2016 Ma'alefa'ak Comicpalooza Commission by James Ferry

Ma'alefa'ak is the evil twin brother of J'Onn J'Onzz introduced in Post-Zero Hour continuity as the creator of "H'ronmeer's Curse," the plague that wiped out Martian civilization. As "Malefic," he continued to menace the Martian Manhunter until his apparent demise. To date, Ma'alefa'ak is the only villain created to fight the Alien Atlas to be adapted by an outside medium, via the animated movie Justice League: Doom.

After Ferry's jam contribution featuring The Master Gardener of Mars, I figured I'd get another good looking Who's Who style profile image, this time of Malefic. See, I liked the Doom cartoon redesign a little too much and gotten a bunch of commissions of it instead of how he looked in the actual comics. However, Ferry wasn't satisfied to meet that expectation, and instead exceeded it with a fully realized work of art featuring a sea of floating reverse-teardrop rocky (icy?) masses floating in midair while Ma'alefa'ak malefically (an actual word I had to research, because "meleficently" is not one) contemplates Jodorowsky's Incal as big fluffy clouds roll by. The Mœbius influence is obvious, and appreciated, because this piece is the closest I'll ever get to owning a Jean Giraud original. It's a beauty!

James Ferry

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Podcast- John Ostrander & Mark Verheiden at Comicpalooza 2016

Episode #27

Look for us on iTunes, ShoutEngine or directly download an art-tagged MP3 from the Internet Archive

Straight out of Comicpalooza - Texas' Largest Comic & Pop Culture Event comes new interviews with screenwriter/producer Mark Verheiden discussing his work on J'Onn J'Onzz and Zook in Secret Origins and Superman/Batman, then writer John Ostrander covering his three year run on the 1998 Martian Manhunter ongoing series.


We enjoy dialogue on the red planet, so here are our non-telepathic contact options:

• Tweet host Diabolu Frank directly, or probe @rolledspine as a group.
• Email Diabolu
• If the main Idol-Head of Diabolu blog isn't your thing, try the umbrella Rolled Spine Podcasts.

Podcast: The Top 10 Most Important Martian Manhunter Villains

Episode #10

Look for us on iTunes, ShoutEngine or directly download an art-tagged MP3 from the Internet Archive

As part of the sixth seasonal Super Blog Team-Up's theme of top ten lists, Frank offers an audio synopsis of the series of essays The Ten Most Important Martian Manhunter Adversaries from 2010, which has held up pretty well these past four years since nothing much ever happens to the Alien Atlas, even during a line wide reboot. The "new kid" on this particular block debuted in 1998, and how many foes of the New 52 Manhunter can you name, anyway?

• DC Bloodlines Podcast #1: The Top 10 Bloodlines Characters
• Between The Pages: Top 10 Wackiest DC Comics Covers
• The SuperHero Satellite: Top 10 DC Comics Titles That Ended Before Their Time
• Longbox Graveyard: Top 10 Super-Dogs
• Legion Of Super-Bloggers: Legion Who's Who Top Ten!
• The Marvel Superheroes Podcast: Top 10 Avengers (An Age of Ultron Tie-In)
• The Unspoken Decade: Top 10 Avengers Moments
• In My Not So Humble Opinion: Top 10 Avengers Sketches
• Chasing Amazing: Top 10 Favorite Moments Of The "Chase"
• Bronze Age Babies: The Top 10 Bronze Age Characters
• Too Dangerous For A Girl!: Ten Best Super-Heroic Hairstyles
• Mystery V-Log: Top 10 Avengers Covers
• Flodo’s Page: Top 10 Green Lantern Ring-Slings ...That Don’t Appear In Modern Continuity
• Vic Sage Via The Retroist: Top Ten Comic Character Deaths
• I’m The Gun: The 10 Best All-Star Squadron Covers!
• Mystery V-Log: Top 10 Avengers Covers
• Fantastiverse: Top 10 Avengers Greatest Super Battles
• #SuperBlogTeamUp

We enjoy dialogue on the red planet, so here are our non-telepathic contact options:

• Tweet host Diabolu Frank directly, or probe @rolledspine as a group.
• Email Diabolu
• If the main Idol-Head of Diabolu blog isn't your thing, try the umbrella Rolled Spine Podcasts.

Malefic vs. Black Adam

Ma'alefa'ak
Debut: 1998
Nemesis: Martian Manhunter
Other Major Foes: The JLA
Appearances: 15+ comics
Powers: Flight, shape-shifting, Laser Vision and other heightened ocular abilities, nigh-invulnerability, invisibility, intangibility, and superhuman strength/ speed/ physique/ senses/ reflexes/ endurance and sometimes telepathy.

Bio: Ma'alefa'ak is the evil twin brother of J'Onn J'Onzz, established from birth by his own mother as the darkness to the Martian Manhunter's light. Ma'alefa'ak molested and killed much of his extended family, including being credited with unleashing a plague that wiped out most of the inhabitants of Mars.

Vile Menagerie Stats
Win: Asmodel (13-6); Bizarro (11-3), Commander Blanx (5-2); Darkseid (?); Despero (9-7); Fernus (18-5); The Hyperclan (10-4); The Master Gardener (13-5)
Lose: Despero (?)
Draw: 0



Teth-Adam
Debut: 1945
Nemesis: Captain Marvel
Other Major Foes: Marvel Family, JSA, Superman
Appearances: Nearly 400 comics; animation and audiobooks.
Powers: Super strength/speed/stamina/senses, invulnerability, magical lightning bolts and flight.

Bio: Teth-Adam was a champion empowered by the wizard Shazam in ancient Egypt. Corrupted by his power, Black Adam was banished to a distant star, and spent thousands of years flying back to Earth. Once there, he battled the Marvel Family, and eventually, much of the rest of the DC Universe. He nearly eradicated all human, animal and insect life in the country of Bialya.

Vile Menagerie Stats:
Win: B'enn B'urnzz (5-1)
Lose: 0
Draw: 0




Idol Speculation:
This is one of the nastiest and mightiest pairings that could be put together. Ma'alefa'ak hasn't displayed powers comparable to the upper limits of Black Adam, but he's also never been Geoff Johns' pet villain given carte blanche during an event. Like Captain Marvel, Teth-Adam's power levels have never been consistent, which explains how he could be a piker from when DC started licensing him in the the '70s to his reintroduction as a wholly-owned character Post-Crisis and his being the Marvel Family whipping boy throughout the '90s. A few times a decade, Superman would throw Black Adam a charity beating just to keep him in the public eye. He's no sacred cow, and he's hardly unbeatable.

Meanwhile, Ma'alefa'ak is J'Onn J'Onzz's evil twin brother. If he still has his psychic barriers in place, he has all of the Martian Manhunter's physical powers and none of his major weaknesses. If he's got his full telepathy, Malefic will not hesitate to mentally brutalize Black Adam, and that "feel the pain of the world" crap that sent J'Onn off the deep end during 52 wouldn't bother a homicidal maniac like Ma'al. Invisible, intangible, incognito via shape-shifting: Malefic has every first strike advantage without any hesitation or remorse in using them. Teth-Adam has sunk to new lows in the New 52 by murdering his own nephew to claim the power of Shazam, but Ma'alefa'ak scoffs at mere child killing when he telepathically raped his sister-in-law, destroyed his mother's mind, orchestrated his father's death, and then loosed a plague that wiped out most of Mars, including his own child niece.

Black Adam goes hard, but he still has a twisted sense of nobility. Anything he would do, Malefic would do harder, faster, gleefully with maximum suffering. Ma'alefa'ak hasn't made nearly as many appearances as Black Adam, but he's served quality each time, assailing whole JLA teams. Make no mistake, win or lose, no one walks away from this in one piece...

2013 New 52 Villain’s Month: Malefic #1!

MALEFIC #1
• “Darkness in the Heart”
• Finally, the truth can be revealed! Once, J'ONN J'ONZZ had a younger brother named Ma'al, named for his "Heart," who adored and emulated him. Today, only the sadistic Green Martian terrorist Ma'alefa'ak remains! What could have turned this once gentle youth into a mass-murdering psychopath, and what role did COMMANDER BLANX play in the transformation? How will the MARTIAN MANHUNTER confront his own blood turned bad? Find out here!
• Written by the acclaimed David Lapham (YOUNG LIARS, Stray Bullets)!
• Art by Jamal Igle and Ray Kryssing!
• Learn the untold history of the New 52!
 

Spinning out of the pages of the New 52 Martian Manhunter ongoing series as part of Villain’s Month! Hey, I'm sure May has its fair share of fools, as well. This one was done quick and rough, partly because I'm either having trouble with DC's garbage late '90s paper stock, or my scanner is finally crapping out after a decade of hardy service.

Miss Martian: Martian Manhunter Mates March Madness Maven 2013

Click To Enlarge


The corrupted white Miss Martian took the corpse of Scorch in her tendrils, ripped it to little bits, and spun with such ferocity that the dismembered portions turned into projectiles, which killed Gypsy and everyone else at the Middleton Police Ball.

"Fantastic" applauded the Interferer. "Bravura! Now that's my kind of action! A masterstroke!" Ma'alefa'ak continued to grouse, until he was nagged into focus by something at the periphery of his awareness. Psychically gazing over the carnage in Middleton, Ma'alefa'ak noted a lack of finer detail in the gore-- too much blood-- not enough gristle. There was something else though. What was it?

At the annual Apex Picnic, Patrolwoman Diane Meade smiled as the children played and all her fellow officers got along swimmingly. Everything was back to a peaceful norm in Middletown, just like they'd planned...



"Middleton? Wasn't it Middletown? Middletown! Curse L'Zoril to the armpit of Neron!" Ma'alefa'ak was once quite adept at telepathy, capable of lobotomizing his own mother, a Manhunter. Yet, he could not prevent a Martian council from stripping his psychic abilities away, nor were his memories left intact following a fictionalized rewriting of his life upon his very brain. Handicapped for untold time, Ma'alefa'ak was perhaps not the mentalist M'gann M'orzz was, especially when she used her abilities to amplify the illusionist Gypsy. As the perception of perverse horrors fell away, Scorch stood revealed, uncomfortably close to Malefic. You see, it was Ma'alefa'ak who had unleashed a telepathic plague upon his own people in retaliation against his hobbling, but his restored and comparatively atrophied mental strength was not well trained to resist the deadly allure of open flames. "H'ronmeer... H'ronmeer... J'Onn! J'Oooooonnnnn..." Flickering embers in Ma'alefa'ak's eyes sparked a spontaneous combustion of his material form, seemingly ending his reign of terror forevermore.



Diane Meade had been the first to recognize the adulteration of her idyllic Middletown, and formulated the start of a plot to expel the corrupting elements. Gypsy had the most experience with multiversal intrigue, and her secret ties to the magical world afforded assistance and direction from clandestine allies. Aubrey Sparks' resistance to telepathy and teleportation abilities were key in connecting all of the opposing forces, not to mention defeating Malefic. Miss Martian was the muscle, amplifying everyone's abilities and concealing the operation with her superior psychic prowess. M'gann was also the one who decked the Interferer. "You creep! You weasel! The disgusting thoughts in your head make me want to... do this!" A kick! A jab! "How could anybody want to put people through this garbage? It's just endless tragedy and brutality! Where's the truth-- the insight-- the joy in that?"



As M'gann M'orzz pummeled the Interferer, a coven encircled the pair. Bloodwynd had of course survived his "battle" with Scorch, hovering invisibly until Aubrey could smuggle him the Book of Diabolu, and he teleported himself to his confederates. Bloodwynd was joined by fellow mages Malador, Strega, Doctor Samedi, and Nemesus. While the wizard Diabolu read a spell from his eponymous tome, Malador scowled, "We are of the Vile Menagerie of Martian Manhunter adversaries. You are the author of the many defeats of one Irwin Schwab. You meddle in affairs not of your concern." Strega added, "Yeah, know your role, milk turd. You're voted off the island!" At the command of Diabolu, the reconstituted Idol-Head opened, drawing the Interferer inside. Shrinking but hanging for dear life from the edges of the magical trap, Clarence Tuland was defiant. "Haters! It doesn't matter what you do to me! None of this matters! You're all old news! The New rules all, and your freakin' Alien Atlas is long gone from this tired scene!" With that, the Interferer was gone, sealed in a magical box from a long gone era.



"What the hell" queried Aubrey Sparks. "This was all for nothing?" M'gann M'orzz argued, "Of course not. Diane Meade's Earth is safe among the infinites, and we've helped to make our own a better place, with or without J'Onn J'Onzz." Cindy Reynolds chimed in, "Look, I went through a few crises in my day, and let me tell you, the more things seem to change, the more they end up being the same. I'll always be a smartmouth sneak, M'gann will always be a sweetheart with a dark secret, and you'll alwa--" With that, Gypsy appeared to fade from existence. "Oh Christ, now what?"

Bloodwynd observed the strange occurrence, but was comforted by the unlikelihood of any of his party crossing over into the DCnÜ anytime soon. Meanwhile, Strega asked Diabolu how the Interferer was enjoying being stuck in a box with all of the beasties the wizard had locked up for centuries. "Oh, about that. It seems my Idol-Head emptied its contents before we could use it..." Bloodwynd wondered if perhaps the Idol-Head had an analogue in the new universe after all...

Coming in March 2014: The Isle of Diabolu....

Ma'alefa'ak's March Madness 2013: The Championship

Blood trailed down the length of Scorch's thigh, barely perceptible against her crimson flesh as it mingled with her profuse sweat. Her breasts heaved as her taut body fought against the evil White Miss Martian's probing tentacles (which, while manifesting from her fingertips, in no way diminished the appeal of her svelte post-adolescent frame.

"Lovin' it!" cried the Interferer. The bald behemoth couldn't help but insert his own interests into the narrative for maximum personal appeal, but Ma'alefa'ak was distracted from the present events. He had attacked his brother's friends and allies at four key points without the slightest reservations, but despite his increasingly appalling transgressions, his intended audience was nowhere to be found. Where was J'Onn J'Onzz, and how could he sit by, allowing these horrors to be perpetrated against his loved ones?

Diane Meade woke up with a knot on her head, but was otherwise unharmed. "What happened? Who stopped those ghastly creatures?" Chief Harding and the men of the Middletown Police Department chuckled. "The little lady must have had quite a tumble, boys. We'd better get her checked out by the doctor." Sally Winter felt bad about having spiked that volleyball, and was a little less patronizing, but was perplexed when her fellow patrolwoman again asked about Karen Smith and Patty Marie. "Who?" This was Middletown's annual Apex Picnic, held each year during the one season when spontaneous meteor showers weren't a concern. No one there had ever heard of any Officer Thomas Lappas or sordid newcasters like Spencer Lee. Diane was comforted by this, but remained suspicious...

Scorch had her mind tampered with by J'Onn J'Onzz and Fernus, and the damage done then helped her fight off the compulsions of Ma'alefa'ak. She had also tried to protect her universe from the Interferer, keeping the Book of Diabolu out of the hands of his amalgamated agent, The Erdel. Scorch had teleported the book to Gypsy before being cast away to Mars II and certain defeat against M'gann M'orzz. Now all of their fates were in the hands of Gypsy and her mysterious benefactors...

Cynthia "Cindy" Reynolds had seemed to others like a suburban runaway who affected the trappings of the gypsy like a valley girl appropriating "street" culture. However, there had always been nagging questions as she hid her legitimate ties to the Roma in plain sight. This made her more sensitive to the magic of the sorcerers, and more adept to serve as their protected agent against the manipulations of the Interferer and Ma'alefa'ak. Together, they had collected all the scattered pieces of the Idol-Head, the last acquired from a necklace around Diane Meade's neck, as well as successfully shunted the first universe to preserve its integrity. Now, Miss Martian had traveled from Mars II, and the final confrontation was at hand within Gypsy's sanctuary, the House of Mystery...

2012 “Vil24: Ma'alefa'ak J'onzz Cubee” by Joshua Wolf

Click To Enlarge


Following in the tradition of Triumph and Cay'an comes a third Vile Menagerie monstrosity, Malefic! I think Cubees are a cute way to land on a holiday of very opposing sympathies to the genocidal extraterrestrial loony tune that has dominated our March. I'd be willing to try out Ma'alefa'ak Month as an annual affair, but I exhausted a lot of the available material to be found on the internet, so that might be a stretch content-wise. I think we'll give over May 2014 to him, if I can get myself together enough to fill the month with coverage of the issues of Martian Manhunter and JLA: Classified he appeared in before dying out. Maybe we'll even have a New 52 version by then?

Joshua Wolf's Villains Cubees

• Ambush Bug @ DC Bloodlines
• Doctor Light @ Power of the Atom
• Giganta @ Diana Prince is the New Wonder Woman
• Professor Ivo @ Justice League Detroit

Malefic versus Bizarro

Malefic
Debut: 1998
Nemesis: Martian Manhunter
Other Major Foes: The JLA
Appearances: 15+ comics
Powers: Flight, shape-shifting, Laser Vision and other heightened ocular abilities, nigh-invulnerability, invisibility, intangibility, and superhuman strength/ speed/ physique/ senses/ reflexes/ endurance and sometimes telepathy.

Bio: Ma'alefa'ak is the evil twin brother of J'Onn J'Onzz, established from birth by his own mother as the darkness to the Martian Manhunter's light. Ma'alefa'ak killed and molested much of his extended family, including being credited with unleashing a plague that killed most of the inhabitants of Mars.

Vile Menagerie Stats
Win: Asmodel (13-6); Commander Blanx (5-2); Darkseid (?); Despero (9-7); Fernus (18-5); The Hyperclan (10-4); The Master Gardener (13-5)
Lose: Despero (?)
Draw: 0




Bizarro
Debut: 1958
Nemesis: Superman
Other Major Foes: Lex Luthor, Superman Family
Appearances: 350+ comics, newspaper strips, animation, video games and live action television.
Powers: Flight, flame breath, vacuum breath, freeze vision and other bizarre ocular powers, invulnerability, and superhuman strength/ speed/ physique/ senses/ reflexes/ endurance.

Bio: Bizarro is a flawed duplicate of Superman whose power set works in a contrary version of the Man of Steel's. At various times, he has existed on a whole world of like creatures, or been a lonely creature with nothing like him in existence. Sometimes the product of science, other times magic, Bizarro is always an unstable, unpredictable, overwhelming force of the unnatural kind. Bizarro typically does not understand the difference between good and evil, is easily confused/confusing, and often actively attempts to do the opposite of whatever he interprets as Superman's actions.

Vile Menagerie Stats:
Win: 0
Lose: 0
Draw: 0




Idol Speculation:
Given Bizarro's tendencies, a team-up would be more likely than a brawl, but the reverse-Superman does seem to have a bit of a soft spot for life that Malefic would chafe against. Bizarro is problematic, but he/it does function within uncertain, garbled ethical parameters. Malefic has the raw power and lack of compunctions to take down Bizarro by any of the considerable means at his disposal, and I expect he could do so, as long as Bizarro doesn't have time to mount a response. Breathing fire and having most of the same powers as Malefic to a greater degree could make life very hard on a Martian psychopath.

Ma'alefa'ak's March Madness 2013: The Final Four

King Faraday took the green rock from out of his pocket and placed it in Carré's mystical artifact detector. After a brief period of analysis, it determined that there were numerous positive readings throughout Europe, and a simple adjustment in scope soon projected finds throughout the continent. "J'onn J'onzz" certainly was thorough." Faraday's keen analytic mind detected something amiss-- that the large concentration of artifact fragments gathered by the Harovian Royal Family were nowhere to be found in the kingdom. Instead, the loudest ping directed King toward a very specific area of the Mediterranean. Even more intriguing, this locale appeared to be a focal point of magical activity. Most curious of all, a JLI teleportation tube had been installed inside, which allowed Faraday to make the trip in record time through his Checkmate connections.



Gypsy had followed J'Onn's directions to the posh villa where he had once made his home under the alias "Marco Xavier." It remained one of the Martian Manhunter's getaways, though its installation of teleportation technology and tethering to the sorcerous property dubbed the "House of Mystery" meant that it wasn't exactly a quiet retreat. Gypsy had gained J'Onzz's trust through their time together in the Justice League, and Cindy Reynolds had agreed during their Task Force days to observe certain protocols should an alarm go off from the villa. J'Onn had taken great pains to destroy and scatter the heinous device of a deceased warlock, but had become aware of Prince Rudolph's attempts to reconstitute it as part of a metaphysical "nuclear deterrent." This had attract the attention of a whole Illuminati of concerns interested in staking their own claim to the resource. This included Checkmate, who sent one of their top agents to procure a detection system developed by the Carré company. However, in Faraday's haste, he had failed to consider that he was teleporting into the home of a metahuman with an assigned protector capable of broadcasting illusions while simultaneously demonstrating martial skills learned from no less a light than the Bronze Tiger. Under the circumstances, Faraday never stood a chance...



In Middletown, Patrolwoman Diane Meade had been secretly pursuing a case with potentially terrifying consequences. After capturing and questioning the Conjurer she learned that a true wizard had come to the metropolis to unearth the idol-head which had killed her friend and associate Detective John Jones years earlier. The city's own former guardian super-hero, the Manhunter from Mars, had left town to avenge Jones by locating and destroying the idol-head. Already, this mage had corrupted the minds of her fellow officers, causing them to attempt murder against one another. Meade had fought hard against her own friends to save them from themselves, but was now confronted with the reanimated corpses of private investigator Karen Smith, long dead child star Patty Marie, and now Detective John Jones his own self. What Meade didn't know was that she had really been compromised by the telepathic suggestions of Ma'alefa'ak, and that Gypsy's attempt to sooth her with the illusion of a fallen friend only placed her in the same crosshairs as John's long gone associates...



Erdel may have given up knowledge required for the research and development into the technology needed to locate the broken pieces of the Diabolu Idol-Head, but they would have little value without the supernatural wisdom required to reactive the vessel. Erdel recognized the need for the long lost tome hidden in the Martian Manhunter's forgotten mountain lair, the Book of Diabolu. However, his research had attracted unwanted attention, including the agent of darkness born Aubrey Sparks. Scorch teleported into the lair, lived up to her name by roasting Erdel, and vanished in a puff of smoke with a hard won spellbook...

Bel Juz had survived the destruction of her home world by Commander Blanx and the long trip to a new world dubbed Mars II through deceit and cunning, but she had little in the way of raw power when compared to a dynamo like Miss Martian. With the heroine under the psychic spell of Ma'alefa'ak and freed from any soft-hearted gullibility or mercy that Bel could play upon, Juz fell to her terrible fury. However, before Ma'alefa'ak had any time to gloat, a new combatant appeared from distant Earth. J'onn J'onzz had taken one piece of the Idol-Head with him to Mars II, and Scorch would go through anyone to get it back. It wouldn't be easy though, since Ma'alefa'ak's forcing M'gann M'orzz into her white-skinned future form made her invulnerable to flames...

2012 Ma'alefa'ak Custom Action Figure by “mr_mxyzptlk05”

Click To Enlarge

"I had an extra Martian and couldn't quite dedcide waht to do with it. Modern? White Lantern? Ma'alefa'ak? Justice Lords? Almost went with Justice Lords, but decided I'd rather have another villain on the shelf instead. Based his appearance mostly on his look ing "Doom" but researched the character and found no consistancy to his look, so I took some liberties. Wanted to keep the "rain catcher" on the cape, but couldn't get the look to come out right. Used sculpy on the head, paint, fabric for the collar, and real chain.

Enjoy!"

Oh, I do, and so can you with more perspective shots here!

Ma'alefa'ak's March Madness 2013: The Elite Eight

When J’onn J’onzz was first stranded on Earth, he chose to make his home in quaint, quirky Middletown U.S.A. Joining the local police department, “John Jones” served as a detective for many years alongside the proud patrols of the fair city. Today, the burg hosts a law enforcement convention that has attracted luminaries from across the nation… to their grisly demise...

It was surely career suicide, but Patrolwoman Diane Meade drew her service revolver and ordered Captain Harding to the ground. Looking past her superior officer, Meade saw Karen Smith and Patty Marie turn from an adversarial stance to lock their cold, dead eyes on her. Meade shuddered as they slowly approached her, and beyond the pair, spied another figure from the past thought long dead...

An apartment in Middletown was no place to keep a super-powered otherdimensional pet, so the Martian Manhunter moved with Zook to a secret mountain headquarters accessible only through a passage the size of a mail slot. That was no problem for the elastic form of Zook, but it was an issue for the host of unwanted visitors clambering about the area...

Zook tracked Scorch and attempted to encase her in a block of ice with his cold generation power. The other-dimensional pet underestimated the heat Scorch was putting out though, and was entirely too close when his ice turned to suffocating steam, causing the imp to pass out. Aubrey Sparks cooled down, and set Zook's tiny form in a safe patch of ground as she continued her search...

Ben Stoves faired no better than Zook, practically drowning in his own sweat while trapped in his Human Squirrel suit. Between Jupiter's snapping and the hazards of a blazing forest, Erdel was able to almost absentmindedly put the ex-convict down with some gadget or another. The inventor was preoccupied with a handheld device that allowed him to take remote control of the robot brain housed within the secret mountain lair and teleport himself inside. Once there, Erdel browsed the curiosities and trophies collected by the Manhunter from Mars, seeking out a specific item...

"For some time, J'onn J'onzz was active in the Mediterranean under the orders of a special secret department to demolish the world-wide criminal organization VULTURE and unmask its faceless leader, Mister V. J'onzz assumed the identity of international playboy Marco Xavier, taking up residence in the posh villa of the assumed dead accomplice to VULTURE..."

Perkins Preston cried, "You look like an angel, but you're the devil in disguise!" Gypsy added, "...and I'm playing for keeps" before laying the poor boy out with a roundhouse kick. She grabbed the Prince's little green rock, wondering if she was in danger of kryptonite poisoning or something. Whatever it was, J'Onn wanted her to keep it out of the hands of evil suits from government and industry, which was explanation enough for now...

Despite looking much more young and fit than Mister Steele, King Faraday had sixteen years and massively more field experience than the agent. King didn't need lead to dent Steele when his fist would do, and then Carré's device was his. It was a deceptively simple premise to create a tool not unlike a metal detector to uncover magical artifacts, but it took an unholy mingling of science and sorcery to accomplish the feat. Erdel certainly did think outside the box...

After Mars was rendered uninhabitable, J’onn J’onzz returned to his people to help lead the survivors on an inhospitable, barren new world dubbed Mars II. Hardly a Garden of Bhok to begin with, things could only get worse with the arrival of the serpent Ma’alefa’ak…

Miss Martian telekinetically ripped the "Anti-Martian Multi-Weapon" out of Roh Kar's hands and blasted him with it. Comically, the charge shorted out the navigation controls in his jet pack, causing him to circle around and around, Roh Kar's body dragged flaccidly along. Though an embarrassing scene, Roh Kar was lucky in that Futureman's weapon was non-lethal...

Through T'omm J'onzz, Ma'alefa'ak talked up the benefits of an unconscionable alliance while groping at the supple flesh of Bel Juz. Though undoubtedly perverse, the intent was not truly to molest, but simply to unnerve with his awkward fumbling. Bel Juz was no blushing virgin, and was not amused. In fact, the gesture left her uninhibited about throttling the adolescent marionette with all the strength Mars II allowed her, more than enough to put him off permanently. Bloodied but unbowed, Bel Juz glanced up at Roh Kar's sad orbit. The corrupted M'gann M'orzz would perhaps be her greatest challenge of the day, and certainly an unavoidable obstacle in escaping from Ma'alefa'ak's disturbing play. Bel flew up at Miss Martian, concealing a pistol that was most certainly lethal to her fellow survivors of the Red Planet...

2013 Martian Manhunter Movie Fan Casting: Isaach De Bankolé as Ma'alefa'ak

Sometime between 1999 and 2001, I wrote up a fan casting for MARTIAN MANHUNTER: The Motion Picture for my late fan site The Rock of the JLA. Besides being terribly out of date, my casting of heroes and villains skewed very much toward the relatively recent Modern Age. Since the Martian Manhunter was in something like 150 solo adventure strips over thirty years before that period, and about a third as many in the fifteen years I focused on, I essentially cast the Manhunter-centric Justice League movie. I'd like to rectify that...

Since I cast Lance Reddick as J'Onn J'Onzz, and I find the prospect of the same actor offering a dual role as "twins" boring, I need another intense performer physically compatible with Reddick for the part of Malefic. Isaach De Bankolé is one scary looking dude who can act volumes from the bridge of his nose up, is roughly the same age/body type as Reddick, has a great voice and a resume full of evil characters.

Diabolic Movie Fan Casting

• Bronze Tiger @ DC Bloodlines
• Doctor Light @ Power of the Atom
• Steve Trevor @ Diana Prince is the New Wonder Woman
• The Vixen @ Justice League Detroit

2013 “Legion of Doom: Ma'alefa'ak” Custom Lego by [Skatersponge]

Click To Enlarge

"Ma'alefa'ak
Powers: Telekinesis, flight, Martian vision, shape shifting, super strength, immunity to fire unlike most Martians but gained the ability at the cost of his telepathy
Arch Enemy: Martian Manhunter
Saw him in JL:Doom and new he had to be part of the villainous group.
The Legions interrogator regardless of his lack of telepathy as he has other methods to make up for it, some that seem inhumane and there spy as he masquerades as people in power to discover information in other regions around the world."

Malefic gets another custom Lego! Check out [Skatersponge]'s whole team!

March Madness: Round 3: The Mediterranean & Mars II

"For some time, J'onn J'onzz was active in the Mediterranean under the orders of a special secret department to demolish the world-wide criminal organization VULTURE and unmask its faceless leader, Mister V. J'onzz assumed the identity of international playboy Marco Xavier, taking up residence in the posh villa of the assumed dead accomplice to VULTURE..."

Maxwell Lord IV needed only a moment to speak, and only a few moments of speaking to ensnare the mind of a given subject. King Faraday had been trained to rob men of such moments, and the mere fact that he was still available to confront Lord after years in the field was a testament to his expertise in the theft of lesser men’s lives. Lord’s swift reaction allowed him to keep his brains within his skull, but he could not avoid Faraday’s bullet creasing his head and leaving him bloody and useless for the rest of this operation’s duration…



Another tranquilizer dart dropped Aldo Szuzi immediately, but Mister Steele needed Pierre Carré awake to answer his questions. “Who’s your man, Carré? I need a name!” He replied, “M’sieu Steele, he has many monikers. James… Mark… Saul… take your pick. He has a different face for each name. He has left this facility, and is far too brilliant for a pedestrian intellect such as can be found in your organization.” That was enough for Mister Steele. “Erdel.” Carré was put to sleep and Steele progressed to the most secure lab in the building, only to find King Faraday had beaten him to it…

Prince Rudolph had been taught the art of melee in preparation for his role as sovereign, but his hands were soft and his education was broad. Perkins Preston grew up hardscrabble in the American south, with gravel in his guts and spit in his eye. When it came down to it, the boy simply had more heart and a hell of a lot more fight in him. The bloodied prince begged the rockabilly star to relent, and questioned the nature of his mission. Perkins explained that he was just a country boy on vacation, who'd stumbled into another round of crazy business thanks to a mysterious friend. The Prince asked for Perkins' aid in defending his kingdom of Harovia from forces that would steal its treasures and potentially threaten the world. Perkins was soft at heart, and agreed to at least look into the matter.


The young men prepared to climb onto Rudolph's horse and ride back through the temporal anomaly that led from Marco Xavier's posh Mediterranean villa to an entirely separate European nation. However, Perkins intuited something amiss... more immediate then the broader peculiarities of the situation. Glancing about the room, Perkins motioned for the Prince to hold his horse, but when he turned around, he found the royal slumped in a corner on his derrière. A green rock attached to a necklace levitated over Rudolph's head, as though some invisible force were stealing it away from the Prince. Perkins Preston rushed to retrieve the rock, only to inadvertently tackle Gypsy, knocking a second green rock from out of her pocket…

After Mars was rendered uninhabitable, J’onn J’onzz returned to his people to help lead the survivors on an inhospitable, barren new world dubbed Mars II. Hardly a Garden of Bhok to begin with, things could only get worse with the arrival of the serpent Ma’alefa’ak…

Roh Kar's laser pistol was the original "Anti-Martian" armament, and he had a clear advantage over N'or Cott with the speed, maneuverability, and vantage offered by his jet pack. N'or Cott's riddled body fell face first into the jagged pebbles of his adopted but unwanted world. Roh Kar landed long enough to inspect Futureman's confiscated Multi-Weapon, and thought enough of it to try it out on his next target...

T'omm J'onzz was sickened by the burning mound where the remains of his family was laid out. His Grandmother had started the fire with her aged, brittle body, while T'omm smelled the dismembered bits of muscle and flesh from his mother Sha'sheen and father M'rynn roasting in her flames. Familial gore caked T'omm's own flesh as he was greeted by a maniacal visitor. Ma’alefa’ak said, "T'omm, brother of J'onn J'onzz, and a maniac after my own heart," then kissed the lad full on the lips. Weakened by the flames, T'omm couldn't resist as Ma’alefa’ak's elongated tongue probed his mouth and throat. Before long, this malefic entity seemed to disappear inside of T'omm, and with a crazed grin, he wandered toward the next nearest source of elemental pyre...


Bel Juz had initially fended off K'hym and M'yri'ah J'Onzz with the same inherent strength she'd used to defend herself against Superman in times past, until persuasive whispers in the girl-child's ears had set her off to burn from the inside out through H'ronmeer's Curse, taking her mother with her. Bel Juz had little time to appreciate the favorable outcome though, as final family member T'omm J'onzz approached her with a twisted smile that spoke to his being in the grip of madness...

Jemm's empathic abilities allowed him to registered the tainted presence of Ma’alefa’ak penetrating Miss Martian's psyche, and recognize the abominable influence Malefic had exerted over his own actions this day. As the Son of Saturn fought off the controlling telepath, Commander J'en fired on the both of them from her hunter spaceship. The Prince used the birthstone on his brow to blast the craft out of the sky, though the exertion dealt him a harsh blow. Jemm turned back toward M'gann M'orzz, hoping to aid her, only to find the young lady fully corrupted by the vision of her despicable future self. This pale shadow of Miss Martian fired a telepathic bolt into Jemm's mind that took him out of the sky to land limply with a horrifying thud.

Roh Kar had no cause to hesitate against his previous opponents, knowing going in that they were all perverse corpses reanimated temporarily by the will of Ma'alefa'ak. Unfortunately, he had failed to save the living afflicted, such as Princess Cha'riss and Prince Jemm. Now, with the "Anti-Martian Multi-Weapon" in hand, he wondered if he would be forced to take the innocent life of Miss Martian to halt this travesty, and whether he even could face this adulterated vision of the heroine and survive himself...

2012 Malefic Space City Con Commission WIP by Adrian Nelson

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Yesterday I posted the finished version of this piece, acquired in August of last year. I had a bad night (or rather, my girlfriend had a bad day and I got the brunt of the consequences that night) and didn't get around to drafting a post for today. Trying to pull something together before going in to work, I stumbled upon the piece in progress in artist Adrian Nelson's deviantART gallery...

"Commission done at the Space City Con. I don't remember the characters name but loved the design. This isn't the finished commission either. I ended up doing a full color take on it because I was in the mood to fiddle with it. The owner promised to scan it in and send it to me."

Oops. Did I? Crap. Totally forgot about that. Um... better three quarters of a year late than never? In my defense, the dude's had my email since I scanned him the Bloodwynd commission, if he wanted to remind me...

2012 Ma'alefa'ak Space City Con Commission by Adrian Nelson

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Comicpalooza's layout was much improved in 2012 over the previous year, but one issue was a lack of conformity. By this I mean that the artists tended to be grouped on the right side of the main hall, the dealers on the left, and miscellanea sprinkled within each camp. That's an oversimplification, since there were whole regions for autograph booths, cosplay and so forth even further left, not to mention two other halls of different stuff, but we're sticking with the two sections that mattered to me. Moving along, I obviously spent most of my time, money and energy on the artists' side of town. However, there were publishers to the left with artists also doing sketches, which went unnoticed by me until late on Saturday, by which point I'd pretty much decided to wrap up my fifth anniversary spending spree. Adrian Nelson, who'd done a kick-ass Bloodwynd Commission in 2011, was shut out as a result.

Two months later I was at the considerably more intimate Space City Con, and recognized Nelson. We shook hands, and I related the gist of the first paragraph to him. I learned that he had seen the post we ran on his piece, and asked after a new one. I didn't know in advance that Nelson was coming, and instead of picking a subject for him, I handed over most/all of my stack of reference so that he could choose his own. As had occurred previously, the artist took his time thoughtfully looking over his options, so I offered some commentary. The one I remember most is Futureman, when we both acknowledged that the character is visibly a collection of phallic symbols. I think maybe Cay'an, Gammeron, and Jemm were in the running at some point, but the recollection is unreliably hazy. As it happened, I'd already picked up the Whilce Portacio Ma'alefa'ak Commission, so the reference was back in play, and Nelson pulled it right back out again.

Ma'alefa'ak was created in 1998 to be the evil twin brother of J'Onn J'Onzz as part of the launch of what remains to date the only Martian Manhunter ongoing series ever. As designed by Tom Mandrake, he was a lankier version of the Alien Atlas with long nails and piercings, outfitted in a fairly basic barbarian-style tunic type thing featuring chains. The same outfit returned later in the run drawn by Eduardo Barreto, but when Rick Leonardi drew him during a stint on JLA Classified, he ignored everything but the basics. Truth to tell, Mandrake himself never seemed to settle on specifics to his own design, seeming to still be playing around with it from panel to panel. There wasn't much of anything on the internet to be found in the way of fan art in the years since his creation, until Justice League: Doom. The 2012 direct to video animated movie offered fetishized redesigns of most of the villains featured in its narrative, and none seem to have lived past the cartoon except Ma'alefa'ak. Not only did the show give Ma'alefa'ak his widest audience ever (and teach them to pronounce his name "Mallah-fah-ock,") but it seems to have fired the imaginations of many fan artists. I "assigned" the animation style Malefic to Tyler Kirkham, but Whilce Portacio and Adrian Nelson selected him on their own and in preference to the original comic book design I also had reference for. Plus, Nelson still wanted to draw him even after we had talked about Peckerman and I then segued into all the incestuous homoerotic tension Malefic projected in the cartoon. That's a testament to the appeal of the redesign.



The first time I was going to get a commission from Adrian Nelson, I expected something from the Michael Golden/Jason Pearson school reflected in his portfolio. His Bloodwynd was much more somber and contemplative, better suiting the character. Since the Bloodwynd image was what was stuck in my mind, I was surprised by the Michael Golden/Jason Pearson style take on Ma'alefa'ak. I was even more surprised that it was in color. See, I'd told Nelson on Friday that I wouldn't be back until Sunday to collect the piece, so I think he colored it to use as a demonstration piece free of charge. I then showed up relatively early on Saturday, when he was putting the finishing touches on said colors. I said he could hold on to it another day, but I didn't really mean it, and he didn't make me abide by it. Come on, man-- would you leave this beauty on a table if you knew it was yours for the taking?

Nelson traded out the blues and most of the golds for solid blacks, so there's a point off for fidelity, but he very clearly kept the surprisingly well detailed bare feet, which gives him a point back. Gray strokes are apparent in the original 11½" x 16½" art, but I bumped up the contrast on the scan to make them pop here. I like how the crosshatching on the cape is like an inverted callback to the crosshatching around the cape in the Bloodwynd piece. I think the attitude on display here is closer to capturing Ma'alefa'ak that the more serious, sober versions linked earlier. I like the perspective, which makes it a great companion to my Dave Johnson Martian Manhunter. Since I moved and had the glass frame shatter on my Andy Kuhn Doctor Trap Commission, I've decided to only frame color copies from now on. I think I'll have a professional color "The Reverend," then hang the recently redesigned J'Onn and Ma'alefa'ak J'Onzz side by side. Sweet!

Next time I see Adrian Nelson, I promise that I'll pay for color and let him keep it for weekend display. Or just give him the color copy I used for scanning. Probably that second one. Also, I'm going to try pre-selecting a character with him in mind, just in case, to show I care and to give some unrepresented guys a chance against showboats like Malefic. The Art of Adrian Nelson blog, it's gallery section, and his deviantART page should be a big help!

March Madness: Mars II: Round 2

After Mars was rendered uninhabitable, J’onn J’onzz returned to his people to help lead the survivors on an inhospitable, barren new world dubbed Mars II. Hardly a Garden of Bhok to begin with, things could only get worse with the arrival of the serpent Ma’alefa’ak…

Miss Martian was horrified by the pure massacre before her. Someone had to be controlling J'Onn J'Onzz's friends and family to do harm to one another. While attempting to fend off the surprisingly furious attack of the usually passive Jemm, Son of Saturn, M'gann reached out telepathically for the passingly familiar mind of the Manhunter from Mars...



Princess Cha'rissa was a true warrior, favored to take most comers in any contest. Yet, she was also Saturnian royalty, unaccustomed to the hardships faced by the survivors of Mars II on a daily basis. Between her armor and her training with the Soldiers of the Red Brotherhood, Hunter Commander J'en outmaneuvered and blasted Cha'rissa with unexpected ease. Scanning the area, J'en spied numerous contests between combatants both unknown and known all too well...

Futureman hunted Martians in the year 2062, but typically lone ones with the help of a troop of fellow officers. N'or Cott wasn't some cowardly criminal, but an enforcer of the law of Mars once entrusted to take down the Alien Atlas himself. Not only was Futureman human-- but N'or Cott made him bleed! Crimson stained Futureman's helmet as N'or stripped him of his special Anti-Martian Multi-Weapon. J'en had no immediate qualms with N'or Cott, and ran past, more concerned with the fighting overhead...


Distracted by her psychic search, Miss Martian was struck by a devastating beam of power projected by the jewel upon Jemm's brow. In freefall, she saw the curious sight of a Martian male in shortpants who appeared to have a swan sitting on his head. Well below, wind blew through the decorative mane on the helm of Re's Eda from the propulsion of Roh Kar's jetpack. The militant Martian suffered a handicap through his limited powers on Mars II, which the First Lawman of Mars overcame through technology. The largely grounded Re's Eda was forced to deflect ray gun blasts with his sword, but that carried him only so far, and the one that got through his defenses finished him.

Hunter Commander J'en watched an under-dressed green girl with a passing resemblance to Bel Juz fall from the sky, only to slow her descent and fire beams from her eyes at a Red Saturnian that pursued her through the air. If only J'en could soar so unaided. The revere nearly cost her, as a laser blast clipped her helmet. Roh Kar wasn't familiar with the fellow officer of Martian law, and seemed to be firing on anyone in sight. However, N'or Cott was the law on Mars II, and he had the perfect range weapon to enforce it on this vigilante do-gooder well out of any self-appointed jurisdiction...

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Her-Who-Must-Be-Served most assuredly had been served. Dazed, she murmured, "mutilated lips give a kiss on the wrist..." before fainting to land roughly on the amber sand. Bel Juz, the "laughing lady living lover" as she had been called by the hermaphroditic "queen" of the Daals took a naughty peek at the curiously equipped alien. "Ooo, you sassy frassy lassie." Moving on, K'hym J'Onzz had her mother on her back, and was repeatedly thrusting her spade-shaped hand into M'yri'ah's chest cavity. Bel pleaded, "Please calm it down. Everything is turning a sticky reddish-brown." M'yri'ah disciplined her daughter with the back of her comically enlarged but highly effective fist. "Take my hand you ugly girl!" The wife of J'Onn J'Onzz then turned her gaze toward the harlot Bel Juz, who had the gall to question her parenting. When her stunned daughter gathered her senses, K'hym was forced to contemplate which of these Martian women to attack next...

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While Jemm recovered from the fire he'd been forced to smother on his cape, Miss Martian turned invisible, buying her time to survey the battlefield with her eyes and reach for distant worlds with her mind. The armored figure M'gann had seen sprinting earlier was nowhere to be seen, and the familial tragedy unfolding broke M'orzz's heart. This was partially her undoing, as Jemm's empathic abilities sensed the unrest in M'gann's soul, and once his power reserves had a chance to rebuild, a broad spectrum energy blast would be enough to end Miss Martian...

Sha'sheen J'onzz ensnared M'rynn J'onzz with her own contorted, serpentine body before attempting to literally bite his head off. Sha'sheen had been a manhunter, and her husband merely an academic. However, his strength lay in his brains, which connected to his bride's. She exclaimed, "Worm like tips of tentacles expanding in my mind!" Meanwhile, T'omm J'onzz retained a smidgen of his youthful innocence and drive to be good like his big brother, but Grandmother horrified and disgusted the lad. She had accepted the destruction of Mars as H'ronmeer's will, and believed only through the fire would true rebirth come. Spotting his parents in mortal combat, T'omm raced to tear them apart. Grandmother's eyes began to smolder, literally, locked on her family's struggle as a curse burned on her lips...



Miss Martian thought that she had finally located J'Onn J'Onzz's psyche, but instead was telepathically molested. Ma’alefa’ak could not bear to be far from the J'Onzztown Massacre he had instigated, relishing his family cutting one another down. "I licked my brain in silence. Rather squeeze your head instead..." Miss Martian's defenses were down, and Jemm was poised to strike when fire from a Martian hunter spaceship gave him pause. Hunter Commander J'en was an excellent pilot, and commanded the means to even the odds against this dangerous duo...