Monday, April 28, 2014

2013 New 52 Martian Manhunter Aborted Series Promo Art by Brad Walker

Click To Enlarge Original B&W Art


You guys are slipping. I run a Martian Manhunter blog, and repeatedly jumped at bait regarding the possibility of a New 52 solo series, with nothing ever coming of it. Finally, for the first time since 2011, fairly conclusive news of at least some plans having been made for such a prospect emerged... in November... and none of you told me. I had to hear about it on "the street." You're supposed to drop by and leave a comment so that I of all people am not the last to know.

Cosmic Book News (who?) broke the pseudo-story a few days before Turkey Day 2013, so that might have contributed to the collective lack of acknowledgment on teh internet, though I'm sure it being an Alien Atlas alert couldn't have helped burn up much bandwidth. Aside from a single image and its artist Brad Walker's involvement to some unexplored degree, there was nothing else to report. I hit up Walker on Twitter to see if I could dig up any more dirt and, yeah, nope...
"No info to give, really. Just one of those things they were thinking about doing that ended up falling through...

This happens all the time. It was one of several series from that time that didn't pan out."
Best known for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy, along with runs on Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Secret Six, Walker would have been fantastic on J'Onn J'Onzz. I like his stuff a lot, and wish it crossed over with my reading habits more. On the other hand, the Martian Marvel versus anonymous military/SWAT guys? You want to read that? Because me and all the other people on this planet? Don't. If the big fat failure of the 2006 mini-series should have taught us anything, it's that a Manhunter that overemphasizes his otherness while using Superman-class powers against mere humanity does not sell like hotcakes. That's urban vigilante crap. These guys wouldn't make an impressive showing against Nightwing, but they threw in "bulletproof" and "laser vision" to ensure minimal stakes. No word on a writer, and the promo concept was probably cooked up by DC's cancerous editorial, so no great loss beyond Walker. It's a hell of a Goldenesque pin-up, at least. I tried to color it in with my paltry MS Paint SKLZ, but it was so packed with detail I gave up part way through. See the unadulterated, larger-sized art here.

3 comments:

LissBirds said...

Wow, this is the first I've heard of this...so I really am slipping.

For me, now, it's more fun to think of what something would've been like rather than seeing it actually happen. (Given DC's track record.)

But...I did hear news about a Justice League movie recently. And that they cast Cyborg for Batman vs. Superman. I'm pretty sure what that means.

Diabolu Frank said...

Generally speaking, the "coulda beens" we customize in our brains are always going to be better.

Yeah, Cyborg. I wonder if Warner Brothers will even see the Jim Rhodes rip-off slams fanboys and regular audiences will levy at them? I guess somebody has to be the Hawkeye of the Avengers movie.

Between the Vision, the Hulk, Drax, and the casting of Jason Mamoa in some capacity, I sincerely hope J'Onn J'Onzz avoids the cluster of derivation, second choices and under-performance that will be Zack Snider's film.

will_in_chicago said...

I had not heard of this possible series before. Honestly, I don't know whethere I should hope that J'Onn J'Onnzz appears in the film. Perhaps it is because I am not sure that the writers and others involved in the project understand the characters so far revealed to be int he film.