1978 Lost DC Explosion Manhunter from Mars Strip

One of the things you continue to live for as a comics fan whose experience can be measured in words ending in "century" is something new under the sun... or at least something old that managed to escape your notice. This is especially after you've devoted better than a quarter-century (see!) to drilling down into a single character, particularly one as under-served as J'onn J'onzz.

It's no secret that the Manhunter from Mars was meant to receive a feature as part of the "DC Explosion" of titles in 1978, following on his four-part serial the previous year in Adventure Comics & World's Finest Comics by Denny O’Neil, Mike Nasser, and company. Somewhat less known was that the parallel association with the Sea King (same book, unrelated stories) was to continue into Aquaman. The original volume had been cancelled with #56 in 1971, but Aquaman was spun out of Adventure with its creative team of David Michelinie & Jim Aparo. The "Explosion" plan was to expand the page count of the solo title and bolster it with two additional features, The Vigilante and The Manhunter from Mars.

Cary Burkett, John Fuller, and Bruce Patterson were announced to scribe The Sleuth from Outer Space, but the finishes were ultimately by Bob Layton instead. Burkett co-created the Tom Tresser Nemesis, wrote a lot of Batman & Superman (solo, and in tandem, with each other and not,) and scripted a chunk of the '80s Mighty Crusaders revival. To my knowledge, Fuller was a little known late '70s inker with only a handful of assignments, most as part of the Continuity Studios "Crusty Bunkers" collective that worked with Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. It's clear that Layton had a heavy hand over the art, as it looks entirely his, buoyed by some always welcome pasted tone work.

Mike Gold has described Aquaman as a "marginal title" which was cancelled with #63, rather than being expanded. The strip was supposed to move back to Adventure Comics #461-463, which is probably why it missed inclusion in "Cancelled Comic Cavalcade," but it never materialized. The talent was paid a kill fee, and the material never saw print. Pages went up on Heritage Auctions in 2021 though, which is where my buddy Illegal Machine stumbled upon them and forwarded to me. The pages are numbered 5 & 6, but the story is non-consecutive, so I have to assume that there are at least twelve pages of this story floating around out there somewhere. I mourn what could have been, as this looked pretty neat. I didn't know any of this when I had Layton draw the lost Bronze Age Martian Hunter Commander J'en, which gives that commission an extra zing!

Aborted Manhunter from Mars "Aquaman back-up"

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