Up front: The Martian Manhunter is not my favorite character.
Truth be told, if I did a top ten of my favorite characters, J’onn J’onzz probably wouldn’t even crack the top ten.
I like the guy fine. I think he holds JLA together. But I’m a comic book fan and we like hundreds of characters. I like The Martian Manhunter the same way I enjoy Havok or Jade.
However, if he had a regular series, which he very deserves, and it was done right, I’d buy it in a second.
Let’s examine the facts:
The Martian Manhunter rounds out (as number seven) the “Big 7,†the seven iconic characters that make up the classic “Big Gun†Justice League of America.
Besides JLA, Superman and Batman each appear in three regular series a month, numerous mini-series, and they just embarked upon a joint series. Wonder Woman has her own series that is about to be revitalized by Greg Rucka, plus the occasional prestige format one shot. The Flash & Green Lantern each have their own long-running regular series, neither of which seem to be in any danger of cancellation, despite the fact that the incarnations of both characters currently featured are not the original “Big 7†versions.
At the end of the day, ol’ J’onn could usually at least count on perennial butt of comic book jokes Aquaman to keep him company, right? Wrong; despite like 25 failed series, the King of the Seas is starring in yet another ongoing attempt to make him marketable and despite poor sales is getting a dynamite new writer (Will Pfeiffer of H-E-R-O fame) to bolster him.
So why can’t MM get any ongoing love?
Now I’m well aware that The Martian Manhunter did have a respectable run of 38 issues from 1998 to 2001 in a series written by the very capable John Ostrander, but never having actually read the series (if you have and find flaws in any of my arguments, please e-mail me), I can only go by what I’ve heard: the series was hit or miss at best and succeeded more on tangential ties to the very successful JLA than for any other reason.
J’onn J’onzz can sustain a much longer series than that and it can be a good one at that; let me tell you why and how.
The Why
1. Cool Powers: Super-strength, flight, heat vision…these are pretty standard and not particularly standout powers. However, Martian Manhunter has two of the coolest and most interesting power around: telepathy and shape-shifting. I’ll discuss the shape-shifting a bit more in my How section, but let’s talk telepathy. Now, telepaths always have a nice, comfy place in team books. Saturn Girl is frequently the deus ex machina in The Legion while Jean Grey & Professor X are the last line of defense in X-Men. Martian Manhunter’s telepathy has always been a boon in JLA, providing a means for the team to communicate over long distances and such, but the seed has always been there for much more. J’onn J’onzz is one of the few comic book telepaths who discusses things like code of conduct among telepaths (see the most recent issue of JLA); he truly sees it as an art form of sorts. Ask anybody what superpower they’d want and if they don’t take the easy way out and say flight, you’re going to get a lot of “I wish I could read minds.†There’s so much potential in the pages of a regular Martian Manhunter book for an experienced telepath to explore the ethical ramifications of telepathy, the aforementioned code of conduct, and how a telepath hones their powers so as not to go insane; all things touched on in team books but never given the full attention they deserve. The idea of telepathy as a craft, not just a plot device, is an intriguing one, and the fact that J’onn has been doing it well for years (whereas some of comics’ other telepaths seem to be struggling to get their powers under control even fifty years into their existence) makes him the Martian for the job.
2. Versatility: Ok, I know I said I’d save the shape-shifting for the How section…but think of the possibilities! He could be anybody, anywhere, guy or girl, any race, any charaterization, and he’s been on Earth for years…ok, so Ostrander utilized this a lot, but I will touch on what more he could have done in the How.
3. His Standing in the DCU: : J’onn J’onzz is the one guy in the DCU whom Superman and Batman both defer to. That’s truly something. Every incarnation of the Justice League in post-Crisis continuity has centered around the Martian Manhunter and he has earned the respect of everybody he’s worked with (give or take Guy Gardner and Orion). Everybody from Aquaman, Black Canary, The Spectre, Green Arrow, The Atom, Hawkman, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Red Tornado, Firestorm, Vixen and Gypsy to Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Mr. Miracle, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Rocket Red, The Huntress, Fire, The Ray, Big Barda, Plastic Man, Oracle, Steel, Zauriel, not to mention Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and the aforementioned Man of Steel and Dark Knight would most likely leap into hell (Neron’s version or the other one, your pick) if J’onn was giving the orders. If somebody like Aquaman has no problems taking orders for J’onn, how awe-inspiring is he for people like Superboy, Robin & Wonder Girl? Hawkman has an established relationship with J’onn, but what do the rest of the JSA think of a guy who has been doing this even longer than them? Remember that great issue of Action Comics by Chuck Dixon that teamed Nightwing with Superman? It was cool to see the contrast in how Nightwing viewed Supes versus Bats…how do Nightwing, Arsenal and other former sidekicks view J’onn? What I’m getting at (and, you guessed it, will expand on in How) is that just exploring the way other denizens of the DCU view J’onn is an interesting book right there. People might not be so much interested in how Cyborg interacts with Tempest, but put either one with the Martian Manhunter and see if two experienced and usually confident heroes act around the most respected veteran in all of the DCU (I’m thinking now to the issue of The Flash last year where Geoff Johns teamed Wally with Hawkman…it was cool…granted every issue of that book rocks, but I digress…). And then on the flip side, how does J’onn view his role within the DCU? MM has always seemed like a pretty humble guy, but does he get a little satisfaction about having the big guns defer to him, or does it freak him out?
The How
So here’s the thing…John Ostrander wrote a good Martian Manhunter ongoing that did explore the world of telepathy, did utilize J’onn J’onzz’s multiple identities in different times and settings, and featured plenty of guest stars…and it still got cancelled. What is my How? It’s really a two step process…
1. Remember that bit about J’onn interacting with the rest of the DCU (you should, it’s like two paragraphs up)? Well, the title of his new series wouldn’t be Martian Manhunter or J’onn J’onzz, The Manhunter From Mars, it would be something along the lines of DC Comics Presents or The Brave & The Bold. In the 70’s and 80’s, DC Comics Presents was a team-up book that featured Superman and a different co-star each month. It gave writers a chance to explore every corner of the DCU from Air Wave to Warlord, keeping Superman, their biggest and most recognizable star, as the lynchpin. But sometimes the team-ups seemed forced, because frankly, Superman is not the type of character who realistically fits in every setting. But given the points I outlined in Why, J’onn is that kind of character. He’s an explorer of the planet Earth and beyond, so putting him in Skartaris or on New Genesis is not a stretch, he’d enjoy just checking those places out. As Ostrander showed in his Justice Experience stories, J’onn has been around for awhile, so showing him or one of his alter-egos fighting alongside Sgt. Rock is not a problem. J’onn J’onzz is the perfect focus character for a team-up series not only because he is a great character who plays off and interacts well with anybody in the DCU, but because if the writer doesn’t feel that way, they can just use his shape-shifting to make him a new character that does fit the story.
2. It’s been said recently by Mike Carlin and others, “Every creator has at least one good JLA story to tell.†I believe this could also be applied to “at least one good Martian Manhunter and anybody else†story. This could be a book that brings an amazing and diverse crop of comics’ best creators in for an issue or an arc apiece to tell whatever DCU story they’ve had in their head for years, pulling in whatever characters and setting they need and then using J’onn as their eyes and ears to explore the story. And along the way, I’m betting a lot of top-level creators will have stories just about J’onn, utilizing all the cool stuff I mentioned in Why, to tell…maybe not stories that can fuel an ongoing series, but enough to put out some cool one shots and arcs before the next team jumps onboard.
I’m not saying this is a series that would last forever, but I think it’s one that could really jazz up creators and succeed in today’s industry, where team-up books like Superman/Batman are looking like one of the next big things. And besides all that, a whole generation of kids are falling in love with J’onn via the Cartoon Network and then wondering why the guy with the hook for a hand has a series and he doesn’t…and the first guy doesn’t even have the hook anymore. Give the other big green guy a chance, folks.
I hope you’re all as psyched for the New Fall Season here on 411comics as I am. It’s been a nice treat for me during a stressful (but rewarding) summer as a camp counselor to check back in and see how my baby has grown up while I was away. My hat is off to Daron and the top notch staff here for making this what I truly believe to be one of the best sites on the net for editorial work on the world of comics.
For those of you wondering what this “New Fall Season†is, it’s a way for all of us here at 411comics to refocus on giving you our best stuff and inject a bit of buzz and excitement into the site at the same time. We’ve got new columns, new writers, and more cool stuff that I think warranted the promotion.
For my part, The Watchtower will become a more regular part of 411comics and will take on something of a new format. Though I will still have weeks like this one where I have one idea I really want to write about, for the most part this column will become more like, well, a watchtower, taking in information and then funneling it back out to you. I’ll examine the biggest news items of the week one by one and give you my take on them and what I think they mean for the industry and the fans. I’m jazzed about it, and if it sucks…well, I’ll blame it on Daron somehow…or better yet, Matt Morrison.
So enjoy this week of New Fall goodness and until next week…I need a tagline (e-mail me people, you are the wind beneath my wings!)
