I've been speculating on/jumped to conclusions/mislead about a New 52 Martian Manhunter series so many times since 2011 that I can't get excited about the prospect anymore. Short of a J.M. DeMatteis on the quality/legacy front or a Geoff Johns for marquee value, no current DC creators can live up to the wait and consistency of dashed hopes. A new Martian Manhunter #1 in the current climate at DC would likely just be another failure to hang around the character's neck; more ammunition to shoot down a legitimately passionate pitch down the line. Do not want.
That having been said, some dude on 4chan posted a list of DC Comics announcements expected (by him. Maybe.) to be made at New York Comic Con in mid-October. Included was a new Martian Manhunter series by Matt Kindt and Marco Rudy. Bleeding Cool then proceeded to debunk and generally poo-poo the list.
Matt Kindt was writing the Manhunter strip that was running in the back of Justice League of America when it was written by Geoff Johns and drawn by David Finch. He's also writing the Manhunter/Stargirl story arc that's meant to keep the book warm during Forever Evil for artists Doug Mahnke, Eddy Barrows, and/or industry icon "TBA." By the time that's over with, the book will be Justice League of Canada by Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone without a back-up strip but still costing $3.99; Manhunter participation unannounced. That could mean Kindt will launch a Manhunter solo series, but when I checked his Twitter feed, all he was confirming was that he'd dropped out of Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S., a six issue mini-series that was still soliciting his participation as of #3. Nothing speaks to quality like a book being halfway through the ordering pipeline without actual scripts having been produced. Meanwhile, Marco Rudy is best known as the fill-in artist for Yanick Paquette on Swamp Thing, who also provided art on half of Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape and most of the run of the Red Circle The Shield ten issue series.
I'm not intentionally trying to knock these guys, but I read the first several Kindt Martian Manhunter strips, haven't bothered with the last few, and the best thing I can say about them is that they didn't make me mad (or move me to feel any emotion beyond relief over not being infuriated.) The art I dug up by Marco Rudy online was appealing, but his milkshake won't bring all the boys to the yard. I'm pretty good at keeping up with creators, and I had to investigate him, so there's no "name" there. The truth is, Martian Manhunter doesn't matter to most people, so this information could be true or false, and nobody would likely raise a fuss either way. The only reason I even mention it is because I worked a double, am still exhausted, and this evaluation made for an easy post. Might as well make all these non-stories work in my favor, for once.
4 comments:
Now I feel bad for forwarding you the link. :( Rest up and recharge ye Apostle of the Alien Atlas!
The same 4chan list also posited that Birds of Prey was being taken over by Tim Seeley and Guillem March. I tweeted them about it; March denied the rumor, and Seeley said he'd love to work with March but it's not happening. I suppose it's possible that ONE of them could be on the book, but not both.
Anyway, I hoped the Martian Manhunter rumor was false. I was underwhelmed by the Manhunter backup strips in JLofA. Marco Rudy might bring an interesting take on J'Onn visually, but I think both Kindt and Rudy are working on a Spider-Man title right now.
The cover is tough as rocks and with the Maestro's perfected pen it could only be a hit. Sweet Dreams right?
I'd love to read some of the theoretical books on that wish list.
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