2012 Super-Team Family: The Lost Issues: Manhunter and Iron Fist

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Almost a year ago, we covered Ross' Paul Kirk team-up fanfic collage Marvel Two-in-One: The Lost Issues: The Thing and Manhunter. Ross has been busy making a bunch of J'Onn J'Onzz ones since then, but I need to offer up the original Manhunter one more time to clear the decks and start catching up with the fun...

...More Lost Team-Up Issues...

• The Doom Patrol @ DC Bloodlines
• Zatanna and The Scarlet Witch @ Justice League Detroit
• The Thing and The Justice League of America @ Power of the Atom
• Wonder Woman and Wonder Man @ Diana Prince

2013 New 52 Martian Manhunter Commission by Julius Abrera

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"Im not a fan of the Martian Manhunter but he definitely is one of the most powerful character in Dc comics.

I am open for commissions contact me on julsabrera@gmail.com if interested."

Yes, another art post. Sorry, but I spent the whole evening scanning in Comicpalooza commissions and coloring select pieces for their posts/sidebar icons. I'm not any good at all at it, but some pieces really pop once you add in even paltry flat MS Paint colors. Anyhow, while looking for filler I stumbled upon this bitchin' art by Julius Abrera, who to be frank (who else should I be?) I'd never heard of before. It reminds me that I technically got a New 52 J'Onn J'Onzz commission done by Brian Denham last weekend, but through a series of events too complicated to get into here, I ended up with a refund instead. However, the art apparently exists, so if anyone catches sight of it (or the George Perez Martian Manhunter head shot also drawn in Houston that Illegal Machine saw but I missed,) please let me know a.s.a.p.

2013 “New 52 Thantos” art by “Illegal Machine”

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As previously mentioned, my best friend “Illegal Machine” was instrumental in the creation of this blog, and decided to doodle a Martian Manhunter villain for me a number of months back. I kept putting off posting the art for various reasons, then lost the file to an OS change, and asked for it to be re-sent in April. The Ill Mac was never really happy with the first piece though, so my request started him down the road to revision for a more thorough reworking of Thantos the 3-In-1 Man. As he put it, "I'm obsessed with how the [redacted] to draw his eye sockets/nose with 3 eyes."

My response to the above offering was, “Oooo! I like this one a lot better than the "real thing." Very cool alien vibe, although I am compelled to point out that he can no longer use his head like a drill bit. He's clearly Post-Crisis, then.” I very much enjoyed the way Thantos' unibrow formed a sort of winged creature, the soft but still unsettling eyes, the broad flat nose, and the metal neck guard. Regardless, the Ill Mac was compelled to begin again from scratch...

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“I forgot about the drillbit head. Hmm. Maybe I'll take another shot tonight. He started to turn out a little "Main Evil Guy From Harry Potter Whose Name I Can't Remember". I was also trying to picture how his head would be drawn from the side. NOT IMPORTANT.

I was looking at some of the pics of him you have on the site, and I honestly don't think his original creator had a clue how his head was constructed. Just a jumble of lines around the sketchy parts. I RESPECT HIS BOLDNESS, THOUGH.”

What I dubbed the "New 52" model was closer to Joe Certa's original design than Not-Really-All-That-Lord Voldemort-Like. It was also many times more creepily inhuman. I still quite like his first try, but it's a question of magnitude, with the first being a sympathetic vivisectionist and the second being full throttle genocidal horror show. Those three soulless eyes atop that crooked plastic doll face gives me the heebie-jeebies, and the spiral neckpiece didn't just allude to his drilling powers, but let you know that he did horrible things with them. "I don't know whether to congratulate you or report you to the authorities. Let me know when you're satisfied enough to stop drawing and I'll post this beast. Very impressive!"

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The Illegal Machine continued to elongate Thantos' head, polish his chrome, and fill out his shoulders to better suggest his towering height (even in comparison to J'onn J'onzz.) Secure in his mastery of "Thanatos" (I had to correct him repeatedly,) Ill Mac thought "Maybe side view?" Possibly unwise, given his audience. I unleashed a litany of off-color jokes about Thantos' rather phallic profile, which apparently did not amuse the Mac, as he packed up his (sex?) toys and stormed home. I pressed him to see if he had anything left to offer. "I'm totally going to post the side view. It adds a psychosexual/body horror element to the character-- kind of a mutant Brian DePalma thing. I just had to tease you because a) peen hee-hee! and b) it's totally going to come up one way or another if I lay it down for public display." Mac gave me a list of three bullet points he wanted covered in the post, all of which were illustrated best above, but I thought I'd use his final point verbatim.

"the eyes/ cheek bones/mandible were interesting on the actual in-comic renderings of Thantos...when you look at it closely, you can tell the artist didn't put much thought into how his face is actually structured. I always like to picture what the skull underneath looks like when I draw. Pretty challenging with this dude."

Despite giving the Ill Mac a hard time over the 3-in-1 Man (see what I did there,) I still think this revision of the character is friggin' awesome. As much as I dig the Vile Menagerie, I figure a lot of these guys are irredeemable goofs bound for the scrapheap. I never would have figured Thantos' silly ass could be salvaged, but the Ill Mac did such a magnificent job with his update, I could totally see him as a player in modern comics. I got a Thantos commission at Comicpalooza that has dazzled everybody who has seen it, but these are still my favorite illustrations of the character...



...Even if it does look like he totally had a guest appearance in Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom...

UPDATE:

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The Ill Mac can't stop fiddling with his third eye drillbit. After this post was published, he decided to take one more pass at the 3-in-1 Man's side view. I made a lot of penis jokes over his previous try, but now... I think it looks even more like a circumcised pecker than ever before. Mark 1 was more like one of those Pyrex wands. Why yes, I do give these sorts of matters considerable thought...

2008 “The Martian Manhunter” color art by Imbong Hadisoebroto

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"Alien Atlas" damnit. Or "Martian Marvel." Or "Sleuth from Outer Space." Or...

BongzBerry

• Aquaman @ Justice League Detroit
• Captain Marvel @ DC Bloodlines
• Hawkman @ Power of the Atom
• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince

2013 Comicpalooza Artists Memorial Day Checklist

2013 Martian Manhunter art by Biram Ba

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"I thought I might try painting in grayscale and then adding colour, but I couldn’t make it work. So finally I just added red. Still looks kind of crappy, but it must do for now."

2012 Martian Manhunter color art by Sam Shin

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"The Martian done in copics."

Sam Shin

• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince
• Zatanna @ Justice League Detroit

2006 “Aquaman: How I Spent My Summer Vacation” art by Rick Gibson

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“-- Featuring Aquaman...Again...Wow, For Someone Who Supposedly Hates Aquaman I Sure Draw Him Alot.

-- Also, First Appearance Of The Martian Manhunter...Yeah...Im Sorry.

-- The Idea For This Came From From An Episode Of The Drew Carey, One Of Them Jumps In A Huge Glass Of Beer, After Seeing That Episode I Always Wanted To Do A Comic Like That And I Realized Aquamans The Perfect Sucker...Uhh...Person For This Comic Strip.

-- Yeah, The JLA Cant Take Aquaman Anywhere Without Him Jumping Into A Huge Mug Of Beer...And For Some Reason Martian Manhunters Always Elected To Babysit Aquaman....The Lesser JLA Members Get Teamed Up While The Cooler Ones Have All The Fun.

-- Enjoy!”

2006 “The Martian Manhunter” art by Rick Gibson

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“-- DC's Martian Manhunter, Alien And Member Of The JLA.

-- He's One Of The Characters I Dont Much Like, He's Like The Vision...Part Of A legendary Team, But He's Just Not Eye Catchingly Interesting, It's Probably Just me Though, But With A Team That Involves Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, The Flash, Green Arrow, And Hal Jordan....And Aquaman, The Martian Manhunter Just Gets Lost Under The Greatness.

-- My Little Self Goal Was To Make Him Look Cool, Instead Of A Bad 70's Sci Fi Movie, I Tried To Make Him Look More Mean, I Didnt Really Use My Full Resources Though But Im Happy with It.

-- I Like His "True Martian" Form Better, It Just Looks Cooler And Less....Cheesy.

-- Enjoy”

...and that's why you're the star of a filler post in the final hours of the day instead of getting a 24 hour cycle. I also really look forward to the Vision turning up in a future Avengers movie. He's one of my favorites of that team.

2012 Human Squirrel Comicpalooza Commission by Chris Beaver

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My final Comicpalooza 2012 commission, posted on the eve of the 2013 convention, is one of my favorites of the entire collection. Ahead of the con, I'd settled on asking Beaver to draw Hunter Commander J'en, which didn't end up coming to pass until later that year when we met up again at Space City Con. I'd been going back and forth on having him draw Ben Stoves, since Beaver had a habit of doing cute drawings of his namesake rodent, and even one scary high contrast "chiaroscuro" version that might look cool applied to the Squirrel. There was another artist who specialized in boss furry anthropomorphics though, and Beaver had a great way with lifelike ladies, so I thought the matter was settled. The other artist had a great concept for the Human Squirrel, but the execution was hampered by her restricting her con pieces to $5 quick figure sketches. Her piece whet my appetite for more Human Squirrel, so I took a second shot with the character at the same con.



I don't recall how long it took me to identify Chris Beaver at the con, since I don't remember if he had any big identifiers at his table. Once I did find him though, I told him all about his virtues as mentioned in the J'en post, as well as the stuff I just stated in the previous paragraph about my thought process. Beaver is a quiet, unassuming sort, whereas anyone who has listened to my guest appearances on The Fire and Water Podcast knows I've naturally got the tongue of a cokehead, so he just nodded and looked a bit like a deer caught in the headlights of my verbal onslaught.

When I came back for the $40 piece, I was delighted to find it in color on industrial board. The expression on the Human Squirrel's face is priceless! While taking the heist bag straight from the provided reference, Beaver changed up the color and perspective to make it his own. I adore how squirrel-like the figure is while making it plainly obvious that this is a man in a velveteen suit with visible seams on his mask, gloves, and even what appear to be buttons on his chest piece. Showing off the jewels he swiped in his furry paw, there's a strange innocence to the character-- communicating in one image the insanity of the concept of a second story man in a mascot costume who would later turn over a new leaf and go straight. Even the vague silhouetted structure in the background recall's Scipio Garling's Magical Tudor Barn. How perfect is this thing?!?



My two best friends attended Comicpalooza, and have long histories with the funnybooks. Even my girlfriend gets into this stuff, and we all have strong, conflicting opinions about what does and does not make for a great commission. It's a rarity when we all agree on something, but all four of us dug Chris Beaver's piece and see it as a highlight of my commissionary adventures. I've got an 11" x 17" color duplication of the original art framed on the wall at eyeline with my desk, next to Brian Denham's Bel Juz and both beneath the Alex Ross Martian Manhunter poster, forming a trifecta of negative space awesomeness where the figures pop like mad. Sweeeet!

I don't know if Chris Beaver will be back in town, but his publisher will have a booth, so we'll wait and see. In the meantime, visit his deviantART gallery!

2012 “J'onn J'onzz A.K.A. Martian Manhunter” by FiresideSong

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"Me = J'onn J'onzz fan!"

2009 “J'onn and M'gann - Beyond” color art by Kristian Trigwell

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"Another duo, this time it's a familiar character and a new one. The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) in the "beyond era" looking about half way between his natural form and his "old" superhero form and a costume that's equal parts Justice Lord and the new outfit DC designed a few years back.

Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz) looks a little bit more like Kara than I had intended, but I suppose it's appropriate. Since in the DCAU there don't appear to be any White Martians her back story would be somewhat different. I'm going to go with her being a natural Green Martian that was discovered in a stasis capsule, buried into the side of a mountain range in Antarctica. One would presume she'd been there since before the Imperium wiped out Mars."

2009 Justice League Unlimited by Arvid Wessman

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"A tribute painting of The Justice League Unlimited. Hawkgirl, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman."

2013 “The Post-Punk / New Wave Martian Manhunter”

A Brazilian artist who goes by the handle "Butcher Billy" likes to do mash-ups of super-humans and real world figures, which I've found amusing in the past. Today, beginning on some friends' blogs and continuing through spotlights on various industry sites, Butcher Billy really blew the doors off by tapping a flush vein for the M_TV generation. By taking early '80s DC icons and combining them with the New Wave artists I adore, Butcher Billy so totally bowled me over that I had to get into the game myself. I never want J'Onn J'Onzz to become too popular, because he'll cease to be "mine" and will likely find a staid status quo instead of eternally simmering with untapped potential. However, it bums me out when his under the radar status excludes him from art projects like this, so I felt the urge to rectify the matter.



A few names popped into my head before David Byrne, but once it did I shut down all other contenders. Byrne has a natural alien quality about him, and his esoteric art school lyrics suit the Sleuth from Outer Space far better than, say, the lust and angst of a Ric Ocasek (who could have been a good Plastic Man, now that I mention it.) Many consider the Talking Heads to be the greatest new wave band ever, which is a little higher profile than I would have gone for under normal circumstances, but the fit was too good to deny. Just think of their catalog of hits like the Alien Atlas' buffet of powers, while Byrne's lack of adulation compared to an Elvis/Madonna/Prince etc. placing him more squarely on Mars II.

I couldn't find any pictures of Byrne bald, but I figured I would just stick his face on an old drawing, so that non-problem was easily solved. The reference I used was from a Life Magazine photographer, but I couldn't find a credit. I'd hoped to just blow out the contrast and keep this simple, but the lighting and graytones made that impossible with my outdated software.



Instead, I started free-mousing over the picture in Windows Paint, and when I wasn't appalled by the result, I kept going. Once I was satisfied, I obliterated the underlying photo, tilted the drawing, resized, and stuck it over a Joe Certa splash page scanned from Showcase Presents Martian Manhunter.

The great thing about this project was that, as opposed to the fake comic book covers I usually do, this didn't have to look like a real publication. Following Butcher Billy's example, I went loud with the coloring, tossed in elements willy nilly, and was given permission to obscure as much of the Martian Manhunter logo as I pleased. Usually, I put together fully realized elements and merge them, but for this I just slapped one black and white layer on top of another and colored the whole thing at once. As liberating as all that freewheeling was, it still took me a great many more hours than I hoped to get this done. No Thomas Dolby Ray Palmers or Taco Paco Ramones for my other blogs!



I had a copy of Justice League of America #230 handy, which made the cover elements a snap, and allowed me to differentiate this from Butcher Billy's work in more ways than just the inferior quality of mine. In case you forgot, that was wholly appropriate as the final chapter of "War of the Worlds 1984." The song lyrics are from "And She Was" and "Mr. Jones."

The Post-Punk / New Wave Super Friends

• Aquaman @ The Aquaman Shrine
• Firestorm @ Firestorm Fan
• Plastic Man @ DC Bloodlines
• Wonder Woman @ Diana Prince
• Butcher Billy's tumblr post of the full set

2010 “J'onn J'onzz” by Jenn “Wrecker-lady”

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There's also a pure line version...

"Just a quick piece I did during my free time. Not sure when I'll get time to work on colors though."