52/WW III Part Four: United We Stand #1 (June, 2007)

The Martian Manhunter's quest to understand human nature has forced him to confront his own failings and limitations. Having cast off his human aliases, J'Onn J'Onzz follows Black Adam's path of destruction toward a rendezvous with his own destiny

The heroes of Earth have gathered along the Great Wall of China and stand united to bring Black Adam to justice.

Or, put another way, Martian Manhunter still hasn't gotten his bulbous head around "human nature" after over half a century pretending to be one of us, also known as one of the most annoying cliché devices in popular science fiction. Meanwhile, as if the entire DC Universe of heroes being thrown under the bus on a regular basis to make Superman look good wasn't bad enough, Evil Imitation Superman holds off multiple teams of B-Listers by himself as well.

Week 50, Day 7.

Pretty much everyone was there, including the Justice Society of America, the remaining Teen Titans, the Seven Soldiers, Luthor's Infinity Inc., Green Lantern John Stewart  (looking like he had IBS) carrying Green Arrow (yeah, he'll be a big help,) the old school Outsiders, self-appointed Wonder Woman Donna Troy, Aquagirl, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Plastic Man, Firestorm, Dr. Light II, both Steels, and most amusingly, Vixen flying in with a flock of birds.

Black Adam was battling the Great Ten on one side of the Great Wall, while the collected Western heroes were forced by the prideful Chinese government to wait on the other side until that battle ran its course. This afforded Martian Manhunter the chance to drone on about how he doesn't understand racism/nationalism/etc., and how humans are the craziest peoples. The Martian Manhunter also provided stock narration, about how the heroes girded themselves for combat, and the Great Ten fought valiantly, and "Within Black Adam, I have seen the darkest beat of humanity's heart. Facing him before, I was... broken... against the crux of his anger. It has taken far too long to put the pieces back together again." True, yet the Martian Manhunter continued to wander amongst his comrades invisibly, casually reading their thoughts, and offering fan service commentary for the more marketable heroes. "None of them want to admit that this might be it. The time they fail. That without Clark, Bruce, and Diana, perhaps Black Adam simply can't be stopped. The void created by their absence is too large to ignore." Can I just say again: Black Adam, who was routinely defeated by Captain Marvel from 1977-1999, and largely forgotten for thirty-two years prior as a one-off foe?

"As I listen to their conversations, their doubts and fears and failures... I begin to once more see myself reflected in the face of their humanity. To live is to doubt, to fear, to fail. Human nature is to stand up and try again. Not just human nature. My place is with them." ...As a fellow jobber-- another jerky C-lister to serve as grist for the mill while the Big Leaguers are away.

Green Arrow was first to acknowledge the materializing Martian. "Don't sneak up on a guy like that, J'Onn. I got enough gray in my scalp already." Black Canary exclaimed, "J'Onn, thank God! No one's heard from you, we've been so worried!" Ollie continued, "Your timing couldn't be better, m'man!" Just then, Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott announced that the Chinese government had decided to request the Western heroes' aid after all. "All lights are green. Let's go to work." In a nigh-splash with a host of heroes in the background, the Alien Atlas concurred, "Yes. Let's." Among those in the background was Vixen, flying in with her flock of birds.

"For the briefest of instants, Black Adam's eyes lock with mine."
"Come, fools. Meet your end."

Even though he was among the most powerful heroes and at the forefront of the charge, Martian Manhunter somehow ended up remaining in reserve. J'Onzz was simply commenting to himself on the battle, as a hoard of other heroes engaged Black Adam. For no good reason, Guy Gardner and John Stewart were each in Adam's striking distance and dealt severe blows. Dr. Light and Firestorm did the same, despite having powers that work best with broad range. Power Girl, a Kryptonian bruiser near Superman's range, was handled like a sack of potatoes. The usual crossover nonsense.

Martian Manhunter was too busy being in psychic turmoil again, reading the minds of all the bad people on Earth, including the Chinese government officials debating nuking everyone within the battle's range, and the U.S. officials fine enough with that. Amanda Waller was at Checkmate headquarters, looking past the present battle at the conflict to come over which nations would claim what was left of Bialya. The ghost of slain Gotham City police officerCrispus Allen had yet to assume the role of the Spectre and join in, but his sitting on his hands about the matter was acknowledged by J'Onzz, whose telepathy was now metaphysical, I guess.

Back at the scene, colorful cannon fodder continued to be tossed at Black Adam, while Vixen and her flock of birds flew in the background. I didn't know chickens could reach those altitudes, much less sustain then. Even if she were ducking the battle, at least she would be mentally present and admittedly useless outside of helping with a sensational body count. The Martian Manhunter, levitating above the
archrival and nemesis of Captain Marvel, with powers comparable to Black Adam's, was just sitting on his mind bullets.

"In spite of their fear, no matter the pain, one sentiment echoes through their minds. Get up. Stop Black Adam. It is a mantra of courage. I am humbled by their determination. This is no longer a battle defined by human nature. The time for thought has long passed. It is about who I am, and what I choose to be. It is not about thought. It is about what I do."

So, Martian Manhunter got over his distancing himself from the violence and horror of the human condition by watching the violence and horror of super-human combat? Without a thought in his head, the Alien Atlas punched Black Adam with all his might in his Ancient Egyptian junk (must have learned that from Dick Grayson's brief JLTF stint,) then shot him in the face with Laser Vision, then punched him in the lower vertebrae.

Despite his right eye nearly popping out of his head from that shot to the ballzack, Black Adam recovered to deliver a head butt. With half his face burnt and hanging loose, Adam declared "You are a fool, J'Onn J'Onzz! A fool fighting against the wrong enemy. I have walked in your mind, Manhunter, and you have walked through mine. We are the same, you and I. We have both lost our families. They fear what they cannot control, J'Onn J'Onzz. The power in our hands is beyond them. Someday soon, they will hunt you down. They will destroy you unless you draw first blood. I showed you mercy in Bialya out of kinship, Manhunter. Do not make me regret my choice." Black Adam beat Martian Manhunter bloody, and punched him so hard he landed like a missile amongst other heroes. "When next we meet, my wrath will devour you. That is my word, Manhunter, not a promise. You deal with power far beyond your reckoning." The Martian Manhunter pulled himself up with, "As do you."

Geo-Force, Natasha Irons, and Green Lantern Alan Scott wrestled with the villain, giving the Manhunter another chance to telepathically latch on. "We end where we began, Black Adam. Once more, I am in your mind, Adam. This time, you will go no further. I have known your pain, evil one, and I could not bear it. Can you stand beneath the weight of mine?" Black Adam experienced J'Onn's memories of the plague death of Mars, as well as the collective memory of Bialya's dead, plus the D-list heroes Adam killed, and possibly your childhood trauma over flushing your goldfish for good measure. Black Adam screamed, but soon collected himself to swear "You have earned a mortal enemy this day, Manhunter! I will see you broken once more!"

As if it weren't bad enough that Martian Manhunter stole Professor Arnold Hugo, Despero, Vandal Savage, Darkseid and more villains from other heroes to build a rogues gallery, writer John Ostrander decided to add Captain Marvel's arch-rival to the list. A massive change in Martian Manhunter's appearance and m.o., leading into his only mini-series of the decade, all due to another guy's big bad. Also note that it took Black Adam a page and a half to man-up from a psychic attack, not three-and-a-half issues of out-emoing Red Tornado.

"Last time, you called down fire from the heavens to save yourself, Black Adam. This time, the lightning comes for you." While still held in place by the trio of heroes, Captain Marvel struck Black Adam with a magical lightning bolt, which adversely affected J'Onn J'Onzz through his mental rapport. Black Adam vanished in a blinding light, while the Manhunter fell unconscious. Heroes rushed to J'Onn's side, fearful he might have been killed, while others searched in vain for Black Adam. J'Onzz began to change physically before their eyes into the José Ladrönn-designed Coneheadhunter from Mars before finally getting up.

"The moment the lightning struck, my connection to Black Adam's mind was lost. Obliterated in a blinding white flash. Whether he is dead or alive, I do not know. All I do know is that I can no longer detect his presence. In that moment of searing heat and pain, I both died and was reborn. No longer am I exactly what I was. No longer will I deny what I am. J'Onn J'Onzz. The Manhunter from Mars. The time has come for a beginning."

Yeah, the beginning of the end for the Dill Pickle Wrapped in Blue Vinyl from Mars, who would die a yearish later. There was also a one-page epilogue with the Watchers (er-- "Monitors,") that led into Countdown to Final Crisis, but the first rule of CTFC is that we do not talk about CTFC. The art here was by Jack Jadson and Rodney Ramos, which was weird and off and bounced from realistic to caricature and obviously referenced the work of a bunch of other artists.

2007 One Year Later Martian Manhunter by Craig Cermak

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Here's a nice watercolor painting of Coneheadhunter by Craig Cermak. It's um... Contemplative? Dill-like?

2010 Martian Manhunter Archives Vol. 6 Create-Your-Own Back Cover by Tom Hartley

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On the heels of Michael Netzer's glowing blog review of his front cover mock-up, Tom Hartley has created a brand new Martian Manhunter Archives Vol.6 back cover web page, where you get to decide which four covers in the collection will grace the imaginary back cover! Tom explains:

This uses some complicated javascript that may not work with all browsers... Attached is a screenshot of the back cover page that you can post to your blog... I'd like to know which covers everybody picked. Please post your choices to this comments thread.

Sadly, Michael Netzer didn't provide covers for any of his Adventure Comics issues, although his mentor Neal Adams provided a nifty cover to that story's final chapter in World's Finest Comics #245. The best and most influential story of the bunch was Justice League of America #144, but Commander Blanx is the star of that Dick Dillin cover.

In my own four, I went with a different Dillin, Justice League of America #71, one of the single most important Martian Manhunter comics ever published. It explored J'Onn J'Onzz's life on Mars, why he stayed on Earth, the introduction of arch-nemesis Commander Blanx, the destruction of Mars, Manhunter's departure from our world and his team, and the launch of the Bronze Age Mars II stories. Next was Nick Cardy's World's Finest Comics #212, possibly my all-time favorite cover starring the Alien Atlas. I mean, he makes Superman bleed-- and gloats about it! Squeal, Man of Steel, squeal! Out of the two covers by a fellow amongst my lifetime best loved comics creators, Jim Starlin, I favored his introduction of Mongul and another Superman fight in DC Comics Presents #27 to his more passive role against Despero in JLofA #178. The JLofA #115 cover is plain weak (Ernie Chan?) so my last choice was between two great Chuck Patton/Dick Giordano pieces. Manhunter whacking Aquaman upon his return to Earth in JLofA #228 was cool, but I went with Justice League of America #230, because I've loved that dynamic image of a battle with The Marshal since before I really even knew who the Martian Manhunter was.

So, which did you choose?

52/WW III Part Three: Hell Is For Heroes #1 (June, 2007)

Week 50, Day 5. Once again in the guise of an adolescent white girl, the Martian Manhunter surveyed the terrible destruction wrought by Black Adam in Pisa, Italy. Far from overwhelmed by the psychic agony surrounding him, "None of it more than a distant, faraway static in the back of my mind. Jumbled bits of colored ash that I quickly blink away." J'Onzz assigned those arbitrary, non-Corps-approved colors to the following emotions: Green- Heartbreak, Black- Natural Human Evil, Muted Gray- Despair, Red- Anger, Gold- Courage, Blue- Strength, Yellow- Compassion. While Little Girl J'Onzz was painting the world in his jumbled head, the Justice Society of America showed up to actually help people in the disaster area. Some victims were distrustful of Adam's former teammates, though.

Despite already establishing Black Adam's psychic defenses (and the left field mental offensive that turned J'Onn into a jerk,) Manhunter telepathically sought out the mass murderer at the Parthenon in Greece. An interim cannon fodder Teen Titans team met the villain, resulting in Young Frankenstein's (literal) disarming death and the serious injuries of Zatara II and Offspring. Beast Boy, recalling every Titans writer since Geoff Johns, didn't bat an eye at the casualties. Manhunter arrived too late to the scene, disguised as a haggard EMT, compelled by "curiosity." J'Onzz mentally shared Young Frankenstein's final moments of life. "Humans, Martians... it matters not the race. At the end of things, we all die alone."

Junior high profundity. Boo-hoo. No seriously, this is me crying over John Ostrander writing Martian Manhunter again. Oh, the missing humanity.

King Faraday and Sasha Bordeaux made the scene and argued about the inevitable intervention of black ops aficionado Amanda Waller. Jones observed, "Amanda Waller. Two sides of human nature combined in one soul. Among humans, few are so comfortable doing good with evil hands."

In Detroit, MI, "No surprise then, that when my mind locates Ben Turner... I'm already two steps behind Amanda Waller." Why J'Onzz chose to peek in on Turner, beyond his being a certified badass in the Motor City, I don't know. Turner kicked down the door of his own apartment, prepared to face an unwanted intruder. The Wall replied, "That's one door that'll never piss you off again. Me, I usually just put an extra key under the mat." Turner wasn't having any of it. "Answer's no. Leave. Now." An argument ensued between two great characters Ostrander can write, but Waller as always got her way. The Wall revealing that Turner's old Task Force X leader Rick Flag Jr. was alive and a prisoner of a hostile nation. One assumes these two pages were gifted to Ostrander, as they were only relevant as a lead-in to the great Suicide Squad: From The Ashes.

Week 50, Day 6. The Teen Titans caught up with Black Adam in the Himalayas. The killer punched the heart out of Terra's chest, killing her once again. Since this was a character Beast Boy and people who were teenagers in 1984 actually cared about, mourning commenced.

Back to Martian Manhunter, "I ghost into Director Bones' D.E.O. inner sanctum, silent as a thought." With Checkmate boxed into a corner, the D.E.O. had stepped in to fill the void in the pursuit of Black Adam. Bones was also handling prosecutor Kate Spencer, whose double life as the vigilante Manhunter (no relation) had begun impacting her profession. Martian Manhunter had met Spencer during the investigation of Shadow Thief's involvement in the death of Firestorm, and later connected her to Not Martian Manhunter. The Manhunter from Mars eavesdropped into the meeting where Spencer resigned under the scrutiny of Federal Prosecutor Andrew Bates to start her own defense practice under Bones' guidance. "Theft. Lies. Deceit. All in the name of justice. The two sides of human nature, once more represented. Smaller acts of malice performed in service of the greater good. It is not the Martian way. It is not my way. Or... is it?"

The Martian Manhunter returned to the Denver, Colorado* precinct where he began his impersonation of deceased detective John Jones*. "Peter Santorelli. Diane Meade. My first partners.* My first friends.* In spite of never knowing who I really was.*" The still active Santorelli walked up to J'Onzz and burst out laughing uncontrollably. John Jones revealed himself as J'Onn J'Onzz, as well as "I'm inducing laughter in your mind to lessen the shock of learning my true identity. It is cowardly of me. I apologize. This is who I am, Peter. This is who I have always been. Many were the times I manipulated this truth. My motives were pure, my methods less so." Why come out now? "To make certain I never do it again, my friend. Goodbye."

* All of the above is per John Ostrander, who knows continuity like he knows the secret of cold fusion. The Silver Age Manhunter invented the John Jones persona to join the Middletown, U.S.A. Police Department, while Post-Crisis it was Middleton, CO, which is about 250 miles from Denver. As far as I know, this was Peter Santorelli's first and only appearance. Jones' first friends on the force were Capt. Harding in the Silver Age, and an unnamed retired beat cop in the modern era. If I recall correctly, Ostrander himself wrote a story where Diane Meade knew about Jones' dual identity. The real corker follows...

"The Terrel Building. My base of operations when I left the police to become a private investigator. After long decades of use, it now stands empty and condemned. I shared this office with Diane Meade. She selflessly bore the weight of both our partnership and our friendship while I... I failed her. She died."

Um, no. Ostrander killed Jones' p.i. partner Karen Smith. Diane Meade not only survived Ostrander's lousy series (my sanity didn't,) but her last modern appearance was alive and well a year later in Harley Quinn. Ostrander can't even keep his own continuity straight.

J'Onzz started whining about how everywhere he looked he saw lies, and used his Martian Vision to level the building in a terrible fire. That's fire. Y'know, fire. Please don't write anything but Suicide Squad, Grimjack and stuff I don't want to read for the rest of your life, okay Johnny O.? I'd really appreciate it. The art was by Tom Derenick and Norm Rapmund, which while not the best pairing of styles, maintained the surprising quality of art throughout this curse of a mini-series.

2009 Black Lantern Martian Manhunter Custom Figure by StEvOtoys

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Another Google find-- a custom from the Figure Realm board. Here's the creator's comments:

Another member of the ever-growing Black Lantern Corps, Martian Manhunter. This one took quite awhile to get going. No matter what head I looked at I was never satisfied until I saw someone on here use a Savage Dragon head. So I used the same, sanding down the top of the head and substituting the bottom of his face with part of Taskmaster's jaw. Some additional sculpting and painting and his visage was complete.

The body came from one of the DCU Supermans (the blue one I believe) since in the comic he mentions how everyone forgets he is as strong as Superman, I thought it was an appropriate choice for a base. Switched the hands for the long claws of Lizard from the Spiderman classics line. Made an alternate hand for him from an extra Brood tentacle. Sculpted his chest emblem, wristbands, and other minor details followed by a complete paint job. Cape was made from a Black Panther cape with heavy modifications.

Now he's ready to give Green Lantern and Flash a whooping!

StEvOtoys actually has three pictures on display here, including the aforementioned shot of Black Lantern J'Onn J'Onzz strangling the Scarlet Speedster with a tentacle arm. Check it out! Also, I've got Black Lantern Ralph Didny up at the Justice League Detroit blog, which must be seen to be believed (two words-- translucent drool.)

2010 The Martian Manhunter Archives Volume 6 Fan Mock-Up Cover by Tom Hartley

MARTIAN MANHUNTER ARCHIVES VOL. 6

Written by Denny O'Neil, Bob Haney, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Len Wein and Jim Starlin; Art by Dick Dillin, Michael Netzer, Curt Swan, Jim Starlin, George Tuska, Alan Kupperberg and others; Cover by Michael Netzer and Terry Austin
Back by popular demand, MARTIAN MANHUNTER ARCHIVES VOL. 6 continues the exciting evolution of J'onn J'onzz as he leads the last survivors of Mars to a new home world. Utilizing powerfully graphic storytelling, these tales from the Bronze Age combine gripping adventures with thrilling team-ups. This intense hardcover includes the horrifying destruction of the planet Mars, the debut of Manhunter's nemesis Commander Blanx, entanglements with the femme fatale Bel Juz, the ominous return of Despero, the introduction of Mongul, a murder mystery with guest stars galore, and the thrilling arrival of the Alien Atlas to Earth, just ahead of a Martian invasion. Appearances by Superman, Batman, Hawkman, the Justice League of America, and many more! Reprints JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #71, 144, 177, 178 and 228-230; WORLD's FINEST COMICS #212 and 245; ADVENTURE COMICS #449-451; and DC COMICS PRESENTS #27

• Archive Editions
• 288pg.
• Color
• Hardcover
• $49.95 US
• ISBN 156389730

It's been nearly six months since Tom Hartley began sending me scans of his copies of the Manhunter from Mars Archive Editions from an alternate dimension where the character rates a series of lovingly remastered hardcover reprints. Not content with giving the correct DC Comics cover font and layout a twirl, Tom filled in all the bonus content upon each edition's hypothetical pages. While the plan was originally to stop with the Silver Age material also covered in the el cheapo black & white Showcase Presents trade paperbacks, we couldn't let these novel 1970s tales go unrepresented. Tom even decided to go the extra mile by taking high resolution color scans from the original comics, "bleaching" them, and recoloring from scratch. Here's Tom on that process:

I have to carefully remove the coloring without removing any of the line art, then recolor it, so that it's nice and sharp looking, just like the colored black & white Showcase scans from the other mock-ups. The bigger the image, the easier it will be for me to play with it... All those skinny little lines... damn you, Terry Austin...

I'm not doing bios for this volume, not with nearly three dozen writers, pencillers, inkers and cover artists.

For my part, I figured now would be a good time to return to the first volume and edit-in the bogus "solicitation copy" I tacked onto Tom's covers for the rest of the volumes. This edition's text was lifted from LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ARCHIVES VOL. 11, plus an Earth symbol for the ISBN to go with the Mars one from last time.

52/WW III Part Two: The Valiant #1 (June, 2007)

The Martian Manhunter has fled the planet, his mind seemingly shattered during a valiant attempt to stop Black Adam.

Now It's War.

Apparently now able to drift in a fetal position from low Earth orbit, J'Onn J'Onzz mused over the Zeta Beam accident that caused Adam Strange, Starfire, and Animal Man to become lost in space, the usurper Red Tornado to explode, and Supergirl to be shunted to the future. Still sifting through an overwhelming psychic stream from the humanity below, the Sleuth in Outer Space telepathically eavesdropped on:

• The presentable Harvey Dent fighting Killer Croc as the current guardian of Gotham City.
• Donna Troy donning the garb of a Wonder Woman.
• Captain Marvel battling Black Adam.
• Firestorm distracted from giving chase regarding Black Adam.
• Aquaman arguing with Aquagirl (Lorena Marquez) about his powerlessness to save Sub Diegan citizens suddenly unable to breathe in or out of water. "It's possible, but the cost will be severe--"

J'Onzz was interrupted by the uncontrolled return of Supergirl, who passed immaterially through the Alien Atlas to crash land in Metropolis. J'Onzz again lost his bearings, and painfully re-centered himself while in his natural Martian form. The Manhunter reconfigured his heroic guise, but remained unable to actively participate in current affairs.

• Dent managed to choke out Killer Croc, which only made the Writer and Waylon Jones look bad.
• Deathstroke the Terminator attempted to sway Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) to the dark side.

"I should be disgusted by the evil I see. I should feel the need to take action. Instead, buried deep beneath the weight of millions of deaths... my heart does not stir. In those stolen moments I find only pain, and in that pain I find only truth. This place is not my home... War rages below... Black Adam. I reach out one last time, trying to find a reason why I should continue to care."

I've got one! Readers are even more indifferent to dispassionate, callous, unmotivated protagonists than they usually are to the Manhunter from Mars! They also tend to hate anyone blowing off a half century of reasonably consistent characterization as part of an ill-considered "bold new direction."

• In Pisa, Italy, the Doom Patrol of One Year Later, joined by Booster Gold, struggled with Black Adam.
• Wonder Woman Donna Troy shed a tear over the ravaged opera house in Sydney, Australia.
• In Sub Diego, Aquaman petitioned the gods of the sea to save his latest adopted people. The inexplicably immune Lorena fled Sub Diego while the Sea King channeled "strange, ancient, and terrible" power through his Waterbearer hand to resurface the sunken portion of San Diego, CA and restore full humanity to Sub Diego's former inhabitants. The price was Orin's mutating into the amnesiac creature dubbed the "Dweller of the Depths."

By this point, the Martian Manhunter had gotten himself into a free-floating lotus position. "Aquaman. One of the few humans I truly consider a friend. His mind is lost, perhaps forever, caught in the grip of dark and angry gods. Clark. Bruce. Diana. Now Arthur. All have given selflessly for the good of the planet. All have paid a price, in one form or another... We dance an endless cycle, saving mankind from itself, showing them a better way. Time and again, they refuse to learn. They choose the easier path. Anger over reason. Hate over love. Death over life. Plotting. Scheming. Manipulating. Human nature at its most basic... A paradox I have struggled to comprehend from my first moment on this world. If I am to continue to have a place among humanity, this must change. Before it is too late."

The Manhunter carried on drifting aimlessly, just like the meandering narrative. Visions of Amanda Waller pulling a confidential personnel file on Ben Turner, Changeling leading a doomed Teen Titans incarnation, Captain Marvel Jr. getting his wind, and Power Girl carrying Supergirl off filled J'Onzz's head...

While much more decipherable than last issue, writer Keith Champagne's plot was just checking off a laundry list of editorially-mandated continuity beats established as part of the One Year Later publishing initiative, but unresolved where it was planned to be, in the 52 series (since those writers got tied up in telling actual stories.) The art was by Andy Smith and Ray Snyder, who for once focused on channeling Bryan Hitch instead of Bart Sears, to pleasant result.

2006 One Year Later Martian Manhunter by Oliver Nome

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While far from a perfect design, imagine trying to pull off a "kewl" dark pose like this with the classic costume. J'Onn would look like he was "makin' Choco." A few tweaks and a round head later, this might have worked. Do note how Coneheadhunter is all "pfft-- fire." Click the pic to enlarge, or check out Oliver Nome's gallery.

2009 One Year Later Martian Manhunter Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe Fan Edit-Render by vampireheart

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I found this on the Midway Games message board, in a thread featuring all three of J'Onn J'Onzz's primary costumes/appearances. Surprisingly, I think this one turned out the best of the lot, especially in the face. See for yourself
here.

52/WW III Part One: A Call To Arms #1 (June, 2007)

I finally cracked open World War III Book One for the first time last week, my first thought being "Isn't 'Book One' awfully pretentious for a $2.50 floppy?" I'd read the series 52 until giving up at 25, but I keep abreast of DC goings on through the internet. I could mostly follow the action in this spin-off mini-series, but still got lost at times. That means this book was aggressively anti-new reader, so heaven help the uninitiated.

The Country of Bialya stands in ruin. The death toll is staggering. In every direction, the corpses of millions of innocent men, women, and children litter the ground; a tapestry of blood, pain and destruction knit by the bottomless rage of one man.

Black Adam.

With the murders of his innocent wife, Isis, and her brother, Osiris, the Black Marvel Family has been destroyed. Having disposed of their killers, Black Adam turns an eye toward China to find the people who are truly responsible for the death of his loved ones.

Only the entire world stands in his way...

That there is a recap, and it was good enough for me to get with, but let's see how it holds up as we progress.

Week 45, Day 5 of the year without Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman following Infinite Crisis. Walking out from a litter of bodies, a little girl asked Black Adam, "Why? Only a select few are responsible for your loss, yet millions have paid the price."

"Child, you speak beyond your-- years?"

The villain had noticed the girl crumple a handhold in a steel girder before smacking him with it. As Black Adam sailed through the air, the girl followed, transforming into the Manhunter from Mars. "Black Adam!!! The time has come for a reckoning! I am in full control of your body's motor functions. You will not move unless I allow it. Continue to struggle and you will lose the privilege of thought. This atrocity you are committing must en-- --NNGH!! Your mind... so... strong..."

Black Adam was able to concentrate hard enough to whisper the magical name "...Shazam..." bringing down mystical lightning to scorch the Martian Manhunter. Meanwhile, in place of the arch demigod stood the Ancient Egyptian Teth-Adam. "You're not like the rest of them, J'Onn J'Onzz. You're not human. I honestly believe you might kill me now, in this body, while you have the chance. I admire your fortitude, if nothing else." With one magic word, Black Adam was restored and Martian Manhunter again electrically assaulted.

J'Onn continued to struggle. "Pathetic. Too stupid to admit defeat. Even now, I can feel your fingers in my head, still scrambling to regain control. You want to play in my mind so badly, Manhunter... be careful what you wish for. Take it. Every man, woman and child. The memory of all those I've killed today. You asked me why before, Manhunter. My vengeance is just. My fury is righteous. I swim in an ocean of blood and do not drown beneath the waves. Is something amiss, Manhunter? Is my mind too black for you?" The Martian Manhunter flew-- screaming, crying, horrified-- off the planet Earth.

My first question is, where in Black Adam's power set was that even possible? I haven't followed him closely since his JSA revamp, but I thought the courage of Mehen only provided him the same convenient resistance to telepathy Superman enjoys. Now all of a sudden, he's Eric Draven at the end of The Crow movie, right up to the bits of dialogue not swiped from Black Adam's idol, the Sub-Mariner. "Oceans of blood?" Black Adam gets an "F" for articulation, as cool posturing doesn't replace a remotely valid explanation.

You can also see that Grant Morrison and John Ostrander's work influenced this tripe, scripted by inker Keith Champagne. J'Onn's psychic smackdown was straight out of JLA: Earth 2, while the assumption Manhunter would kill calls back to the Martian Manhunter series, where J'Onn stalked Clark Kent for years, looking for an excused to snap his neck before he reached adulthood. I hated that take, but an alternate reading is that Black Adam was projecting onto J'Onn, and coupled with the magic lightning strikes, "reprogrammed" J'Onn to become the jerky One Year Later conehead.

Anyhow, these first six pages, while personally objectionable, were at least functional. Champagne's reach as a credited writer really outstrips his grasp from here on. In a seventeen skinny panel spread, Champagne attempts to pack in as many impact shots from across the globe as he can. This is the world reacting to the Bialyan massacre and mobilizing a response, but it just doesn't play well. Four additional pages are wasted in a battle that only offers more gore and a tenuous connection to yet another spin-off mini-series, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. Another three pages were wasted on a terribly random aside involving Nightwing becoming a murderous, larcenous vigilante. I'm aware this was in fact Jason Todd (he even tosses a red hood at some thugs,) and teases the first OYL Nightwing arc. However, it is completely irrelevant to the main story, and would be a total "WTF?" moment to future readers if I thought anyone was ever going to bother reading this in five years.

Another five-and-a-third pages involve explaining how Jason Rusch and Firehawk rejiggered the Firestorm matrix after the disappearance of Professor Stein. I actually followed Firestorm before and for a ways after the OYL period, and still forgot that Rusch was briefly merged with Cyborg. Not that any of this matters, since it again is only tangentially related to a story in dire need of more exploration, and teases a story arc that had already begun a year earlier and I believe already just about ended.

Fifteen scrawny, near silent panels continue to hint at the changes in status quo that followed Infinite Crisis, but which had already been addressed in individual books. The cryptic mess really goes overboard during a double pages spread of twenty-six disembodied, unattributed dialogue snips, along with seven connected to mouths amongst disconnected images that either make no sense or belabor points handled better in other books. This continues on a third page, with Martian Manhunter in a fetal position, still unable to filter the psychic streams of the entire planet. It makes for a striking visual, but also a dissatisfying reading experience, and a definite lousing up of continuity in a books whose very existence turns on the stuff.

At least the art was by Pat Oliffe and Drew Geraci, the former a strong storyteller with a clear, under appreciated style. A lesser artist would have turned the awful script into something completely incomprehensible.

2009 Black Lantern Martian Manhunter Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe Fan Edit-Render by vampireheart

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I found this on the Midway Games message board, in a thread featuring all three of J'Onn J'Onzz's primary costumes/appearances. Check out the rest
here.

2010 Martian Manhunter Commission Pencils by Michael Netzer

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I'm juggling a lot of Michael Netzer-related material right now, so I might as well declare this a partial-themed fortnight of his work. For example, I stumbled upon this art while putting together Tuesday's post. Here's the artist:

I’ve started working again with Joe Rubinstein producing commissioned art for collectors. Drawing on a computer for more than a decade, it’s interesting to return to conventional media. Collectors want original art and that means setting up some type of a workspace to do it in. The following roughs are a preview, drawn on computer, that I’ll transfer to finished pencil on paper for Joe to ink. More to come.

The finished pencils were offered up on Netzer's site on February 24th with these words:

J’onn J’onzz the Manhunter from Mars is a character I’m identified with from a short 3-issue miniseries in Adventure comics, 1976-77.  Two years ago, fandom rallied around a campaign to persuade DC Comics not to kill him in Final Crisis. The best place to read about my involvement with the character is at Frank Lee Delano’s Idol-Head of Diabolu blog.

Pretty spiffy, and interesting to see an old school artist tackle the blocky, brawny Martian Manhunter that developed in the 1990s, first popularized by Bart Sears. To inquire about commissions, go here.

2009 “Rise” Lego-Style Blackest Night Art by Ulises Farinas

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Luke over at the Hawkman blog Being Carter Hall first brought this art to my attention
last December, but I figured I'd sit on a repost here until Black Lantern Martian Manhunter month. Brooklyn's own Ulises Farinas first posted the piece on his blog on 11/22/2009, and the internet just lapped it up.

Here's the artist on the piece:

I started reading Blackest Night from DC in the past week, and so far, its been the only big giant crisis crossover event that hasn’t completely irritated me. Actually, i like it. So i decided to draw this. Hope you like it.

2009 "J'onn J'onzz R.I.P." Pin-Up by Michael Netzer

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Rob Kelly has referred to Paul Kupperberg as the "patron saint" of his Aquaman Shrine. I'm much too territorial about this blog to ever accept anyone in that role here, but if I had to choose the closest approximation, it would be Bronze Age Manhunter from Mars artist Michael Netzer. The former Mike Nasser designed the 1970s logo for J'Onn J'Onzz, our own Idol-Head of Diabolu font, and the beloved default banner image that will return when I lay off the theme months. Netzer has also provided gobs of free digital art to myself and other bloggers, and has expressed a rare passion for the Martian Manhunter character, for which I am eternally grateful. I last corresponded with Mr. Netzer on New Year's Eve, when I substituted my long delayed "Manhunter from Mars Annual #2" (you'll love it when it finally appears) for his innovative "December of Despero" Pin-Up. We hadn't spoken in a while, so I thought I'd share a bit.

I was away for nearly 8 months last year and came back home last January. I immersed myself In Facebook and using their tools created Facebook Comic Con (a video on my site explains it). I'm still doing sketches there sometimes but here's one (by request) that you might have missed...

The link led to the awesome image above, and boy howdy, is it a doozy. Netzer continued:

Worked at a major newspaper designing the weekend magazine but that ended after 6 months. Took all my time and energy. So for the last few months I've been thinking of going out on another trek across the country, but family needs forbid it right now, so I finally started the big GN project I've been planning for the last few years. WAVE. We'll see If I can sustain it.

Strange as it is, those 3 JJ episodes in Adventure have established an inexplicable recognition of my work with the character. It apparently has more to do with J'onn and his precarious presence (or lack of it, depending on time-frame) from the DCU. My career was so short that it's actually nice to have such a short run make me associated with anything.

The high resolution "original" was requested by "big JJ fan Edward Kaye," who posted it on his blog Hypergeek on February 10, 2009, where he wrote:

As part of his Facebook Comic Con idea, Michael Netzer has offered the first 1000 people that signed up, the opportunity to get a free sketch by him. I was the sixth person to make a request, and here is what I wrote, “Hi Michael, this is a wonderful idea. I would love a free sketch, please! How about a sketch of J’onn J’onzz, I really liked his old look, before DC made his head a weird shape, then of course killed him off :( R.I.P.”

I picked J’onn J’onzz,the Manhunter from Mars because Michael is famed as being the man who gave J’onn his classic heavy brow look, and logo, which was reused repeatedly through the years, until DC tried a terrible revamp of the character in 2007. Michael was also heading a campaign to stop DC from killing J’onn, and wrote an open plea to DC to stop them from killing him.

Anyway, Michael took my request, and drew this absolutely stunning image... This was greater than I even hoped for, and I will be printing this out, framing it, and hanging it on my wall. I have always loved J’onn J’onzz, and I think that DC just screwed him in recent years, with bad revamps, and terrible storylines. I would love to see him come back in a good Vertigo series, where he could be rebuilt from the ground up. In fact, I would love to write that. Ahhh, if only…

Now if only whoever is writing that revamp does as good a job with the prose as Netzer did with the art...

The Life and Undeath of J'Onn J'Onzz

On Monday, January 14th, 2008, Rich Johnston's CBR gossip column "Lying in the Gutters" broke the news that Martian Manhunter would likely be killed in Final Crisis. Even though my Idol-Head blog had only just begun a few months prior, I was fairly nonchalant about the news, feeling J'Onn was better dead than mangled by modern DC Comics editorial.

Within days, 1970s Manhunter from Mars artist Michael Netzer launched his popular internet campaign "Take Me... But Don't Kill J'Onn", in hopes of saving the fictional life of the super-hero he was most identified with (or at least getting to draw his send-off.) I was very happy to see Netzer produce new digital art for the effort, but ultimately, nothing more came of it. Again, outside of wanting Netzer to get work, I felt it was for the best (as evidenced by my take on how new stories would read by modern DC creators like Judd Winick and Frank Miller, repurposing their own crappy dialogue. A shame I never completed the Garth Ennis entry in the series.)

After months of speculation, J'Onn J'Onzz was murdered by Libra with the help of Effigy and Dr. Light at the request of the Human Flame on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. The J'Onn J'Onzz Memorial Service was held here that Friday.

Thanks to the soon to be completed Blackest Night mini-series, the corpse of J'Onn J'Onzz has been reanimated by a Black Lantern ring. Accessing J'Onzz's memories and powers, the deceased now serves as a soldier in a corps of the undead under the command of the Green Lantern foe Nekron. It's been generally assumed by fandom that Blackest Night's resolution will involve the true resurrection of a number of fan favorite characters, most prominently Aquaman in his classic form. There's a good probability the Martian Manhunter will also rejoin the living.

This blog has had its ups and downs over the last two years, but whether May marks the observance of the second anniversary of J'Onn's passing, or continues the celebration of his return, I hope it will more stable and entertaining by then. So many of my hopes and plans have been dashed in recent months, but I've worked throughout February and will continue in March to improve the performance of all my blogs. Here, until the outcome of Blackest Night is covered, we'll be continuing current features, looking at the path that led to J'Onn's death, and hopefully closing the book on this Black Lantern business. You may have noticed a distinct absence of Martian Manhunter material on this blog recently, and that's partially intentional. I wanted folks to miss J'Onn J'Onzz just a little bit more in this closing stretch. Either his absence will make the end of Blackest Night that much sweeter, or I'll be prepared to fill the void if things turn out tragically. Whatever the case, the Idol-Head of Diabolu will remain to remember the greatness of the Manhunter from Mars, and March will give us a chance to consider where things went wrong...