Episode #7
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- Post-Pointal Depression: Cyborg is the new Usurper
- Post-Pointal Reactions & Directions
- Post-Pointal Depression: They're still Didio Comics
- Post-Pointal Discussion: J'Onn J'Onzz and the Justice League
- Post-Pointal Disconcertion: Ten Little Indians
- Post-Pointal Declaration: From the Watchtower to Stormwatch
- Paul Cornell on Stormwatch/DCnÜ Misconceptions
- Miss Martian and the New World Order
- The Magnificent Seven Revised Again
- New Beginning, Again
- Homage To Wildstorm
- DCnÜ Domino Dancing: Bloodwynd
- Post-Pointal Discussion: The Cover To Stormwatch #1 Revealed
- DCnÜ: What We Know 3 Months In...
- Martian Manhunter #1 in 2012?
- Martian Manhunter Mark III
- Mars-Two?
- Post-Pointal Depression: Chronic Case of DCnÜ
- 2012 New 52 Wave 3 Martian Manhunter #1!
- One Year Later...
- ...of America
- Martian Manhunter: New 52/Old Story
- 2013 New 52 Villain’s Month: Malefic #1!
- Why I Won't Be Buying Justice League United
- 2013 New 52 Martian Manhunter Aborted Series Promo Art by Brad Walker
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I love the "Jan Brady" reference. I can picture Dan Didio yelling 'Marvel! Marvel! Marvel!' in a Jan voice.
ReplyDeleteI think companies like this or franchise characters are difficult to nudge in new ways. You say that the New 52 made J'onn a blank slate continuity-wise and DC could go in a new direction for him. But that ignores the 60 years of character inertia that is linked.
I will always try to make a Supergirl analogy so here it goes. The New 52 Supergirl was a blank slate for continuity. So they went in the dark, bitter, angry, loner direction. And ... because of history ... that just won't work for the Supergirl character.
Daniel Craig was a new James Bond, freed from continuity. But if you made Bond a celibate pacifist ... well that isn't James Bond.
I think the core of an established character is often set. New directions and new continuities can tinker with the edges, can nudge one way or the other. But the core has to remain intact or else you get something so foreign, so completely different people might not get it.
That said, if the story is fantastic, people will accept new histories. Moore's Swamp Thing or Milligan's Shade were very different from their inceptions but accepted. The angry Supergirl stories weren't good ... it made it even harder to accept.
There aren't many characters whose New 52 redesigns I thought actually improved on what he or she previously looked like. Katana's new look was pretty good, though perhaps too extreme? She never had much of a character before 2011, so maybe the total overhaul of her appearance was needed to simply alert readers that there was anything of value in her at all.
ReplyDeleteJ'Onn's New 52 design was acceptable, though I preferred the Ivan Reis-designed mod that debuted at the end of Blackest Night. I remember at the time comparing his look to Brother Voodoo. That gave him a slightly weird, paranormal feel that enhanced his outsider-ness, whereas the New 52 look feels more like an alien uniform, as in a uniform worn by police or military.
Maybe the best thing DC can do at this point to salvage this Nu Martian Manhunter is to embrace the idea that he betrayed the Justice League and tell that story. He doesn't need to be a villain, but he could be a powerful antagonist, essentially a Despero-type with a personal connection to the League members. A story about the League hunting the Manhunter would be an excellent showcase for not only his various powers but the themes of paranoia ala the Red Menace and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" that work with his origin.