Martian Manhunter's new book debuted this week and it's a pretty big departure from his other previous volumes, which were mostly about being alone in the galaxy and the last (and not-so-last) of his kind. The newest volume of the book is the first we've seen since the company-wide New 52 reboot a few years back.
Writer Rob Williams (2000 AD, THE ROYALS: MASTERS OF WAR) teams up with Eddy Barrows (NIGHTWING), Eber Ferreira (EARTH 2: WORLD'S END, NIGHTWING), and Gabe Eltaeb (GREEN LANTERN CORPS) for this new series which takes the character in a whole new direction as Martian Manhunter tries being a hero on his own. However, nothing is as it seems and there's something else sinister going on. We took a look at some of the big developments from this first issue.
Warning: There are spoilers for the first issue here.
5. The Book is Dark
As we mentioned before, Martian Manhunter, who also goes by J'onn J'onzz, has had a few books in the past, which end up being intentionally depressing. Not all of them, mind you, but a few of these books have this overall theme of a man trying to find something that was lost. The books weren't light-hearted but never strayed from a tone that was too dark. With this new volume, MARTIAN MANHUNTER has is walking a fine line between a superhero book and a horror story. The image about doesn't do the whole book justice because the contents of the issue is what really set the tone. It isn't overly gory, but the entire issue feels like someone is watching you, from your closet. While this isn't a specific development with the character, looking forward, it seems this Vertigo-esque way to tell stories could really affect the character in a big way.
4. Martian Manhunter's Shapeshifting is on Steroids
There's going to be a few Martian Manhunter fans who will say "Hey! MM once grew to the size of a building!" Well, in the post-Flashpoint world, J'onn never got as big as we see above. He's increased his size a couple times in fights during JLA and STORMWATCH, but in order to save a plane that's on its way to crash, J'onn gets ridiculously big here, much bigger than the plane he's trying to save. Pre-Flashpoint, there was a time where the Chocos cookie loving character grew to the size of a building, but he borrowed mass from around him to do so. There's no mention of that here but growing that size does take it out of him.
3. Aliens are Everywhere
Martian Manhunter wasn't alone when he left Mars. There were other martians and J'onn was going to lead them. After his rite of passage, he went back to Mars and found no one was there and it was all burned down. That's the story J'onn told us and we (Catwoman) were shown in JLA. However, this issue shows us differently. There are green and white martians hidden away on Earth, including Mr Biscuits. Why are these Martians here and does J'onn know about them?
2. Martian Manhunter Has Been Lying to Us
The biggest revelation of the book happens early on, right before J'onn saves the crashing plane. He flat-out tells the reader that not only is everything he told us a lie, but he was created as a weapon to befriend humanity and conquer the planet.
What?!
This is the moment where everything in this issue completely clicks. While those in charge of JLA were trying to pull a fast one on its members, Martian Manhunter was pulling a fast one on all of them. It seems like the Martian invasion is all coming together, so when is this going to happen and will J'onn lead the way?
1. He Wants to Die
At this point, the reader views J'onn as more of a villain than a hero. We find out the conquering of Earth is coming much sooner than later and J'onn goes to visit Helen Demoff to ask for help, to kill him. Why is he doing this? Does he thing conquering the Earth is wrong? Does he have a soft-spot for us humans? If he stays alive, will he detonate like a bomb, killing all the people on the planet? There's so many questions that this leaves the reader.
All-in-all, MARTIAN MANHUNTER is really a game changer for J'onn J'onzz. Everything we thought we knew about this character is wrong in this new series and the direction is pretty nuts. There's probably more to all of this than the reader is presented here, but as far as a first issue goes, there's a lot here to keep readers interested in the story.
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