Amazing Heroes #156 (January 1st, 1989)

Amazing Heroes remains my all-time favorite industry magazine, despite (okay, partially because) being printed in comic book dimensions (while costing 3-4x as much as its subject averaged) and my only having bought a few editions while it was still being actively published. In fact, I've been actively working on an (economical) set for a while now, and my gaps continue to narrow. I have a lot of contempt toward Wizard specifically, because I saw the negative impact it had on the industry in real time, including its lowering of the overall discourse with hype and crass humor. But also, because I had a basis for comparison to much better magazines, including Comics Scene (even pricier for less content and way too much animation/media coverage, though still more value than the Wizard ilk.) A lot of it was just down to timing, since first generation comics fans were still active and vital at midlife, while the Boomer and Gen-X writing staff had collectively experienced all that North American comics had to offer up to that point. It was still possible to collectively know "everything" about what was available to their audience. Further, it spun out of The Comics Journal so that they could go full fart-sniffer about capital-A "art" releases. So you had a bunch of over-educated liberals getting out from under being brow-beaten by the Gary Groth crowd, but still took mainstream comics seriously enough for literary analysis, and the perspective of having read more ambitious and underground work. There's a reason why so many of its contributors went on to luminous careers of actually creating their own comics.

For instance, Don Rosa was essentially their version of Bob "The Answer Man" Rozakis with his column "Info Center," before succeeding Carl Barks as the Eisner-award winning chronicler of DuckTales. Because he knew his stuff and communicated it well, instead of taking cheap shots like drunk Tony Stark jokes at every opportunity to fill space between price guides. And again, that multi-generational knowledge base would allow for a segment explaining that the original "Manhunter from Mars" was Roh Kar, not J'onn J'onzz. This was a time before ready, widespread reprints, and there were no databases to access this type of obscure information. The oldest Overstreet I have is the 21st edition covering 1991-1992. There's a line under Batman #78 noting "Roh Kar, The Man Hunter from Mars story-the 1st lawman of Mars comes to Earth (green skinned.)" So if you could find that line in a 548-page book of tiny print, regarding a book that hadn't carried the J'onn J'onzz strip, you'd have the barest idea that there was a so-called "Golden Age Martian Manhunter." You could also score a mint copy for $300, which is less than a CGC 1.8 on eBay as I type this. They're asking $1,645 for a 6.0. The best time to invest really was thirty years ago.

Anyway, I learned about Roh Kar from U.S. Navy Commander Adam Benson on the DC Message Boards a quarter century or so ago, because I didn't have this particular issue of Amazing Heroes to educate me. But having read the actual story many times over at this point, what I'm most interested in was how they got that Silver Age Manhunter image in there. Presumably they photocopied a comic that they had a copy of (clearly not Batman #78,) since J'onn is clearly covered in Ben Day dots,) so I figure they then went around that figure with liquid paper to white out the background. This sort of thing got so much easier once the Showcase Presents came out. Anyway, it's nice that a relatively minor character like the Sleuth from Outer Space got any kind of attention in a forum like this, likely because at least one staffer was probably reading the original Batman stories that the Martian Marvel was backing-up.

Fifteen Years Later...

I made an internet friend on the DC Comics Message Boards in the late '90s. Embarrassingly, you can still dig up some of our interactions on the Wayback Machine. In the year 2000, after he'd also become a mail order customer of my shop, paid for me to attend the San Diego ComiCon in a generous act involving a lot of other folks he knew virtually. We were probably something of a lifeline for an isolated ex-pat comic book fan in a foreign land with money to burn. He'd visited me once before in Houston, but I think it was during the San Diego trip that he gave me a CD. He'd used a then-novel softwear called a spiderbot to record my host of WebTV fan pages, collectively known as Martian Manhunter: The Rock of the JLA, and a bunch of other turn of the century fan material that it had offered links to and from. I still have it in an AOL DVD case somewhere, but when I went digging around for it just now, it wasn't readily available. Unfortunately, at the time the pages were in a state of disarray, with a number of images removed, never to be replaced. Still very grateful to have that artifact in my possession, presumably, I hope. We fell out of contact after I closed my shop, and soon after cancelled my WebTV subscription after getting an actual computer. I'm pretty confident those pages were immediately taken down, and MSN shut down the service in 2013. I tried checking the html address on the Internet Archive, which claims to have taken captures of it between 2000-05, but nothing actually comes upon. Might as well be another epoch.

I stumbled upon The Aquaman Shrine, a daily devotional blog, and thought I could bite the format while repurposing old material from the defunct WebTV pages. Never really got around to cannibalizing much. It's a pain in the ass to navigate the old Shrine as large pieces of it have been worn away with time, but there's thankfully still an "established 2006" badge to carbon date it. It's chief architect, Rob Kelly, turned over access to the Shrine's Twitter account to an unscrupulous individual who proceeded to steal it from him and change the locks. He'd also found a deeper love in podcasting, still producing several weekly shows to this day, and stopped posting to the blog a little less than five years ago. His podcasting partner, The Irredeemable Shag, was inspired by the Shrine and my own Idol-Head of Diabolu blogs to create Firestorm Fan. Like Rob, he hasn't posted to it in years, preferring podcasting. I started daily posting on September 1, 2007, never wholly managed to see that intent through, though I did manage 365 posts a year overall until giving out near the end of 2014. How many things have you more or less steadily maintained for seven straight years? It's no picnic, and obviously my efforts were less than stellar in those final months. I think the only member of our "Justice League Blogosphere" peer group to survive the (week)daily grind in Dr. Anj at Supergirl Comic Box Commentary, with twice my longevity at FOURTEEN years and counting.

What I can still say is that a decade & a half later, the blog isn't dead yet. I averaged six posts a month in 2015, 4 in 2016, 3 in 2018, merely monthly in 2019, and a couple or three a month since. I'm only averaging biweekly this year, though its more like runs of weekly posts followed by weeks/months of neglect. Given that Photobucket has finally all but given up on profiting from me, and mostly refusing service on my uploaded images, I though the anniversary would be a good month to clean up some old pages and offer a bunch of daily(?) "best of" re-posts until I lose interest or get squeezed by my own podcasting duties. I'm not sure why anyone is still here, given how long its been since DC has had a consistent, appreciable direction for J'Onn J'Onzz. I've recently been in the process of revisiting the early comics of my own Martian Manhunter fandom, in the wake of the 1996 JLA revival that inspired the WebTV pages. Maybe we're all just getting old and want to look back fondly on our perhaps wasted, largely unrealized and reciprocated affections for comic books and their heroes. We all probably should have made more productive use of our brief lives. But hey, I'm right there with you, and happy with whatever small remaining company I can keep in these parts.

More Maudlin Self-Mythologizing by Diabolu Frank

• Five Years Later...
• 4th Year of Diabolu
• Five Years After Five Years Later...
• Twenty Years Later...

“Interview: Martian Manhunter” from JLA Secret Files #1 (September, 1997)

As I discussed in previous weeks, JLA Secret Files and Origins #1 was a key book for neophyte Alien Atlas allies turned on by the surprise success of JLA. You had a new Starro story by the hot creative team of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, bridging the gap between Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare and the relaunch. You had "Lost Pages" from between JLA #4 & 5. You had profile pages of the individual team members by the creative teams of their solo titles. You had "A Day In The Life: Martian Manhunter", probably the first J'Onn J'Onzz solo story for many. And finally, this mock interview by Mark Millar & Don Hillsman for the fictional in-universe "The Brave & The Bold" magazine.

Along with a series of Playboy style headshots at the top of the piece, there was the full figure above, which served as "the" Martian Manhunter image of the turn-of-the-century internet. Despite the weird organic foam finger action, there is perhaps no greater example of broad fan rejection of Tom Mandrake's years toiling on the ongoing series than the ubiquity of this picture in the same time frame. An editorializing quote from Who's Whose DC Timeline: "John Ostrander’s Martian Manhunter delves into the soul of the only founding member of the JLA never to have his own title, much to the disgust of fanboys who apparently expected something else. Lots of punching and kicking maybe? Still, the series lasts 36+ issues." Well, as a fan who was kicking and screaming by the end of those three years, perhaps it was because everything in this issue geared readers for a title about the Pacific Rim's greatest protector, and the actual ongoing tossed that aside with a single issue robotto manga pastiche?

The piece opens with the interviewer acknowledging J'Onn's sensitivity to their possible concerns over being seen in public with a Martian, offering to change for discretion, though the admitted clout-chaser declines. They then discuss the JLA's internal conversations regarding nations' discomfort with a Justice League of America following the dissolution of the U.N. sanctioned international operation, their commitment to preserving their humanism, protests against perceived League authoritarianism, and the Martian Marvel's specific efforts to address the imbalance of metahuman protections outside the Anglo-Saxon West. Clearly saving all that deep "my evil twin brother, Gumby Venom," for Ostrander. Nothing communicates the sociopolitical impact of superhumans like writing a one-off of Beatriz da Costa talking like Charo while battling a racially caricatured voodoo doctor from a '70s Blaxploitation Bond movie. But I'm not bitter.

There's talk of Z'Onn Z'Orr, the ancient Martian city destroyed in the first extended arc of the series in favor of... a generic pyramid? There's a multiplicity of international identities offered, with endless story possibilities teased, replaced by the tired exploration of duality in a super-hero comic, itself abandoned for the monotony of simple Martian Manhunter Team-Up. TIL there's a sly reference to actor Gregory Reed playing J'Onn in a potential movie. There's acknowledgement of his loneliness as a widower, but also his deep religious convictions and romantic incompatibility stemming from his alien nature. Unlike that time he shagged Jemm's fiance, centuries his junior, from a race still suffering the effects of slavery and colonization by Martians, coloring his long history of mentoring young girls? We're still having fun, right? Considering what could have been? Yeah, this is fun.

“The Manhunter from Mars” profile page from JLA Secret Files #1 (September, 1997)

I can carbon date my J'Onn J'Onzz fandom to August 7, 1996. As I've discussed many times before, my familiarity with the character went back about twelve years earlier, to house ads from the time of the Martian Marvel's 1984 return in Justice League of America, and I bought his Super Powers action figure the following year. That was one of my favorite toys growing up, and I had plenty of experiences with the Alien Atlas in the comics. I consider them near misses-- instances of my liking and having an interest in exploring the Martian Manhunter, but still not quite connecting in a significant way.

I was working at a comic shop in 1996, so I would have taken Justice League: A Midsummer's Nightmare #2 home on its day of release. I recall reading it in bed, reaching that glorious gut punch of a splash page by Jeff Johnson, in a sequence co-writer Mark Waid credited to Fabian Nicieza. In period parlance, it was Agent Kujan finally deducing the identity of Keyser Söze, Neo suddenly knowing kung-fu, or Cher Horowitz realizing that she loved Josh. A switch just flipped. I stole a car, drove west, played an 8-track at full blast until it stopped, got out of the car, got in a fight, got back into the car, drove back to town, went to the Cargas Club, and then got into the most prestigious hotel of all time. I was a Martian Manhunter fan, man.

A quarter century later, with admitted gaps and lots of burn out, I'm still here plugging away. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with baby steps, or some such. I was still a Padawan with much to learn, from older fans like Commander Benson on the DC Message Boards, or from scavenged back issues. There were no wikis back then, and very few fan pages. Virtually all of them referenced Don Hillsman's art from JLA Secret Files & Origins, as I was surely not alone in a newfound appreciation of the Martian Manhunter amidst the explosive success of JLA. For many of us, this was the gateway.

"All Who's Who pages written by Mark Millar and colored by Tom McCraw" if you can believe it.

Return to the Rogues of Wikipedia

Over a year and a half ago, I did a post about the then-current state of the Martian Manhunter Rogues Gallery as acknowledged by one of the most popular information resources on the internet. I thought it was a pretty solid list, considering how awful that type of thing tends to turn out (case in point.) While renovating the blog behind the scenes, I followed my own link back to the Wikipedia Rogues Page, and you can pretty much set it next to our own Vile Menagerie and check off villain by villain. Tom, is that you?

Not only are there a ton of new additions, but the text has typically been revised and augmented. Let's take a look, with my comments in italics...

Rogues Gallery

• Bel Juz - Martian that survived the fate of Mars and used her womanly wiles and devious mind to manipulate those around her. After her home world of Mars was rendered uninhabitable, Bel Juz fled to the planet Vonn with the remnants of her fellow Green martians. Bel betrayed her people to the Thythen, invaders who had driven out all the known natives of Vonn. The Thythen employed cybernetics to enslave the Martians, then used their life-force to drive Robo-Chargers. Only Bel Juz remained free among her group.
  
  A really nice detailed entry, and a valuable contribution. Curiously though, there's no mention of her association with the Marshal or their spearheading the Martian invasion of Earth that marked the final appearance of Silver/Bronze Age Martian society, not to mention the final Satellite Era Justice League adventure. It's also open to interpretation as to whether the Green Martians actually settled on Vonn, although it's been so long since I thought about it, I can't recall why.
  
  
• B'enn B'urnzz: Unchanged
  
  
  
  
• Bette Noir- A hideous genetically engineered clone with telepathic powers. She often projects the illusion of being a beautiful woman.
  
  Better than I've done so far...
  
  
• B'rett: Unchanged
  
  
• Cay'an- Cay'an brainwashed a group of White Martians to attack the Martian Manhunter.
  
  Mostly unchanged, aside from adding "One of the few surviving green martians..." That, and I can now happily link to my own Cay'an biography.
  
  
• Commander Blanx- Leader of the polar-dwelling White Martians, enemies of the desert-dwelling Green Martians. In Pre-Crisis continuity he caused the destruction of the martian race.
  
  Someone thankfully dropped the widespread but erroneous first name of "Ben," and mentioned his role in Mars I's destruction.
  
  
• Darkseid - An evil alien "god" who invaded Mars years before J'onn came to Earth. He is responsible for driving Malefic insane.
  
  Great for staying character-specific for such a broadly influential villain.
  
  
  
  
• Despero - A Justice League of America villain who murdered the parents of J'onn's protégé Gypsy and his team-mate Commander Steel. J'onn in turn is responsible for some of Despero's most humiliating defeats, leading to a strong mutual enmity between the two characters.
  
  Ditto
  
  
• D'kay D'razz - A female green Martian, D'kay was imprisoned on Mars by her fellow green Martians because she conducted experiments on members of her kind whose minds were not open to the communal Martian telepathic mind. After the death of the green Martians, she no longer had even the company of those who imprisoned her. D'kay goes insane as a result of the complete isolation until she was beamed to earth by Dr. Erdel. Once on Earth, the assault of thoughts thrusts her into greater extent depths of insanity, and she attacks Dr. Erdel and his daughter, leaving her permanently scarred as D'kay escaped. In desperation, D'kay stole the identity of a human and completely erased all memory of her previous identity. J'onn's death in Final Crisis message put cracks in these telepathic memory blocks, but she did not regain her memories until J'onn's resurrected in Blackest Night. D'kay is desperate to recreate the Martian race with J'onn to the point where she even attempted to kill Miss Martian because she perceived a threat to her claim to J'onn. D'Kay's body is distorted and includes an extra mouth at her torso which manifests from her broken mind. She has carved the Martian symbols of love and hate onto her body.
  
  Jeepers!
  
  
  
  
• The Getaway King - aka Getaway Mastermind; Monty Moran, a criminal scientist, uses futuristic gimmicks of his own design to help his gang make safe and spectacular getaways from crimes he has them commit. The Martian Manhunter helps nab several members of his gang in two incidents. Then he trails a third unit of the gang to Moran’s hideout, where he learns of the getaway genius’s ultimate gimmick: a force-field. Using his powers invisibly, J’onn J’onzz herds Moran and the rest of his gang into the hands of the police.
  
  Solid
  
  
• The Headmaster - Real name Thaddeus Romero Hoskins, an arrogant elitist born to a rich family, Hoskins graduated M.I.T. at the age of fifteen. However, Hoskins' social skills never developed properly, and he felt alienated by all around him. He feared mankind will die out if they stayed on earth, becoming extinct like the dinosaurs.
  
  Hoskins was inspired to develop a robotic model for military application that consisted of an inhuman head attached to spidery legs. Dubbed a "headman," it could decapitate enemy soldiers in the field and reanimate their bodies to act as cannon fodder for its controllers. Those in scientific circles, including John Henry Irons, were unaware of the robot moving beyond the theoretical stage. Later, Hoskins body was discovered, his head detached by a laser, and his brain missing entirely.
  
  In a powerful new bipedal shell, Hoskins renamed himself "the Headmaster," and set his master plan into motion. He re-purposed a former NORAD installation, dubbed the Ark, and designed as a nuclear bomb shelter. From here, the Headmaster set to work on a massive spaceship that could carry the finest examples of humanity off their home planet. In need of a work force to carry out the task, the Headmaster created an army of headmen. He then sent them out to kill and commandeer the bodies of homeless people to construct his craft.
  
  The murders of two police officers, who stumbled upon one of Headmaster's victims under the control of a headman, attracted the attention of private investigator John Jones-- secretly the Manhunter from Mars. Using his shapeshifting abilities to assume the visage of a derelict, J'Onn J'Onzz staked out an alley until he was attacked by a headman. After being wounded in a struggle with the device, the Martian Manhunter took its remains to the JLA Watchtower for further study. With the aid of Steel and Oracle, the Manhunter located the Ark and its contents. The Headmaster met with J'Onzz, hoping to convince him of the merits of his plan, so that he would not lose precious time by abandoning the base. Dedicated to the preservation of all life, equally treasured, the Manhunter from Mars declared himself the Headmaster's implacable foe. A scuffle ensued, which ended with the Martian Manhunter burying the Headmaster under his own space ship. The damage Headmaster took deactivated his headman, and pieces of his robotic armor were uncovered after an explosion leveled the Ark. It is unclear whether Hoskins' brain was still within the Headmaster body, or if he is perhaps still at large. Martian Manhunter #1,000,000 (cameo, as the Headman, November 1998,) Martian Manhunter #1 (full, December 1998)
  
  This should be a wiki entry unto itself. A beast!
  
  
  
  
• The Headmen- A robotic military group led by The Headmaster. The Headmen were spider-like robots created by Hoskins to do his bidding, with heads resembling the Headmaster's. Standing at roughly two feet tall, with long arachnid legs tipped with blades, the headmen were controlled by human brains wiped clean and "reprogrammed." The headmen were often assigned the task of decapitating derelicts, dipping their spiked limbs into their victim's chest cavity, and replacing their headspace with its own. The headmen could then animated the deceased bodies to perform most motor functions. To facilitate this act, the headmen were armed spectacularly. A laser beam emitted from their right ocular cavity could kill most people on contact, and were capable of momentarily blinding one of the most powerful super-beings on Earth. Their electronic eyes were further enhanced with thermal and radar imaging. The headman robots were physically resistant to incredible amounts of damage, and were both quick and agile.
  
  Clearly, this part was massively expanded from a single sentence. I also suspect a group editing effort. No way Tom would have dwelt so long on such grisly details.
  
  
• The Prophet: With minimal edits, this is a cut and paste of my entry, which I'm totally cool with. My only complaint is that he's out of alphabetical order in the entry.
  
  
• The Human Flame Added the line, "He was the first actual supervillain the Manhunter faced." Highly debatable, depending on your definition. I guess he was the first human in a funny costume with a mask.
  
  
• Kanto - Darkseid's master assassin, he fought J'onn during the attack on Mars. The two have been bitter rivals ever since.
  
  

• Ma'alefa'ak (also called Malefic) - Ma’alefa’ak is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the twin brother and archenemy of Martian Manhunter. He was created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake. The character first appeared in Martian Manhunter Vol 2 #0 (October 1998). The brother of J'onn J'onzz, Ma'alefa'ak was the only member of the Martian race born without telepathy and a weakness to fire. Feeling ostracized because of his genetic differences, Ma'alefa'ak was the architect of an extinction-level event. This event is known as H’ronmeer’s Curse. H’ronmeer’s Curse was a plague of fire, this curse attacked Martians via their telepathic abilities. Whenever a Martian attempted to use their telepathic gifts or commune with the Great Mind, they would fall victim to the Curse, and ultimately burn to death. With the exception of Ma'alefa'ak's brother, J'onn and himself, nearly all Green Martians on the planet died as a result of Ma'alefa'ak's handiwork. For centuries, Ma'alefa'ak continued to live in the ruins of Mars, unaware that his brother had survived the plague, and had been transported through space and time to the planet Earth. Several years ago, Ma'alefa'ak learned of J'onn's existence, and followed him back to Earth in an effort to complete the genocide of the Martian race, by destroying its last surviving son. Ma’alefa’ak has tried many times to finish his work and kill his brother J’onn but hasn’t succeeded. Ma'alefa'ak has all the same powers as other martians except for telepathy. Ma'alefa'ak also doesn’t have the weakness of fire like other martians do. He worships Darkseid as his God, in turn undermining the independence of Martian history, and helped to inspire the Anti-Life Equation that has cost countless lives.
  
  Well James, if you didn't write it yourself, here's your Malefic entry! Actually, there are some telling inaccuracies though, like Malefic actually having had his telepathy removed as an adult for mind crimes, and that whole being dead thing omitted.
  
  
  
  
• The Marshal- Genetically altered to be the perfect Martian warrior, the Marshal towered over his soldiers. Tried to invade earth.
  Still slight, but effective.
  
  
• The Master Gardener: Unchanged
  
  
• Mister V - aka Faceless; leader of VULTURE.
  
  Serviceable.
  
  
• Mongul II - An alien Warlord who tried to force J'onn to give him the key to a super weapon.
  
  It was actually Mongul the first, and I strongly suspect my influence here. Hardly anyone else ever draws this connection, y'know?
  
  
  
• Professor Hugo: Unchanged
  
  
• Robo-charger: Another copy & paste from this blog, although Martian Manhunter encyclopedia entry rather than a Vile Menagerie one.
  
  
• Thythen: Copy & paste & you're welcome.
  
  
• Tor: What I do, I do for the good of all... things Manhunter.
  
  
• VULTURE - An international crime syndicate whom J'onn infiltrated for sometime before finally destroying them.
  
  
• White Martians - A warlike offshoot of the Martian race.

Whew! That's a BIG difference! The Vile Menagerie might not be canonized, but its subjects at least seem to be getting traction beyond my direct reach...

Martian Manhunter Menagerie Madness Mitigated

Back in February, blog reader jimmypulv offered the suggestion of running "March Madness" with Martian Manhunter villains. After a flurry of initial qualifying rounds, we saw the following breakdowns of bad-on-bad action:

• Division 1, Round 1
• Division 2, Round 1
• Division 3, Round 1
• Round 1 Round-Up, Part 1
• Round 1 Round-Up, Part 2
• Round 1 Round-Up, Part 3
• Round 2 Round-Up First Half
• Round 2 Round-Up Second Half
• Round 3 Wrap-Up
• Round 4 Wrap-Up

The plan was to finish on the last day of March, to not have a whole bunch of ties, to not have eBay style "strategic voting" in the last moments of polls, and for Google to not create instabilities that affected scheduled posts, reset polls, and basically make something fun a bit of a headache. It was also a bit of a bummer that March saw a readership slump, increasingly low vote turn-outs, and a general drop in comments posted. I don't blame the poll for this, because I figure its been a trend since the blog's peak during the "death and resurrection" phase, but it reminded me that I'm playing to a smaller though dedicated crowd. C'est la vie. I'm glad to have folks around who care about the character, and if I wanted a large audience, I'd have created a Wolverine blog. Speaking of which, I would stack the Vile Menagerie against the pantywaists Logan scratches at vigorously any damned day of the week. Now that is a pathetic lot.

Round Five

Commander Blanx vs. Mr. V: I don't think anyone was particularly excited about this match. Faceless has his fans, but at the end of the day he's the dorkiest looking international crime boss around, with some reasonably competent goons and a few gadgets that haven't really stood the test of time. Meanwhile Blanx only appeared in two comics from over forty and thirty years ago, only one of which has ever been reprinted. However, folks know he's a Pale Martian that overwhelms Mr.V in raw power, accomplishments and intellect, plus his reputation precedes him thanks to folks like me clucking over him. This came close, but I expect that was mostly due to any contest involving only seven respondents likely not to end in landslide. (4-3)

Despero vs. Ma’alefa’ak: After Google's reset on March 31st, I went through my referral queue, and got reasonable, familiar numbers on those old polls... except on Despero vs. Malefic, which showed 4-3 in Despero's favor. My original poll number favored Malefic, so he was the one to progress to...

Round Six
Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak vs. Commander Blanx: There are three major competitors for the role of the Martian Manhunter's nemesis. In the sixties, the Diabolu Idol-Head, Professor Hugo, nor Mr. V had the ability truly challenge the Martian Manhunter in the way a "big bad" should. Blanx was the only villain from that era to reappear in continuity, and had a massive impact on all J'onn J'onzz stories written since. However, Blanx has been treated as deceased since 1968, and has ceased to exist in the hero's canonical history since the late '80s. Malefic had far more opportunity to show off his powers, made an impression on modern fans, and since his creation in the late '90s has served the same role Blanx had been created for. The people who like Malefic generally do so with a real passion, and those who dislike him are rather dismissive. Those who like Blanx tend to do so based on his potential and a desire for more, rather than his scant presence in published works, and I don't think they're as likely to rally to his defense in a scene like this. Malefic has simply been embraced in a way Blanx hasn't, and he's dealt more intimate damage to J'onn J'onzz of the two. Taking on the JLA alone and faring well where Blanx and his men were bowled over in a few pages doesn't hurt Ma'alefa'ak, either. (5-2)

Once I lost my poll numbers, the ones I had became contradictory, and things went pear-shaped, I decided to let a final rematch play out over a long duration...

Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak vs. Despero: The final of those three potential nemeses got to take on the reining champion. In the twenty-some-odd years between the final Commander Blanx appearance and the first Malefic one, Despero was the closest thing J'Onn J'Onzz had to an archrival. Despero has most of the same powers, often bigger and better, and he's managed not to die in a way that had any permanence over the past fifty years, unlike Blanx ("dead" in debut) or Malefic ("killed" within the first year of his appearances.) I have no doubt Despero could kill the hell out of Malefic, or at least batter him the way he does J'Onzz. In fact, Despero held the lead for most of the contest, until two votes in the final hours placed Malefic first. Had Despero won, I'd have declared a tie, an entirely appropriate end to the boondoggle. Instead, I award Malefic the crown, with a bit of a cocked eye. (9-7)

I'd like to thank everyone for participating, especially those who contributed comments. We'll likely do this again next year, but a lot differently. I'd like to be able to fill out that scorecard, for starters...

April Fool's Day Blogging

I've been kind of peeved at Google lately. A recent update screwed up my March Madness polls, my scheduled posts keep resetting to unpublished drafts, and even the words I type right now are the result of some coding snafu destroying my first draft of this paragraph. I'm going to go study this weekend, and offer this post recapping holiday shenanigans that never came up on my own Google Reader.

The Irredeemable Shag is usually the ringleader of these April Fool's goofs, and first suggested a 2011 edition in January. His mailing list then promptly forgot all about it, Shag included, or bowed out early. Out of the blue on March 19th, Boosterrific announced that he was going ahead with the plan, and several of us ostriches pulled our heads out of the sand and went, "Oh? Well, okay, I think I'll join you."

The premise this year was to convert your entire blog into something different, devoting it to some obscure property that you have an affection for. Shag of course went the most gloriously nuts by converting Firestorm Fan into B'wana Beast's Blog, dedicated to the curious prevalence of a virtual nonentity for forty years into an enduring cartoon guest star (Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.) Shag created ten entirely new posts, including Why a B’wana Beast Blog?, B’wana Beast in Who’s Who 1985, B’wana Beast gets animated!, Best B’wana Beast Covers of All Time, B’wana Beast Action Figures, POLL: B’wana Beast or Freedom Beast?, B’wana Beast Cosplay at DragonCon 2010*, B’wana Beast Temporary Tattoo, Napoleon Dynamite’s Liger – B’wana Beast’s Greatest Achievement? and my personal favorite, the fan fictional B’wana Beast and Beta Ray Bill – Marvel vs DC Amalgam.
*Caution: May require Kleenex after viewing, regardless of gender

Boosterrific was the one bringing this back, so he sure as heck brought it, with Red Star Fire, the most famous Communist at DC Comics replacing the capitalist running dog Booster Gold. I adore old Soviet bloc propaganda imagery, so the design of the blog alone had me drooling. I don't know how long it will be up at 100%, but it should be accessible through the weekend. If not, the direct link to the permanent content is here.I very much approved of his offering the people a weekly poll to explain what their correct opinion should be, as it was pre-rigged.

Kelson's Speed Force briefly turned Cobalt Blue over: Cobalt Blue, Classic Rogue?, The Flash vs…Barry Allen? The Bronze-Age Origin of Cobalt Blue, “Seeing” Blue: TV’s Cobalt Blue Prototype, Flash Facts: Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Blue T-Shirt Available Exclusively At VA Comicon, Who Is Hot Pursuit, REALLY?

Liquidcross briefly lost the reins to the Indigo Tribe blog to Flash rogue Roscoe Dillon, who tried to prove Nobody Tops the Top. That is, until he found himself Dead and loving it.

Always handy as a bulking agent, I converted five of my own blogs, like Diana Prince as the New Wonder Woman into Wundercar Valkyrie!, dedicated to the Nazi aviation from '40s Hillman, '80s Eclipse, and '00s Moonstone comics. That one was mostly pin-ups and pieces from aborted coverage of one of her mini-series.

DC Bloodlines became Marshal Law's San Futuro Police Blog, revolving around synopsizes of the very mature and anti-superhero first six issue mini-series, plus a few extras. It's actually relevant, since DC (of all places) will be reissuing the series.

Power of the Atom was given over to Dreadstar & Company, a childhood favorite creator owned science fantasy series by Jim Starlin. That one was stocked with remembrances, pin-ups, and crudely glued together custom Overpower cards from when I was younger and even more poor.

I had already planned a fan fiction 1995 Manhunter from Mars Annual #12 and some new icons for the sidebar, but The Aviary of the Osprey kind of laid an egg in terms of raw material in replacing The Idol-Head of Diabolu.

I was running on fumes by the time Vibe's Beat Street Blog spun off from Justice League Detroit. That one was cobbled together, like many of the other blogs, from old crap on my ...nurgh... blog from when I did more there than comic book and movie review. Since I already cover Vibe's stories there, that one descended into music videos, pop-lock educationals, and a look back at 1983's D.C. Cab. Apologies for scrapping the bottle of the barrel on that.

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness: Round 4 Wrap-Up

Anyone else having trouble with Google converting scheduled posts to drafts for no good reason?

Man, this has not gone the way I thought it might. It isn't as though the Evil Eight were entirely unexpected, but the Sinister Sixteen were even less so, and I've had more headscratcher results on random matches than I could keep up with.

B'rett vs. Commander Blanx: This is a painful round as hopes are dashed against the rocks. B'rett has walked a long hard road and proven himself a stone cold bastard by killing his way into the top eight, but the final four means someone has to put Ol' Yeller down. It's sort of like in a zombie movie where the best friend volunteers to shoot his bitten buddy in the head as he begins to turn into an undead threat. Blanx and B'rett never met, but I like to think that they would either get along as boss and thug, or better still, sparks would fly between overlord and mercenary renegade. Either way, they're two obscure and long unseen Martian menaces who changed the game with their too few appearances, but only Blanx has an army of minions and a full armory of super-weapons. I thank those who handed B'rett sympathy votes, but he sleeps with the Bloodworms. (2-11)

The Hyperclan vs. Ma’alefa’ak: I knew when I set up this match that Malefic would win, and I'm fine with that, but it's very nearly nonsense. Yes, if Malefic took on the White Martians when his lack of telepathy offered him immunity from H'ronmeer's Plague, some gasoline and a book of matches would be just as effective in his hands as Batman's. However, Malefic's mental abilities were turned back on before he "died," which means he would take on a whole team of beings as powerful as himself with a shared vulnerability. That would play out far different, seeing as he was ultimately defeated by J'Onn J'Onzz, who got his ass kicked by Primaid alone.

That said, this was Malefic's to lose on popularity, and I had planned a final showdown with Commander Blanx next round, but other results mean that has at least been pushed back, if not canceled outright. I hope not, as I even had that poll posted for about two minutes before deleting it to rearrange the line-up. (4-10)

Mr. V vs. Professor Arnold Hugo: I was hoping it would come down to these two. Prof. Hugo debuted in the pages of Detective Comics, but three of his four battles with our hero were in House of Mystery. The latter is the only comic Mr. V ever appeared in, but he did so multiple times more than Hugo, acting as the featured villain in the final year of Martian Manhunter stories. Hugo was J'Onn J'Onzz's first major reoccurring human foe of the Silver Age, and Faceless was his last. Both have minions and high tech gadgets, and each acted internationally against "Marco Xavier." Mr. V has vastly more resources at his disposal, but is hampered by the size of his organization, misinformation, and his primary ability being his avoidance of direct conflict. The Wizard of 1,000 Menaces is much more agile and ingenious, but spends an awful lot of time in prison because of his failures while taking the battle to the Alien Atlas. Faceless indirectly dealt damage to Hawkman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, but Hugo actually managed to subdue Batman, Robin, and Superman (before getting beaten by Aquaman.)

While he's far and away my favorite of the two (not to mention most of the Vile Menagerie,) Hugo was objectively only the ninth most important Martian Manhunter villain, as he debuted in a Batman story, introduced no radical changes to the John Jones comic strip, and is basically just J'Onn's Luthor/Sivana generic mad scientist. Mr. V ranked fourth, because he was created for the Manhunter franchise, has fought J'Onzz exclusively, and I suppose brings more to the table. Just not the manic charm, which is why this one was so narrow.(6-5)

Bette Noir vs. Despero: I thought this would be an elemental battle between a guy powered by the Flame of Py'tar and a girl known to Scorch. Instead, we ended up with a psychic conflict between the telepathic third eye of a Kalanorian and a woman whose mental manipulations overwhelmed Dubbilex and vexed the Manhunter from Mars. Even under those terms, I figured this would be lopsided in Despero's favor, but the results came down to a wisp of Bette's hair. Finally, I thought it would be really fun to see Professor Hugo in the Jasonar/L-Ron role, pitting gadgets against the otherworldly tyrant. When Mr. V came up in the rotation instead, I had to switch fighters to keep things interesting at the last minute. Weird round.(6-7)


Round 5: Polls close on the evening of the 30th. Round 6 will only last the 24 hours of March 31st, and will not be preceded by a wrap-up post, so don't dawdle.

-----

Next-to-Last Sons: Mars Attacked!


Commander Blanx


vs.


Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak

What's Pink & Green & Red All Over?

Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak

vs.

Despero

-----

Mr. X X vs. Three-Eyed Jack

Mr. V

vs.

Despero

Mister & Commander!

Commander Blanx

vs.

Mr. V

-----

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness: Round 3 Wrap-Up

Despero vs. TOR: Congratulations to the Robot Criminal of Mars for holding a solid tie for the first couple of days, and this was a fun match to picture in my head, but the end result was pretty much inevitable. Despero is a popular villain outside Manhunter fandom whom I've done theme months around several years running. I just got around to adding TOR, one-shot bad guy, to the blog's rogues gallery. Math's easy, and with TOR's innate fire weakness, the Kalanorian simply overwhelms. (12-6)

Commander Blanx vs. Vandal Savage: This was a dicey proposition, because Blanx is the more important Martian Manhunter villain, but Vandal Savage is vastly better known and more popular. Thankfully, this is a Martian Manhunter blog, so relevancy won out, even among those that only know Blanx by reputation. (11-6)

The Hyperclan vs. The Devil Men of Pluto: This was in no way the closest of the matches, but it was the last one I did a write-up on, because I've learned to never underestimate the Devil Men. Those guys are gnarly, but it took a gang to take on one relatively sedate Desert Dweller, and the Hyperclan are a bunch of raging White Martians, so no.(11-7)

Mr. V vs. Mr. Moth: As you might have guessed, this here was a killin' round. I'm never going to fill in the blanks on the March Madness score card this year, because we've had too many ties and triple-headers to compensate. I've groused about Mr. Moth causing a number of such incidents, and he initially looked to be doing it again here, then it passed, and then he almost did it again. I've got to say that despite my complaints, Mr. Moth's esteem has risen in my eyes, as sort of the David Lynchian gonzo surrealist super-villain of the set. Still, Mr. V is one of the big guns, so he deserved to progress without any namby-pamby close calls. Despite my confidence in Faceless, this was a squeaker! (9-8)

Bette Noir vs. Doctor Samedi: I have not developed a respect for Dr. Samedi. If anything, his vexing me with ties and progressing far beyond his worth made me dislike him all the more. However, Bette's finally offing him for me by such a wide margin certainly makes me appreciate her more. I thought losing Scorch was going to be a major blow for the female spoilers in a sausage showdown, but Bette may just have some legs. It remains to be seen whether they're illusory... (14-3)

Doctor Trap vs. Professor Arnold Hugo: I've been looking forward to this match, because I feel Dr. Trap is the grim n' gritty Post-Crisis take on Prof. Hugo, with regard to how his abilities play out against the Martian Manhunter. Hugo was a mad scientist in the Luthor/Sivana mode, but much lower rent. Trap pits murderous devices from his garage against super-heroes, with a decent success rate. I don't care to see an adulterated, gory Arnold Hugo in comics, especially when Trap can accomplish the same ends while originating from a dark place. That said, Prof. Hugo was J'onn J'onzz first real archenemy, and a whole lot of fun, so I'm much more excited to see him advancing. (6-11)

Asmodel vs. Ma'alefa'ak: I like Asmodel, and he's done very well based on appeal and raw power, but he's come about as far as he's earned. J'Onn J'Onzz hasn't fought him in something like a decade, and while Asmodel might just kill Malefic, the lord of the Bull Host's star has fallen far enough that it would hardly be assured. (6-13)

B'rett vs. King Zeus: Damn, but I'm loving B'rett more and more. The yellow bastard has killed the hell out of some competition, and he's never had a "gimme" match. I think he's a big deal, and I'm glad folks are seeing what he brings to the table. I've already got him cast in the 1960s fake Martian Manhunter movie sequel... (12-5)


Round 4: Polls close midday on the 28th, so get cracking:

-----

Clan of the Fiery Plague!

The Hyperclan

vs.

Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak

-----

Murderers of Mars!

B'rett (Criminal Yellow Martian)

vs.

Commander Blanx (Genocidal Pale Martian)

-----

Master of the House!

Mr. V

vs.

Professor Arnold Hugo

-----

Eye of the Beguiler!

Bette Noir

vs.

Despero

-----

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness: Round 2 Round-Up Second Half

Doctor Samedi vs. The Osprey: I hope you'll forgive a bit of arrogance on my part, especially over such a piddling matter, but I feel like I "made" the Osprey. He was one of the earliest entries in the original incarnation of the Vile Menagerie from my late '90s site, which got him referenced elsewhere on the net, and he was also one of the first villains back in after the launch of this blog. Whoever created the Osprey page for Comicvine swiped my scan from here, and I figure my adoption and disproportionate coverage of the character has lent him greater credibility than he actual earned in his sole cameo appearance foreshadowing a confrontation that never arrived. At least Doctor Samedi has the goodwill of Ostrander fans from his two page confrontation with the Martian Manhunter and Fire. The Osprey has literally done nothing but talk a bit of smack and take flight. Each of these characters has survived initial qualifications and 1-2 additional rounds of combat, but they also fall into the category of dudes with exceptionally weak opponents and bogus tie matches. The Osprey didn't fall until the final hours of voting, by a single ballot, or else I'd be stuck finding opponents for both of these losers in Round 3 (says the guy who has an Osprey fanfic brewing...)
[8-7]

S'vor vs. TOR: I should be more accepting of the lesser characters here, because there really should be multiple weight classes. I've spoken at length about heavyweights like Darkseid and Despero, who are difficult to schedule for lack of comparable opponents, so that they often end up K.O.ing middleweights like Mongul and the Marshal who deserve to go more than one round. That's probably why I get so irate when I have to keep juggling nobodies like S'vor, who could have been gobbled up long ago by bigger dogs if I weren't such a bleeding heart liberal about this thing. The Robot Criminal of Mars' absence has long been one of my biggest slights on this blog, so TOR has been something of a secret weapon in clearing out the dead weight. I'll salute S'vor for lasting so long, but I can't help resenting him for the finer foes who fell before him. Um, not actually before him, like in front of him, because he beat them. Other even better guys beat the better guys before S'vor got beat. Didn't we talk about this? (4-8)

Scorch vs. Bel Juz vs. Bette Noir: I apologize for this match, which was thrown together out of frustration. In a contest full of Martians with a weakness to fire, Scorch's flames make her a major pain in the ass to place. She really tended to be a heavyweight in the voting, and easily led this match for most of its run. I think she had further to go, and I was looking forward to rounds against Asmodel or Despero. Bette Noir pulled a one vote win in the last couple of hours after a latter day surge of votes that leads me to suspect ballot stuffing. We'll see if Bette has Scorch's strength in these final rounds.

If there's been one character I've tried to shield in this contest, it has been Bel Juz. She's come a long way from being completely disowned by this blog's readership in last year's villains poll, but the lack of reprints of her appearances and her tendency to manipulate rather than act directly hurts her effectiveness and affections. I busted up the obvious match of D'Kay vs. Cay'an to give Bel a chance of at least qualifying, and even then I wasn't sure of her survival, but she made it to round 2. However, I got tired of finding people to sacrifice to facilitate Bel's ambitions, an amusingly poetic position to find myself in. I could have had her try to woo one of these twits that keep surviving like cockroaches, and I was particularly amused by the prospect of trying her potency against B'rett, but that guy has won his place by way of the hard road. At this point, Bel's inability to directly attack anyone was screwing up good potential matches, so I decided on a catfight. Bel still had a chance if Bette and Scorch divided the modern vote, not unlike how Beyonce lost to Taylor Swift at the VMAs that year Kanye showed his ass because the country vote held after the pop vote got diluted by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Ah, who am I kidding? I got tired of carrying Bel, and threw her under the bus. (7-4-8)

Vandal Savage vs. Gorilla Grodd: The Immortal Savage had a good run for several years as the main guy Martian Manhunter tangled with before getting a solo series, and even then DC One Million was a reminder of their animosity. Grodd has fought J'Onn a few times, but it still feels more like throwing together the leftovers of two teams (see also: Dr. Light) rather than an organic animosity. Both of these villains are favorites, so I couldn't do them the disservice of lesser opponents, but it always pains me to see quality get the cut. (10-8)

Commander Blanx vs. Kanto: I was sweating this one, and before a reshuffling, Kanto would have been up against Vandal Savage instead. Kanto has a solid fan base among Manhunter fans, so he was going to be a major threat either way. I'm still not sure how much Blanx's win involved first hand knowledge versus his reputation preceding him, but I'm just glad he didn't end up tasting the assassin's blade. (10-7)

Despero vs. Darkseid: Whew! Talk about a clash of titans. The Lord of Apokolips has been the 800 lbs. gorilla of this competition (sorry, Grodd,) with power levels and visibility far greater than any other Martian Manhunter villain. I've often expressed my issues with his even being counted among them, but someone will always point to Martian Manhunter defeating Darkseid in a potential future many centuries from now as a triumphant moment. I was afraid I was sending Despero to his death, but he managed a narrow victory, slaying the mighty dragon. I would have been so disappointed if March Madness had come down to Darkseid vs. Malefic. (10-9)

VULTURE vs. The Devil Men of Pluto: Man oh man, somebody has to bring the Devil Men back from the dead. Every time I put these guys in front of readers, they get a standing ovation. I guess the exact same line-up of Devil Men wouldn't be necessary, as a whole new batch of Plutonian scoundrels could be rounded up. I nominate the Ayatollah Khomeini, Idi Amin, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot as figure models for the next batch. As for Vulture, well, they're an international crime organization. There were a few exceptional members that could have carried their own matches, but they were mostly ineffectual goons in cheap suits with devices supplied by Mr. V. That will only take you so far. (7-8)


Round 3

Martians vs. Plutonians!

The Hyperclan (White Martians!)

vs.

The Devil Men of Pluto

-----

Machiavellian Misanthropes!

Commander Blanx

vs.

Vandal Savage

-----

Head Like A Bowl!

Doctor Trap

vs.

Professor Arnold Hugo (Wizard of 1,000 Menaces)

-----

Mister Mister!

Mr. V

vs.

Mr. Moth

-----

Black Magic, Woman!

Bette Noir

vs.

Doctor Samedi

-----
Exodus To Revelations!

Asmodel (Corrupt Angel of the Bull Host)

vs.

Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak

-----
The Body Snatchers!

Despero

vs.

Tor, the Robot Criminal of Mars

-----
From A Jack To A King!

B'rett (Yellow Martian Criminal)

vs.

King Zeus

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness: Round 2 Round-Up First Half

The Hyperclan vs. Antares and the Clanetary System: The former is a super team of individually branded White Martians from one of the most well regarded JLA arcs of all time. The latter is a largely faceless force of sentient machines that turned up in a couple of early Ostrander/Mandrake issues of Martian Manhunter. The results of pitting one against the other seem like a foregone conclusion.(15-4)

Doctor Trap vs. Mr. V: Frankly, most of the tie matches we've had so far have ticked me off, because if we can't manage to eliminate one of two negligible, ultimately doomed candidates in a sweeping competition, what's the point? It also bugs me when really strong characters are taken out in major matches, while some bottom feeder makes its way through multiple rounds. This would be an exception, as Dr. Trap and Faceless are both significant threats that have played major roles in Martian Manhunter history, whether factual or through retroactive continuity. I'm perfectly happy to have the chance to set either of them up with other cool villains, or use them to exterminate some of the more tenacious vermin... (7-7)

The Master Gardener vs. Ma'alefa'ak: ...Which segues nicely into a discussion of the Master Gardener, who could have been a contender. Unfortunately, the rapacious appetite of Malefic must be slaked at least once per round, and no puny morsel will do. The Gardener held his own in the short term, but there was little hope against the most popular Ostrander villain, whose inclusion in the final four is a foregone conclusion. (5-13)

King Zeus vs. Mr. Moth: I never gave him much thought before, but I've developed a grudging respect for Mr. Moth. Having beaten the Falcon and the Human Squirrel, Moth has earned the right to be considered the official representative of geeky old school animal/bird/insect-themed villains in the Martian Manhunter rogues gallery. That might seem like a small thing, but if you think about it, that's a pretty important subgenre in comics. Most Spider-Man villains fall into that category, and fellow company includes the Penguin, Cheetah, Gorilla Grodd, and Titano. However, what I cannot respect is a tie against King Zeus, who has limped along against the sorriest of competitors. No more! Round three shall see them either truly prove their worth, or leave them limp and broken. (8-8)

Professor Arnold Hugo vs. Professor Ivo: The JLofA isn't exactly known for originating "name" villains with their own following, so Professor Ivo is sadly a relative headliner in that category. No flies on Ivo-- I like the guy myself, but I wouldn't pit Prof. Hugo against Lex Luthor, y'know? The Wizard of 1,000 Menaces, multiple story Manhunter threat and onetime Batman & Robin foe, barely beat the rather obscure (and non-credentialed) Alex Dunster, so I took a dim view of his survival chances here. Hugo pulled an extra 50% over Ivo, so some face was saved there. Next round, we'll have to give Arnold the chance to earn his keep... (9-6)

Asmodel vs. Brimstone: Everyone remembers the part where Superman wrestles with an angel of the Lord, but they tend to forget the soldier who was asked to stand down after holding the line before the Man of Steel tagged in. You know, the Martian who fought Asmodel while batting down flames, and was later murdered by the rogue leader of the Bull Host in disguise before teaming up with Zauriel to bring the battle to Heaven itself? Them's stakes, ya'll.

On the other hand, M.C.'s enthusiasm for Brimstone, the acolyte of a dark lord, saw my vote go his way. I see the value in Brimstone's clarity of mission and inherent commentary against evangelicals. Regardless, I think both characters are powerhouses that bring up the Manhunter's game, so I'm good either way. (10-5)

B'rett vs. The Magician-Thief Who Had Super Powers: This is a match I've been looking forward to, as it's the first bad Green Martian foe in the strip vs. the only Yellow Martian to date. I think they're both fun characters that I've revisted in fan fiction here, with the distinction that I turned the ineffectual Thief into a helpful supporting character, and played up the ruthlessness of the thoroughly sociopathic B'rett. You don't bring a pickpocket to a gunfight. (10-6)

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness: Round 1 Round-Up, Part 3

Round 1 Final Assessments

Gorilla Grodd vs. Ryx vs. Thantos, the 3-In-1 Man: Two characters that I really like, are fairly popular, and had great potential to crush Vile Menagerie subjects while having somewhat questionable credentials in that department are Gorilla Grodd and Vandal Savage. These factors made their placement in the contest problematic. At one point I was going to have the aforementioned David and Goliath match of Grodd against the Human Squirrel. "Big Game" could have made the '90s stubbly Weapons Master a gorilla poacher. I kept juggling possibilities, but my responsibilities in balancing things out kept screwing up the lines.

Then I had Ryx, a military leader of an invading alien army repeatedly tricked by J'Onn J'Onzz into believing all human males were like Superman. Like a lot of characters, Ryx benefited from low vote turnouts ending in ties/narrow victories. Pitting him against other minor villains seemed unfair, since he did have an army, even if its mettle had never really been tested. Finally, there was Thantos, a goofy looking creation that was nonetheless very powerful and a legitimate threat wholly owned by the Martian Manhunter franchise. In the end, I decided to have the Three-In-One have a DC Three-In-One fight with the other two square pegs I had left over. Thantos had done well in qualifications, so he had a legitimate shot against Grodd, but I figure Ryx watered down the Silver Age vote. In the end, Grodd managed a win at six to Thantos' four and Ryx three, but I still figure it for one of the dirtiest matches.

The Magician-Thief Who Had Super-Powers vs. Vulkor: The Capsule Master reminds me of the Ghost Rider foe The Eye with that giant orb on his head, and unless you happen to be Mysterio, that kind of dome tends to be a serious liability. While Vulkor's debut remains one of the most often reprinted Martian Manhunter stories, and he was probably the most widely exposed of that rogues gallery in the Silver/Bronze Ages, his omission from the two Showcase Presents Martian Manhunter volumes had to hurt. While Vulkor made a lot of history, the "Magician-Thief" was still the first Martian villain in the John Jones series, and that means a lot. Also, while M-T may have worn pink, at least he didn't look like a marital aid gone rogue. (8-4)

The Headmaster vs. TOR: The Robot Criminal of Mars should have been a much earlier entry into the Vile Menagerie files, but a) I figured I was going to synopsize his debut "soon" a couple or three years ago & b) I didn't have any color reference to work with. As this March Madness bit got started, and wanting a break from school pressure, I knocked out three easy entries in one night. It might have seemed like ballot rigging to post TOR's during the contest, but it didn't have any impact on a deadlocked vote. What actually happened was that I don't like stalemates, and I hadn't voted because I think Headmaster is a solid newer villain, but gave TOR the nod. The thing with the Headmaster is that his "zombie"/robots hybrids and spaceship were trashed by Martian Manhunter in his only story. TOR was another rare early villain who could not only meet J'Onn J'Onzz on the field of power, but did so through a human host. We only have TOR's dubious word that his robot form was disabled, and he already displayed body-hopping abilities, so he could be revived at any time with power enough to tangle with the big boys. (6-7)

The Saturninan Criminal vs. S'vor: To be honest, I've only skimmed either of these guy's stories, and I was rooting for the Mercurian against the Saturnian in the pre-season. S'vor seems like the dopiest looking of the lot, so I kind of wash my hands of the whole thing. (6-7)

The Martian Marauders vs. The Devil Men of Pluto: I knew this would be a massacre. The Marauders were just another gang of all-bald, all-boring red planet hoodlums causing trouble on Earth. The Devil Men were vicious bastards who marked the turning point when Martian Manhunter became a dark character who dismissed the value of their evil lives. One looked like a demonic Adolph Hitler, and what part of "Devil Men of Pluto" does anyone find unappealing in their villains? (2-11)

Scorch vs. The Human Flame: Two of the most highly visible Manhunter-related adversaries whose fire-based powers prevented them from fairly tangling with Martians. In other words, two pains in my ass I had to have face off, because where else could I place them? I wasn't at all sure which way this would go, as Scorch has her fans, but the Human Flame had his own mini-series and old school credentials. I didn't vote, and it wouldn't have mattered, because J'Onn's old flame made this a cakewalk. (9-4)

The Osprey vs. Weapons Master: One of these guys literally appeared in a few panels of foreshadowing in one comic book that was never followed up on, which goes to show nothing is more open to fan projection than a blank canvas. Just ask Neil Gaiman's Morpheus, or the Phantom Stranger. Then again, Weapons Master was only the 198th high-tech mercenary who could afford full body armor but couldn't scrape the stubble off his own chin in 1994. It never helps to be a Bloodwynd villain, either. (8-4)

The Marshal vs. Commander Blanx: Part of me really wanted the genetically altered leader of the Soldiers of the Red Brotherhood to play Pac-Man with lesser lights for a round or two, but how boring would it have been to see the Marshal murder B'rett and Commander Blanx batter Bel Juz? Nope, let's cut to the chase, and have the two great militaristic evils of Mars in ultimate combat. The Marshal put up a struggle, and there's some honor in that, but the odds were never in his favor. (5-9)

Despero vs. Doomsday: The prospect of the three-eyed Kalanorian going out in the first round horrified me, but there was no one else to potentially tackle Doomsday, and you always have to kill your babies in this sort of thing. Well color me surprised (or fuchsia) that not only did Despero destroy Doomsday, but it was the single greatest annihilation to date. There was a time when Doomsday seemed unstoppable, but I guess the Superman creative team thoroughly poisoned the well after so many tainted dips in its waters. (15-1)

That does it for Round One, and here are the final matches for Round Deux....

-----
Division III, Round 2
-----

Mistresses of the Obvious!

Scorch

vs.

Bel Juz (Green Martian Traitor!)

vs.

Bette Noir (Mind Manipulator!)

-----
Rocket Ridin' Drrrty

B'rett (Yellow Martian Criminal)

vs.

The Magician-Thief Who Had Super-Powers

-----

Cameo Combat!

Doctor Samedi

vs.

The Osprey

-----

Gore S'more!

S'vor (Tec 267)

vs.

Tor, the Robot Criminal of Mars

-----
Division IV, Round 2
-----

Py'tar vs. Apokolips

Despero

vs.

Darkseid

-----

Sic Semper Tyrannis!

Commander Blanx

vs.

Kanto

-----

Missing Links!

Vandal Savage

vs.

Gorilla Grodd

-----
Have Ray-Guns... Will Travel!

VULTURE (International Mob)

vs.

The Devil Men of Pluto (Space Hitlers!)

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness: Round 1 Round-Up, Part 1

Post-Game Review

The Master Gardener vs. Cabal: I knew from last year's poll that the American Secrets fans' love of the mini-series extended to the characters to a degree I hadn't expected, but I thought the Ostrander fans might rally around one of the better villains and stories from that run. Heck, there could even be some support for Cabal from a theoretical Jemm readership. Instead, the Master Gardener took nearly four times as many votes.

Bel Juz vs. Cay'an: I originally planned to pit D'Kay against Cay'an in the battle of the recent "Green Martian females to appear out of nowhere after all these years with stupid (apostrophe) names and not accomplish anything." That would have been cute, but that would have left Bel Juz to face Bette Noir. Bel was one of the very worst performers in last year's Vile Menagerie reader interest poll, and my art commission of her has been sitting in the artist's "to do" pile for nearly a year, even though I paid better than twice what I gave anyone else. I kind of figured she might have been plotted under a bad sign. However, I've made a concerted effort to promote a favorite Manhunter villain and point out her importance to his cannon, even if she lives in the black hole of fan interest that is J'onn J'onzz's Bronze Age. Maybe that helped, or maybe folks hated Coneheadhunter and Cay'an's lame last issue reveal more than I thought. Either way, Bel devoured Cay'an without any heartburn by the same margin as the Master Gardiner.

Doctor Trap vs. Monty Moran: The Getaway King: I thought maybe the Getaway Mastermind would get a bump from Silver Age readers or the unearthed archival footage from the 1967 Manhunter from Mars Movie, but Larry Trapp got four times the votes with a quarter fewer total than the first two matches. Honestly, I don't care all that much about Moran, either. Andy Kuhn would seem to agree.

Malefic/Ma'alefa'ak vs. Fernus the Burning Martian: The highest number of votes in any of these face-offs so far is 23, so I find the 300 or so daily hits Google & my other counter claim I get suspect. 18 of those were for Malefic, which means he got more than most of the other contests by himself. I was actual surprised Fernus did as well as 5, since they're very similar characters, with Malefic making much more of a lasting impression.

Kanto vs. Lobo: The Main Man may be the better selling character, but the 'Bo has his haters in droves, and Kanto proved quite popular with the Ostrander crowd. Hell, even I agree he's the most appropriate of the New Gods to be associated with J'Onn J'Onzz. I'd still have voted for Lobo if I did in fact vote, but I didn't, and the only difference would have been to cost Kanto the status of receiving more than twice as many votes.

Mr. V vs. Director Bones: I wasn't at all sure how this would go. The former Mister Bones was as well liked as Infinity, Inc villains got, and his switch to regional director at the Department of Extranormal Operations in a critically acclaimed series was more notice than Faceless ever got. However, even after becoming a semi-regular antagonist in the Ostrander series, Bones couldn't overcome the weight (*ahem*) of Mr. V. I would have been happy either way, but Faceless deserves the recognition. Readers agreed twice over.

Antares & the Clanetary System vs. The Bloodworms of Mars: Two Ostrander/Mandrake creations involving hordes of monstrous xenomorphs wrecking widespread destruction. The Worms took two thirds as many votes as Antares, which was pretty close, seeing as the Clanetary System showed up in early bestselling issues versus the Worms latter-day ("almost canceled") one-off appearance.

Asmodel vs. Inflict: The corrupt leader of the mutinous angels of the Bull Host killed J'Onn J'Onzz (under Mark Millar's orders, no less) after appearing in one of the most fondly remembered JLA epics Grant Morrison ever wrote. What does it say about how far Asnodel's fallen from grace that an intergalactic warrior who appeared in a handful of silent panels in a little read one-shot gave a serious run for the money. Inflict lost 6-9, but it feels like Asmodel saw a Pyrrhic victory.

The Conjurer vs. Doctor Samedi: One was inducted into the Vile Menagerie a year in (back when I did that sort of thing more than once a year) and has been a Martian Manhunter rogue for over half a century. The other appeared on two pages of one of the most blatantly racist comics from a major publisher in the past fifteen years. Still, the Conjurer was a forgettable poseur I killed off in an overlong fan fiction, and Doctor Samedi used the voodoo he do in the war of the "Guys Who Keep Stalemating" by nearly twice the votes. I already wrote his induction post.

Professor Anthony Ivo vs. Doctor Arthur Light: Besides being a classic Justice League of America villain, the final confrontation between Ivo and J'Onn J'Onzz at the end of the first volume of their book qualified the Professor for the Vile Menagerie in its first incarnation... by the lower standards employed by my old '90s fan site. They've had little to nothing to do with one another in the decades since, but I forgot to take Ivo off my old Manhunter villains list. I still like him a lot better than Dr. Light, who I grew up on as a silly, incompetent New Teen Titans foe. Raping and getting killed didn't exactly help Light's case, even if he did help kill J'Onn J'Onzz for slightly longer than Asmodel. This was a close race, but Ivo pulled ahead by three votes in the closing days.

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness, Division 3, Round 1

The Final Disqualifications

N’orr Cott & R’es Eda: I'm soliciting comment on this one. My theory is that modern Martian Manhunter fans jumped in from 1984 onward, and are reasonably familiar with the villains from the Post-Crisis eras (especially since 1991 or so.) 50s-60s fans and readers who bought the Showcase Presents volumes show their preferences for the Silver Age adventures/villains. Between these two camps is the Bronze Age, of which there are no Martian Manhunter reprints, and representing a time when many Silver Age readers left comics and new readers were not properly introduced to the Martian Manhunter until the '80s. Alternately, there's the Magician-Thief's historical significance as the first Martian (space) Manhunter from Mars villain playing against the relatively insignificant N’orr Cott, but that doesn't explain how R’es Eda was annihilated 0-9 by a waste of space like B’enn B’urnzz. Maybe people just hate these two that much? Little help?

Korge: The Last Angry God immediately brings my main point above into question, as the one-shot '70s JLofA villain only just lost to Brimstone. I don't recall voting in this one.

The Mercurian: Either people are routinely changing their votes, or some hacker is manipulating them, because there was a time these two were at a dead heat. In the end, The Saturninan Criminal garnered all but one vote. The first numbers made more sence, because the Mercurian was visually a Despero prototype who looked cool enough to make appearances today without a major alteration. The Saturninan had a better costume and an equally fun story, but his face is silly. I dunno.

The General: This was one of the few outright assassinations. This guy got confused with the Shaggy Man/Wade Eiling, and I wanted confirmation that he was the piker I assumed he was. The Marshal clarified matters.

Triumph: Of course a match against Thantos, the 3-In-1 Man was a gay joke. It was never confirmed in the comics, but co-creator Christopher Priest revealed on his blog that Triumph was homosexual. All the more reason he deserves a comeback to represent among one of comics' greatest minorities, but folks don't seem to hold him in much regard as a Manhunter villain.

Rott: The Bloodwynd thing just did not happen in the minds of most people, as Rott consistently sucks in any forum I try to play him. I think he's both decent enough and historically significant, but there's little love here.

The Prophet: I personally think this guy has some serious power and some credible potential, but mystique worked out a lot better for the Osprey than it did for the Pyre. I guess I'd take a villain who was well designed, had his own logo, and appeared on one page of a Mark Waid/Sal Velluto story over a slog of a "special" edition with a one-note generic adversary.

The Martian Mandrills: I blame the twist that they were Martians pretending to be Mandrills, instead of actually simians. People love monkeys, but not people who pretend to be moneys, or kangaroos, or porcupines. Guys who pulled that at Marvel got killed by the Scourge. If people just want a Martian gang, they'll cut through the monkey business and head straight for the The Martian Marauders.

Captain Horatio Destiny: An amusing Ostrander period frienemy I need to do a proper write-up of, but no match for Commander Blanx.

Final Round 1 Division
I guess I needed to crunched the numbers in advance, because I really should have had four divisions, but not as things worked out. If I'm available near the end of a poll, I'll often decide to cast a late vote to create or make a tie regarding characters I'm neutral on. I do not believe I am alone in this occasional "strategic voting," as I'm seeing some weird number fluctuations and more ties of late. I'm wondering what effect this will have in the long run, especially since there were several "a-bomb" votes this round that will either take out major players early or promote more "ties."

Know Them By The Trail of Dead!

Despero

vs.

Doomsday

-----

Marshal & Commander

The Marshal (Soldiers of the Red Brotherhood)

vs.

Commander Blanx

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Duck Hunt '94!

The Osprey

vs.

Weapons Master

-----

Hot Time In Middletown Tonight!

Scorch

vs.

The Human Flame

-----

Zap Gun Gang Violence!

The Martian Marauders

vs.

The Devil Men of Pluto (Space Hitlers!)

-----

Illegal Aliens!

The Saturninan Criminal

vs.

S'vor (Tec 267)

-----

Machine Head!

The Headmaster

vs.

Tor, the Robot Criminal of Mars

-----

Mars Plows Earth!

The Magician-Thief Who Had Super Powers

vs.

Vulkor, the Capsule Master

-----

DC Three-In-One!

Gorilla Grodd

vs.

Ryx (Tec 309)

vs.

Thantos, the 3-In-1 Man

Martian Manhunter Menagerie March Madness, Division 2, Round 1

If I had it all to do again, I'd make some changes. The original idea for the qualifying rounds was to trim off the fat of the Vile Menagerie to allow for longer voting periods on the more popular characters. Initially, everybody in the Martian Manhunter rogues gallery was going to have to compete, until I realized I couldn't pit Darkseid against Wiley Dalbert without it being an unfair and boring Godzilla vs. Bambi match-up. Likewise, having Darkseid or Mongul take the other out in a qualifying match that Nemusus passes through would be insane. I still ended up with some lopsided and ill-considered contests, and people I would have liked to have seen fight never managed to meet up, but I'll try to keep things interesting for the rest of the duration.

More Disqualifications

Tybalt Bak'sar: I cast the first vote for the competitor, B'rett, who I consider one of the top ten most important Martian Manhunter villains. That said, Tybalt took an early lead that I thought would sink B'rett, who only won by that single vote. I have a noted and run-encompassing disdain for the Ostrander/Mandrake series, and I figure Bak'sar makes more sense as a Green Lantern villain, but I still more readily accept him into the Vile Menagerie than most of that lot. He's pretty cool, and might have gone farther without the hyped B'rett as an early obstacle.

The Invaders From the Space Warp: I confess that I still haven't read the first appearance of Zook or the erythematous Ric Ocaseks from another dimension that helped facilitate his stay on Earth. My bad.

Scary Monsters: I like these guys, and think they're pretty bad ass. I was looking forward to pitting them against other overwhelming forces like the Clanetary System, but either folks hated that mini-series or never read it in the first place. Maybe folks voted on the historical significance of the goonie-looking Thythen?

Effigy: Aside from his role in the very short-lived homicide of J'Onn J'Onzz, this guy is totally Kyle Rayner's property, and rather dead. Scorch was both a natural match and a certain kill.

Malador: I started a Vile Menagerie entry for this dude years ago, got sidetracked, and it has languished ever since. I actually like Malador and think he was a lot cooler than the wizard Diabolu. I suspect it was the impact of the Idol-Head that really trounced Malador, who only played into two stories total.

Professor Proxon: The Crime College may have been on the cover of the first Showcase Presents collection, but King Zeus helped close out that collection with a bang as one of the few true super-villains to be found inside. Proxon was also pretty unexceptional, set apart from the numbingly usual '50s suspects only by his one gimmick.

Wiley Dalbert: The dorky Doc Brown of chronal crime got an early lead on Alex Dunster, but ended up choking over the long haul.

The Falcon: Probably a better equipped and more effective villain than Mr. Moth, but when silly meets stupid, may the most ridiculous one "win."

Porto: The one person who voted for "The Man of 1,000 Disguises" over the vastly superior "Wizard of 1,000 Menaces" was just screwing with me, weren't they?

Division 2 Matches

Thanos!

Darkseid

vs.

Mongul

-----

Femme Fatales!

Bette Noir

vs.

D'Kay

-----

Ancient Evils!

Vandal Savage

vs.

Diabolu & his Idol-Head

-----

Experimental Slavers!


The Hyperclan

vs.

The Thythen (Vonn/Mars II)

-----

Super-Mafia!

The Lizard Men (American Secrets)

vs.

VULTURE (International Mob)

------

Servants of Darkseid!

Libra

vs.

Brimstone

-----

Mooth & Squirrel!

Mr. Moth

vs.

The Human Squirrel

-----

Get Them To The Greek!

Nemesus

vs.

King Zeus

-----

Not the Manhunter!

B'rett (Yellow Martian Criminal)

vs.

B’enn B’urnzz (Future Green Martian)

-----

Weird Science!

Alex Dunster (Robot Brain Teleporter)

vs.

Professor Arnold Hugo (Wizard of 1,000 Menaces)