Monday, April 5, 2010

2010 A Guide For Writing the Modern Martian Manhunter by LissBirds



Our regular commentator LissBirds' blog Comics Make Me Happy! has been almost a sister site to the Idol-Head blog, as its favorite topic to date has been the Manhunter from Mars. I still haven't started on my own planned essays on the subject, so I am absolutely compelled to promote her thoughtful series, A Guide For Writing the Modern Martian Manhunter, a.k.a. Top Ten Things Writers Need to Remember About the Martian Manhunter, or A Guide For Writing the Rebooted Martian Manhunter. They're all well considered, and even where I sometimes dispute her specifics, it's impossible to disregard her recommendations in general. Your mouth to Johns/Tomasi's ears...

  1. Stop trying to explain the weakness to fire.
  2. J'onn is a detective.
  3. Give him back his secret identity.
  4. J'onn J'onzz likes Earth.
  5. The non-question of J'onn's costume.
  6. Develop (and stick with) a unique Martian fighting style.
  7. Get the ethics right.
  8. Give the Manhunter From Mars a proper nemesis. 
  9. Give the Martian Detective a few supporting characters, and give him a place to go "home" to.
  10. Figure out who the Martian Manhunter is.

5 comments:

Tom said...

As I said on her blog, her guide should be the bible for Martian Manhunter writers.

LissBirds said...

Thanks for the feature, Frank! I love that little cover you made!

While I'm starting to disagree with some of my own recommendations, especially the earlier ones (my opinons on the specifics waver), Number 10 is the only one that I can wholeheartedly stand by.

It would be cool if Brightest Day wound up adopting one of these in their characterizatin of J'onn. To me it would be a tacit approval that I got things right.

As long as the (right verson of) Martian Manhunter sees some more popularity (and perhaps a solo miniseries), I'll be happy. I saw a Martian Manhunter JLU figure at Target today, so maybe his day is coming.

mathematicscore said...

A must read blog, to be sure.

will_in_chicago said...

This blog is must reading and offers up great insights into what has been done right and wrong with J'Onn J'Onzz. My hope is that someone at DC reads this and takes the recommendations seriously.

Luke said...

Thank you for the links, Frank, those were a great series of posts. Liss certainly has hit the nail on the head in a number of spots, and hopefully some folks at DC are using their Google to locate you two's thoughts on Big Green.