tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6620698560611640068.post1303354471472248416..comments2024-03-21T06:36:04.196-05:00Comments on The Idol-Head of Diabolu, a Martian Manhunter blog: Detective Comics #230 (4/56)Diabolu Frankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04685199809207954223noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6620698560611640068.post-70046995830764976582009-06-08T18:48:42.932-05:002009-06-08T18:48:42.932-05:00A.I., while I didn't mind the DC Multiverse wh...A.I., while I didn't mind the DC Multiverse when it came to properties best left extant from the primary universe (Earth-S, comes to mind, as a Superman family and Marvel family co-existing renders one so redundant modern writers have sullied their very name through revision,) I never cared for Earth-2. Excepting characters like the Huntress, the Golden Age heroes work far better for me as an earlier time rather than a separate reality. So right off the bat, I cringe at the prospect of an Earth-2 Martian Manhunter, and without Roy Thomas around I'll have nothing to do with it in all seriousness.<br /><br />That said, you're right that there was little consistency between the John Jones/J'onn J'onzz strip and Justice League of America. However, due to the appearances of Diane Meade and the Getaway King early in the JLofA run, and Mr. V of Vulture late in the Fox/Sekowsky term, I can't see a true schism between the two books' realities. In fact, the Manhunter from Mars was so poorly written in both books, but especially under Jack Miller, that you could lay claim to an army of different Martians running around calling themselves "J'onn J'onzz." Maybe it translates into Martian as "Guy Incognito?"<br /><br />By extension, there were two dramatically different Martian Manhunter in the Bronze Age-- the namby-pamby weakling who embarrassed himself in JLofA and World's Finest appearances, and the violent nutcase who embarrassed himself in Adventure Comics. Even then the two versions intersect, so they're either the same schizophrenic or secretly part of a Martian Manhunter Corps.<br /><br />The modern Manhunter didn't begin to solidify until midway through Gerry Conway's run on the Detroit-based League, when old powers like telepathy, the original detective John Jones identity, and his current trademark sobriety and dry wit came to the fore. From about 1986 until early in the new millennium, with variation, the character was fairly consistent. Having read as many stories as I have though, you're doomed to recognize that there's no way to reconcile all the many interpretations with as distinct a break as Earth-1, Earth-2 or New Earth. We could have read adventures of the J'onn J'onzzes of 52 worlds ever since "his" introduction in the Silver Age, an early harbinger of confusion to come...Diabolu Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04685199809207954223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6620698560611640068.post-17332554283639856162009-06-08T14:54:11.478-05:002009-06-08T14:54:11.478-05:00"If what you're saying is true, how come ..."If what you're saying is true, how come the super-hearing still worked, Jones was trapped in his unnatural human form, and all those 70's adventures on Mars II allowed for super-Martians?"<br /><br />Humor me a moment:<br />In many details, the post-golden-age Martian Manhunter of these earliest stories is very different from that of the silver-age 1960s/JLA Martian Manhunter, who in turn has inconsistencies with the bronze-age and post-crisis Martian Manhunters.<br /> Is it not possible that these earliest stories are describing the adventures of the Martian Manhunter of Earth-Two, and the G.Fox JLA stories tell of the Martian Manhunter of Earth-One? Neither of which is quite identical to the M.M. of Earth-PC?Accursed Interlopernoreply@blogger.com