Sunday, April 20, 2014

Idle-Head of Diabolu, Vol. VI: 101 Missives for a Dead Martian



Way back in January of 2011, I started trying to catalog updates and old op/ed pieces that have been featured on the blog's now 6½ years of service. That lasted about a year, and ended up mostly devoted to filling out what became The Martian Manhunter Encyclopedia. Since I was misguided in my devotion to a one-image-per-post rule in our early years, and Comic Vine got stingy with their remote embeds after I exploited them extensively for a couple more years, I have a lot of old posts with far too much text in need of scans. I figured I'd clean some of that stuff up, and repackage it into link posts. Also I'm feeling lazy and behind schedule, so let's pretend we're working an Easter resurrection theme or something. This list covers us throughout 2008:

Of Hook Hands and Idol Heads

Trying to get past stories a fan hates about characters they love to appreciate the whole picture.

J'Onn J'Onzz (and maybe Aquaman) is DEAD!?!?

From a time when Arthur Curry was already "dead" and Final Crisis was still offering rumors.

Mike Netzer: "Take Me... But Don't Kill J'Onn"

That time a former artist on Manhunter from Mars angled for new work on the character in lieu of offing him entirely.

Xavier... Marco Xavier...

While "John Jones" was "dead," a criminal leaves behind the second most famous Martian Manhunter moniker...

The Atomic Bomb

J'Onn J'Onzz's relationship with the Tiny Titan and mine with a late blog devoted to Ray Palmer.

Super Powers/Super Friends

Facing Martian mortality with fellow bloggers.

Neither Here Nor There

Really boring sausage factory business that never panned out anyway.

Grant Morrison and the Absorbascon

Interviews discussing Final Crisis and Scipio Garling's extended Manhunter/Human Flame coverage.

The Dynastic Centerpiece of Diabolu

My first pass at applying Scipio's theory of super-hero family brand building to the Alien Atlas.

The Idle-Head of Prescience?

Evidence mounts on Martian murder.

The Mancave? Cavehunter from Mars?

Scipio asked if John Jones' beat had a name, and I couldn't remember...

Apex City

...so Scipio unilaterally dubbed it himself, and I initially went along

The Revisionist JLI

Where I griped about how Super Buddies was not the sum total of valid membership.

Grant Morrison Spoils Everything

Valerie D'Orazio thinks J'Onn is dull and Final Crisis writer talks Human Flame, plus Perez draws Coneheadhunter.

News You Can Lose!

Final Crisis links.

The Story of the Human Flame

Scipio's hilarious exegesis.

The Idol-Head vs. the Aquaman Shrine

A compare & contrast of themed super-hero blogs. No actual bloodshed.

The Slow Steady Death of J'Onn J'Onzz

Where I take Scipio and fandom in general to task for using J'Onn as a vehicle for other characters instead of looking deeper into his own mythology/merits.

The Misconception of John Jones

A literary existential crisis for the Sleuth from Outer Space.

Goodbye J'Onn...

Dead aliens aren't much fun.

The J'Onn J'Onzz Memorial Service



Martian Manhunter Memorial Moratorium

Let's think about livin', let's think about lovin'.

Artists of the Decades

Considering the definitive Martian Marvel masters.

Favorite Martian Manhunter Stories

Links to my coverage of best loved tales.

The Vile Tarot

Plugging villains of the Martian Manhunter into Scipio's rogues gallery formula.

John Jones, Manhunter of Integrity

He's less about superdickery, more of a super-dick.

Secret Wars of the Super Powers

My early days collecting comics and first brushes with the Alien Ace.

Frienemies of Mars: Hal Jordan

Green Lanterns do not have our best interests at heart.

Final Crisis: Requiem #1 Doug Mahnke & J.G. Jones Covers

Lengthy commentary on the issue.

Do You Know The Way To Middletown?

After some research, I realized "Apex City" was actually Middletown, and started triangulating where it would be located.

Martian Manhunter International

Do you know what they call a Master Earthbound Detective in France?

Color My World

Microsoft Paint shenanigans from before I had color Detective Comics reference.

Being Carter, Thal, J'Onzz & Frank

Welcoming Hawkman to specialty blogging.

Year Two

How meat was processed in 2008.

Martian Manhunter's Silver Age Costumes

Couture evolution.

Mission Accomplished

I finally finished a first pass of covering all the Vulture stories after nearly a decade of intention.

A Few Final Words...

Still dead. Much missed.

Death-Orbit!

Commander Blanx screwed with my head.

1 comment:

will_in_chicago said...

Frank, thanks for all the hard work on the blog. I am going to go over these entries later.