You're just assuming that a rat's life is somehow less important than a human life. Who's to say that's true? Think about it for a minute. What makes a human being any more important to the universe than a rat? I mean, think about it. 
- — Buddy Baker
Animal Man #6 is an issue of the series Animal Man (Volume 1) with a cover date of Holiday, 1988. It was published on November 3, 1988.
Synopsis for "Birds of Prey"
Thanagarian agents Rokara Soh and Skalla Kol journey towards Earth. Rokara, an artist, imbibes a fatal poison known as Hellshade. Before he dies however, he intends on detonating a lifebomb - a weapon that contains the sum total of his life experiences inside of it. Anyone caught within its blast radius will experience Rokara's entire history before dying.
The warship enters Earth's atmosphere and flies over the California shoreline. Buddy Baker and Roger Denning notice it's flight path and Buddy decides to investigate. He meets Skalla Kol and begins fighting with her. Skalla is a true warrior, and begins savagely beating on Animal Man with her mace. Buddy disengages her Nth Metal wings, and the sudden absence of gravity sends her flying high into the air.
Rokara meanwhile prepares to detonate his Lifebomb. Animal Man tries to stop him, but his powers tap into the Thanagarian's psyche and he mentally experiences Rokara's entire life since birth. Buddy thinks that Rokara has already activated the bomb.
Suddenly, Animal Man's perceptions return to normal. The bomb is inactive, and standing in front of it is Hawkman who glibly remarks, "All you had to do was switch it off."
Appearing in "Birds of Prey"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Alien Alliance
- Dominators (Mentioned only)
- Khunds (Mentioned only)
- Thanagarians
- Hadrak (Mentioned only)
- Skala Kol (First appearance; dies)
- Rokara Soh (First appearance; dies) (Flashback and main story)
Other Characters:
- Hawkman (Fel Andar) (Cameo)
Locations:
Items:
- Lifebomb
- Nth Metal Wings
- Thanagarian Mace
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Animal Man Vol. 1 and Animal Man Omnibus.
- This issue is an Invasion! First Strike extra, and a tie-in to the larger story told in the Invasion! miniseries. These crossovers take place in between Invasion! #1 and Invasion! #2, largely dealing with the Alien Alliance's assault on Earth and the way heroes around the world were participating in the initial war effort.
- Animal Man appears next in Captain Atom (Volume 2) #24.
- Fel Andar's appearance in this issue is the subject of a retcon. Originally, it was Hawkman (Katar Hol) who appeared in this issue, but events revealed in Hawkworld (Volume 2) retroactively replaced him with Fel Andar.
