Saturday, April 25, 2009

Justice League of America: Secret Origins: Martian Manhunter (2002)



"THIS WAS A WORLD OF POETRY AND SONG, LIFE AND LOVE.

NO MORE.

THE MARS I KNEW IS NOW A PLACE AS BARREN AS IT IS LONELY.

BELIEVING LIFE STILL EXISTED ON MARS, THE EARTH SCIENTIST DR. SAUL ERDEL STROVE TO CONTACT MY WORLD.

AND IN SO DOING, SUCCESSFULLY BROUGHT TO HIS PLANET THE LAST LIVING MARTIAN, MYSELF.

NOW I GAZED UPON A NEW WORLD, SO LIKE MY OWN, WITH EQUAL POTENTIAL FOR GREATNESS OR DESTRUCTION. DR. ERDEL CALLED ME J'ONN J'ONZZ, A ROUGH APPROXIMATION OF HOW HE INTERPRETED MY NATIVE NAME.

I FURTHER REFINED IT TO JOHN JONES, AN ORDINARY NAME BEFITTING AN ORDINARY MAN.

MY MARTIAN ABILITY TO SHAPESHIFT ALLOWED ME TO BLEND AMONG HUMANS, REINFORCING MY DESIRE TO PASS AS ONE OF THEM.

TAKING THE ROLE OF A DETECTIVE, I USED MY POWERS TO DISCOVER THE TRUTH BEHIND SEEMINGLY UNSOLVABLE CRIMES.

AND WHEN NECESSARY, EMPLOYED A MORE FORMIDABLE APPEARANCE IN ORDER TO STARTLE AND SUBDUE THE REAL CULPRITS.

THUS, IN THE MANNER OF SO MANY IMMIGRANTS BEFORE ME, I FOUND A WAY TO ASSIMILATE INTO THE GREATER POPULATION, YET MY STRANGE HERITAGE ENSURES MY ISOLATION. THOUGH I WALK AMONG YOU, I AM ALWAYS ALONE.

WITH ABILITIES BEYOND IMAGINING, I FIGHT TO PRESERVE THE NOBLER ASPIRATIONS OF HUMANKIND, IN THE HOPE THAT MY ADOPTED HOME NEVER SUFFERS THE SAME FATE AS MY BELOVED MARS."

by Paul Dini and Alex Ross.

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