MARTIAN MANHUNTER ARCHIVES VOL. 5
Written by Jack Miller; Art and cover by Joe Certa
In the final volume in the MARTIAN MANHUNTER series, featuring HOUSE OF MYSTERY issues #151-173, the Alien Atlas squares off against foes such as Professor Arnold Hugo, the Devil Men of Pluto, the Mercurian Renegade, Martian Marauders, Thantos-- the 3-in-1 Man and more! After his ultimate battle with the Diabolu Idol-Head, the Sleuth from Outer Space assumes the new identity of international man of mystery Marco Xavier, as he battles the sinister Mr. V and the world-wide criminal organization Vulture! Join J'onn J'onzz and his other-dimensional pet Zook in one of the strangest series any comic book fan has ever experienced!
- Archive Editions
- 240pg.
- Color
- Hardcover
- $49.95 US
- ISBN 9781401217♂05
As far as I know, this is Tom Hartley's last volume cover, since there's no more black and white reprint art for him to recolor to dazzling vibrancy. I'll be happy to change my "solicitation copy" if he dives into the 1970s Manhunter from Mars stories, though I'm not sure there's enough pages in print to warrant another hardcover. The text was mostly culled from ad copy for THE DOOM PATROL ARCHIVES VOL. 5, though I also repurposed a bit from GREEN LANTERN ARCHIVES VOL. 5.
12 comments:
If there were a Vol. 6, it would have to be a collaboration between the two of us. You've read the stories that it would reprint, I haven't, so you would have to write the intro. I might be able to make good front and back cover mock-ups and TOC and Foreword illos if I had good quality, high-res scans to work with -- I'm thinking 600 dpi TIFF files. I might be able to remove the coloring, leaving just the line-art, and then re-color them. If I did it right, they would look just as good as my other Archives stuff.
Vol. 6 would probably reprint:
Justice League of America #71 (cover, 23 pg. story)
World's Finest Comics #212 (cover, 22 pg. story)
Justice League of America #115 (cover, 20 pg. story)
Adventure Comics #449-451 (6 pg. stories; 18 pp. total)
World's Finest Comics #245 (cover, 20 pg. story)
Justice League of America #144 (cover, 33 pg. story)
Justice League of America #177 (cover, 18 pg. story)
Justice League of America #178 (cover, 18 pg. story)
DC Comics Presents #27 (cover, 18 pg. story)
Detective Comics #500 (8 pg. story)
Although this is a Hawkman story, and MM only appears in a flashback, the story is a revisionist take on MM's origin.
Justice League of America #228 (cover, 23 pg. story)
Justice League of America #229 (cover, 23 pg. story)
Justice League of America #230 (cover, 23 pg. story)
That's 275 pages of reprinted material, for a total of 288 pages. Kinda' big, but I like how it comes full circle, from his leaving Earth and the JLA in JLA #71 so that he can help his fellow Martians find a new homeworld, to his returning to Earth to stop a Martian invasion, breaking off ties with his fellow Martians, and rejoining the JLA in #228-230.
We could easily cut 50 pages out of this. I'm game if you are. This would be a nice cover:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=490246&GSub=27917
I was also thinking Netzer should be the cover artist, but I'd like a more dynamic pose. Maybe there's an image from one of the Adventure Comics stories I could use.
I wouldn't want to cut any pages! MM plays a significant role in all of the stories listed. But just out of curiosity, what would you cut?
I'll check on the Netzer pages. There's only so many panels that don't cut off part of the figure (especially the cape.) Dillin is another option (like the corner box figure in my sidebar just above "Martian Manhunter International,") and Chuck Patton's cover images from JLofA #228 or 230 might work.
Possible cuts:
JLofA #115 (upstaged/smallish role)
JLofA #177 (only appears on last page)
DC Comics Presents #27 (incomplete story) Detective #500 (never read it, but know it by reputation.)
Total: 64 pages
Plus, the elephant in the room, what about JLofA #200?
I didn't like Detective 500...but I don't like retcons in general. I don't even really like retconning done in the Martian Manhunter '88 special (though I admired the writing and the story.)
Plus, in Tec 500, J'onn isn't technically in the story--just a one panel flashback. *shrugs*
...all that, plus it's a major Martian Manhunter retcon in a Hawkman story. Boundaries like that should not be crossed. It's inconsiderate at best, which is why I've avoided even mentioning it in the past. It wasn't even necessarily in continuity Pre-Crisis, and was wiped Post-Crisis for certain. That story has bad karma.
Even if J'Onn himself doesn't play a big role in JLA #115, the story concerns his people and their continuing search for a new homeworld. Unless you really, really hate this story, I'd like to include it.
I would want the complete 2-part story from JLA #177-178, even if J'Onn only appears on the last page of part 1. #177 stays.
DC Comics Presents #27 may be part of a larger saga, but it's a major appearance by J'Onn. I wouldn't bother with reprinting the COMPLETE multi-part saga, however, because unlike JLA #177, which only requires adding 17 pages without J'Onn (cover & the first 16 story pages), reprinting the complete Jim Starlin epic would reprinting several entire issues with no J'Onn.
We can toss Detective #500, but that's only 8 pages. Now we have a 280-page book.
Other than the 5-page fight with Firestorm, J'Onn doesn't do much in JLA #200. Besides, it's 74 pages (72-page story + wraparound cover). A 280-page Martian Manhunter Vol. 6 is almost within the realm of possibility, but 350 pages is ridiculous. Yes, I know there was a 400-page Dr. Fate Archives volume, but that was a done-in-one, a complete collection of Golden Age Dr. Fate stories. Action Heroes Vol. 2 was also over 300 pages, but that was a Steve Ditko collection. There wouldn't be any compelling reason to do a 350-page Martian Manhunter Vol. 6, so if JLA #200 were included, another 70+ pages of material would have to be sacrificed. Would you rather have JLA #200 than JLA #228-230? Maybe the 5-page fight with Firestorm could be reprinted out of context, but since it's just a fight-scene, it wouldn't make for very satisfying reading.
And to those who say that since it's an imaginary book, it can be as many pages as we want, I would answer that a game is no fun unless there are some rules. I want this to be a book that DC might actually publish (even though they never will).
Tom, you cut or keep whichever pages you like. You're the editor of the "Archive Editions," so just give me any variance in price the extra pages might incur, and you're set. I was just opining, not criticizing. It's fun to debate.
As for JLofA #200, you're right about it being inessential, and DC hates overlap, so it would be neutralized by the George Perez hardcover collections. It wouldn't be as much of a logistical challenge as you say though, since Vol.6 could just reprint the bookend/vignette portions and the Manhunter/Firestorm segment. Arguably, the latter informs the Nuclear Man's hostility and suspicion of J'onn in "War of the Worlds:1984."
I rather like that the astrological symbol for Mars was included in the ISBN. Though I don't think the Library of Congress will take gladly to that.
I thought that would be a nice send-off change-up, but it appears there's one more to go...
I really like the cover image. What story is it from?
It's from House of Mystery #172. See pg. 576 of the 2nd Showcase Presents volume.
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