest stars in Issue # 10 and explains how the Nameless One and Eris basically took over the world by hunting down super heroes, tattooing them, putting them in camps, etc.  It's basically the least believable alternative-timeline I can think of in comics, and I've seen a lot of them!  Jeremy gets persuaded by the Nameless One that his sister is evil, so Eris/Jeremy go to kill her in Hawaii.  They make up, and Jeremy reveals that the Nameless One has a big evil plan for the upcoming Oscars: to unleash nightmares on humanity!

Of all people, the guest star in Issue # 11 is Conan O'Brien!  He (along with sidekick Andy) have a major role to play in the issue, so it must have been an authorised appearance.  As the Nameless One starts his plan, it turns out Conan O'Brien is leader of an underground resistance group.  It's kinda stupid funny in a way.  In the Arkana dreamworld, Eris fights Animus and somehow they join together to become the Syzygy?  Anima imprisons the Nameless One insider her, and then heads off to find her dad.  It's almost like a season finale.  Alas, there's more.

Another guest start in Issue # 12: Hawkman.  Courtney and Boojum hitchhike to Chicago to find her boozer dad, but he's being inhabited by an evil entity called the Shrike and killing criminals.  Hawkman is there, and of course there's a big clash.  There's also a lot of poorly-aged anti-drug stuff.  The good news is the series is a lot easier to follow without all the Arkana stuff, even if it becomes a more conventional super hero tale.

Hawkman appears again in Issue # 13.  The plot concerns a gang-related shooting, but I lost track of who was who and why we care.

Issue # 14 has Boojum performing with the Barnaked Ladies in Gotham City!  Liv is getting pretty sick and contemplating suicide when a vampire-like villain with aging powers known as the "Granny Killer" (inadvertently created by Anima way back in Issue # 1--a nice piece of continuity) ages her almost to death.

I make fun, but Issue # 15 actually has a really sweet ending.  Liv, aged by the Granny Slayer, is on death's door and starting to drift into the afterlife, but rethinking her earlier desire to die.  Just as the Granny Slayer is about to finish the job, Anima stops him.  Boojum breaks up in a bittersweet epilogue.

The title character had a handful of appearances after the series ended before being killed off in 2009.  The problems with Anima are pretty obvious.  Too many characters, too confusing a mythos, too many subplots, and too much in a hurry throwing a lot of stuff at the wall.  A slower pace and clearer writing would have made the series much, much better.