Brightest Day #6 (Late September, 2010)

Big Hendy Park, California. A feminine Green Martian with a contorted, conflicted form and multiple faces speaking to themselves spied on a couple lounging by a stream in the forest. "Her life smells so wonderful... her youthfulness simply intoxicating. All the psychological and physical experiences she has yet to encounter can be mine... I want them... I need them..."

"Enough! You have more important things to think about. This may be your last cycle before it passes away forever. J'Onzz is back among the living, and he is the last one. Do you really think now is the time to disappear-- submerge yourself inside their meat again?"

"But I am still so empty-- all those years of loneliness-- a lie of the mind to stay sane--"

"Now is the time to rise and do what the core of your being demands-- you must be fulfilled."

"And I will be. Buy if I can't have these lives at this moment, then I'll simply take them."

"Since your last submersion there's been the appearance of another. Someone who may capture his attention-- before we do."

"That won't happen... because I'll pay her a visit." This twisted creature set off in flight, having decapitated the young man and crushed the skull of the lady.

Denver, Colorado. The remains of Professor Erdel's laboratory. The Sleuth from Outer Space sought clues about the serial killer he was pursuing, but was soon more concerned when every hint of flora that he came into contact with immediately died at his touch. Taking flight, J'Onn found an adorable squirrel in a tree, and was relieved to find that it could survive contact with him, "By the grace of H'ronmeer..." The Manhunter from Mars next visited the Still Zone, activating the White Martian mothership, via the prime codeword "T'ann T'anzz." All remained in stasis, with security at full power. On to Gotham City, where he worked with Oracle to view autopsy photos and hack into secure databases for deeply buried computer files. The authorities hide the details when metahuman involvement is suspected to suppress public unrest and as a comfort for families who find greater peace in more mundane causes of death. Hence, this alien killer could go largely undetected, outside specialized agencies who may secretly be in pursuit.

Detecting a "nagging familiarity" to the killer's m.o., the Manhunter reached out to the Teen Titans, with Superboy reporting that M'gann M'orzz was on "walkabout." In the Tanami Desert, Australia, J'Onzz found Miss Martian's getaway pad, the heroine herself brutalized. Dangling in a downward recline, covered in purple blood, half in White Martian and half Miss Martian form...

"Dead Zone" was by writers Peter J. Tomasi & Geoff Johns, with art by Patrick Gleason & company. Following a two month absence, Martian Manhunter(!) was the David Finch cover-featured star, with an altered version of his 2006 logo. The splash page is glorious, certainly one of Gleason's best images of Manhunter and overall.