Friday, July 16, 2010

2007 Paradise Press Inc. Justice League Unlimited Martian Manhunter Story Pages



To make up for lost time, I'd like to dive back into the 2007 kid's book that featured a Martian Manhunter origin and activity pages.

Appropriately, Martian Manhunter's origin was coupled with Batman's, re-teaming the Detective Comics cohabitants. As with all of the six page sequences, the last page features the spotlight hero alongside the Justice League. The full seven member original cartoon team was shown here flying straight down out of the sky past city buildings.

Next came "Mirror, Mirror"
Central City was under attack! From their Watchtower headquarters in orbit above Earth, the mighty Justice League heard the call for help...

The Flash was first on the Broome Street scene, but lost his footing under the ice blasts of Captain Cold! While the Scarlet Speedster tried to liberate two police officers from a frozen car, he was struck by a barrage of boomerangs. Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, and Wonder Woman were more than enough to send Captain Boomerang and Captain Cold fleeing. Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl gave chase, joined by the other heroes, but they were struck by a mysterious light that left the heroes weak as kittens. It was a plot hatched by the Mirror Master! "...I exposed you to my Mirror Ray, turning all of you into mirror images of yourselves and reversing your strengths into weaknesses."

The "helpless weaklings" allowed the crooks to escape, then returned to the Watchtower to view the three rogues sacking Central City with impunity. The Flash initially growled about his lost speed and Batman's dulled brains, until he realized he finally had time to do some clever thinking of his own. "'Amazing,' said Martian Manhunter."

Thereafter, the Justice League tracked the rogues to their latest job to stand against their thievery. Mirror Master didn't know how the super-heroes had shaken off his ray, but he could simply zap them again. Instead, the Mirror Ray struck a mirror the League had set up, reflecting a curing beam back at the team. Short work was made of the rogues, and Batman congratulated the Flash's fast thinking.

3 comments:

LissBirds said...

There's stories in these coloring books?! How cool is that? Why am I not a kid now?! No fair! I must convert my nephews to cool things like this. Too bad they're obsessed with Pokemon.

I took a closer look at the picture and said to myself, "Ha...they messed up and drew the Martian Manhunter twice!" And then the little dim lightbulb went off...

Diabolu Frank said...

I chose that picture specifically because the perspective was so challenging. Especially in black and white, it makes you pause to figure the thing out. It's like Escher with action figures.

LissBirds said...

Well, that makes me feel a little better. I bet children would be very confused by this.