Monday, December 6, 2010

1989 Mayfair Games DC Heroes The Sandman Character Card



Referencing H'ronmeer has been the Manhunter's "Suffering Sappho" since the most famous Martian deity was created by J.M. DeMatteis in 1986, but he was neither the first nor the last. Bel Juz thanked the unheard from since Vrom in 1972, the Faustian Neron was known on Mars in Underworld Unleashed, and there's always the Lovecraftian Scary Monsters.

The alluded to but never paid off mention I always found the most interesting was made by Neil Gaiman in an early issue of The Sandman. It seemed Morpheus' influence stretched beyond the Earth, as he was presumably worshiped on Mars as Lord L'Zoril. Even if Morpheus was only assuming the appearance of L'Zoril, this moment established a power beyond H'ronmeer amongst J'Onn's people. Seeing as J'Onzz has never referenced L'Zoril again, one assumes J'Onn isn't as devout a follower as he is of H'ronmeer (whom he's also "met,") so I guess his response was along the lines of the same respect I'd show Ganesh if he showed up at my doorstep. It wouldn't instantly convert me to Hinduism, especially as a citizen of the DC Universe, but it would certainly take the wind out of me.



At one time, Lobo was theorized as potentially being the "lost" member of The Endless, the seemingly omnipotent clan of Morpheus. It turned out that Destruction was a red-headed dude who was more interested in creating art than wrecking nations. Curiously, H'ronmeer is usually depicted as a vaguely anthropomorphic reddish energy entity often composed of smoke and fire who also deals in destruction and creation. I always thought it would be cool if the Endless were the primary deities of Mars, and teased the notion in my The Martian Manhunter #150 fanfic. Any such thing seemed unlikely for years due to DC wanting to keep Gaiman happier than they did Alan Moore, but with Vertigo partially reintegrating into DC proper and the company becoming cavalier enough to throw Death into a Lex Luthor story, who knows?

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