Brightest Day #1 (Early July, 2010)

At the northern polar cap of Mars, J'Onn J'Onzz delivered a lake's worth of frozen water, source unknown. Using laser vision, he melted it, and saw the first sprout of flora. Then he was struck by sudden psychic pain that caused him to partially shapeshift back into Black Lantern Martian Manhunter. J'Onzz saw a vision of himself choking Saul Erdel, while a young blond woman lay unconscious on the ground near their feet. Recovering, J'Onzz attested that his vision was not what had happened when he was teleported to Earth. Assuming that the vision had to have originated as a singularly focused psychic flash from his adopted world, J'Onn began the flight to Earth to find this girl he had seen...

"Second Chances" was by writers Peter J. Tomasi & Geoff Johns, with art by Patrick Gleason & company. While I was pleased that J'Onn had made a swift return from his stunt death, as he settled into his narrative within the quasi-anthology, I found the direction wanting. I had really enjoyed Fernando Pasarin art in the initial shared section with the Green Lanterns in #1, only to be succeeded by Pat Gleason delivering some of his worst art to this date. I guess someone felt the need to reenforce J'Onn's ties to Earth after the Coneheadhunter offered a brief and mostly overlooked reembrace of his Martian identity, but I don't think the fandom needed this. Given the state of Earth even then, wasting vital resources on Martian nostalgia just made J'Onn look foolish, and spun his narrative wheels at a point where he desperately needed traction.