Martian Manhunter series. Possible spoilers

[Paragon]

In the last issue of Batman : Gotham Knights, in the box at the end of the issue, it is stated that the team on the book (Andy, Al and Bit) will be tackling MM this summer.

Does anyone have more info?

I find it hard to think that MM will be the character that dies and gets replaced in IC, since he is the last of his kind. A replacement will be kind of hard to find. (Unless they create one of course)

I guess (hope) it is the same one that we all love (or hate).

Opinions anyone?

[The Adventurer]

I hope it's John and I hope they get the character back to his crime solveing roots I'm sick of him being the token "Alien Telepath", they've completely stripped him of his Human alterego and left him up in the Watchtower for too long.



I want the John Jones I read in DC: The New Frontier.

[marshal99]

Sorry but that creative team sucked for gotham knights - they try to make hush the ultimate bat villain but it isn't working , he's crap and his lackey , Prometheus fared worse under their writing . A book by that team will not survive very long.

[Agentum]

I hope it's John and I hope they get the character back to his crime solveing roots I'm sick of him being the token "Alien Telepath", they've completely stripped him of his Human alterego and left him up in the Watchtower for too long.



I want the John Jones I read in DC: The New Frontier.
Yes and they have him overpowered by Supergirl, he is really one of the most powerful of the DC characters because his psycic abilites, i don't think many of the other superheroes really can take him on, maybe Flash that is fast enogh to do something before MM can react, but not Superman.

He is a hard character to write and i think almost only Ostrander got him right, mst just seems to forget about him so they don't have to write a realistic story involving him.

[geordiesteve]

Yes and they have him overpowered by Supergirl, he is really one of the most powerful of the DC characters because his psycic abilites, i don't think many of the other superheroes really can take him on, maybe Flash that is fast enogh to do something before MM can react, but not Superman.

He is a hard character to write and i think almost only Ostrander got him right, mst just seems to forget about him so they don't have to write a realistic story involving him.

I agree, Superman admitted in the JLA a while back when J'onn was starting to go a bit crazy with the whole getting over the fire phobia thing, that he never wanted to tackle him, as he is one of the most powerful being in the DC Universe, and if not for the fire thing, could probably take down Superman. It's not just his telepathy that makes him formidable though, he has lots of of other abilities too that make him hard to beat. The current Supergirl is a britney-esque waste of space, they could have done so much, and there is no way such a newbie could take down the MM.

I hope whoever does this series gets it right and writes him properly. I am very interested to see what they come up with.

[Agentum]

True, not only for his psychic abilitys, he is a shapeshager, he is just some points below Superman in strenght, he has the martian rays.
Come to think about it, hes almost to good to be "true".

I really dislike when new "hot" heroes appear full learnt and outmanouvers heroes with tens of years experience (like Flash forgetting he is on the Moon argggg).

But the same was done in Batman books a young girl apperaed that was better than anyone.
I know comics is not about reality, but if they want to keep me as i reader it must at least relate to real life, of course people has diffrent levels of talent, but the big heroes of DC is supposed to be more than everybody else even in this aspect, it's become silly if they suddenly act like they lost all sense and experience.

But then again i could write better than that current Supergirl writer.

[geordiesteve]

True, not only for his psychic abilitys, he is a shapeshager, he is just some points below Superman in strenght, he has the martian rays.
Come to think about it, hes almost to good to be "true".

I really dislike when new "hot" heroes appear full learnt and outmanouvers heroes with tens of years experience (like Flash forgetting he is on the Moon argggg).

But the same was done in Batman books a young girl apperaed that was better than anyone.
I know comics is not about reality, but if they want to keep me as i reader it must at least relate to real life, of course people has diffrent levels of talent, but the big heroes of DC is supposed to be more than everybody else even in this aspect, it's become silly if they suddenly act like they lost all sense and experience.

But then again i could write better than that current Supergirl writer.

Agreed, I'm waiting for Loeb to leave. I think he is an excellent writer, he does some really good stuff, but this Supergirl is appalling and appeals to me, not at all.

[The Adventurer]

You know, it's this whole "More Powerful then Superman?" bussiness that's got me thinking that MM as a character has been lost on the current generation of writers. I'm fairly positive the original MM didn't have nearly as many or as powerful abilities when he was created.

If anyone needs a power nerfing it's Jo'nn J'onz. Say...by limiting his telepathy to mind reading, shapeshifting to things the same size as MM, and using his fire weakness to better effect.

Heck, I'd nuke his flight and eye powers from orbit too, totaly unnessisary for the kind of crime solving character Jones is. He should be in human form most of the time, his alien side coming out only when fighting major super villians or exposed to fire.

But that's just my opinion....

(my vision of what MM should be.)
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1171/manhunter2zt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Agentum]

You know, it's this whole "More Powerful then Superman?" bussiness that's got me thinking that MM as a character has been lost on the current generation of writers. I'm fairly positive the original s from orbit too, totaly unnessisary for the kind of crime solving character Jones is. He should be in human form most of the time, his alien side coming out only when fighting major super villians or exposed to fire.

But that's just my opinion....


Well they don't let him use his powers so you can really call it that he is powered down, he just gets to link discussions and sit in the HQ,
Very offensive character, MUST be powered down right now!!

[noh-varr]

He was great in Morrison's JLA and Ostrander's series. Other then that he ends up as that guy who watches everything and works as a radio, wahoo. He needs to do something cool and a new series would help a lot, but we need a team that can produce good work! That's the important thing.

[Lex]

I hope it's just the Gotham Knights art team and not the writer.

[davids]

First Jonn was acidently transported to earth from Mars by a earth scientist who died of a heart attack before he could send him back. The Martain mamhunter could not fly into space like Superman so he was stuck here.

As a kid i wonderd why he didn't just ask Superman for a lift back home? but it was the fifties and except for worlds finest comic book heroes didn't really interact together. [pre JLA]

Then when we got the first close up photos of Mars from nasa and saw it was more like the moon then a planet that could support life. So jonn's origin was changed again. Not only was he trasported from mars but from Mars past as well.

I think a more logical origin would be that Jonn was transported from a far future mars. A Mars that was terra formed but was still very hostile. A mars inhabited by geneticly altered humans. To cope with this harsh enviroment These new humans or Martians were decended from humans who's DNA was mutated with the DNA of superman or supergirl or supeboy, plastic man, beast boy and aquaman.

This might explain jonns powers, the kryptonian powers strength, flight vision, shape changinf abilities of plastic man and beast boy, the green color or beast boy and of couse Aquamans telepathy powers.

The same genetic manipulation produced a deadly new plauge that killed off this new martian race. the white martains could have had extra dna donners to count for their abilities. :evilsmile

[Agentum]

He is struck here just because the oreos, they only make them here:)

And i still like the Ostrander run, to bad it was cancelled, it felt that they had a lot more to tell.

[davids]

Wile clark was growing up. Yet another re-con and they dont call them oreos any more. Did nabisco complain? :evilangry

[Ontir]

In the last issue of Batman : Gotham Knights, in the box at the end of the issue, it is stated that the team on the book (Andy, Al and Bit) will be tackling MM this summer.

Does anyone have more info?

I find it hard to think that MM will be the character that dies and gets replaced in IC, since he is the last of his kind. A replacement will be kind of hard to find. (Unless they create one of course)

I guess (hope) it is the same one that we all love (or hate).

Opinions anyone?

Actually, it wouldn't be hard to replace J'onn at all. He's the last GREEN Martian, but there's a whole bunch of WHITE Martians out there. Maybe one of the white ones has reformed, and will take over after J'onn dies.

[Alex L]

Actually, it wouldn't be hard to replace J'onn at all. He's the last GREEN Martian, but there's a whole bunch of WHITE Martians out there. Maybe one of the white ones has reformed, and will take over after J'onn dies.

In Ostrander's Martian Manhunter series, he reveals that the Martians created a race of Saturn-ians, of which there are Red and White.

Jemm considers J'onn to be as close as a brother, and the Princess of the White Saturnians is in love with J'onzz.

[The Shadow]

As much as MM is a perfect fit for the JLA I don't think he has enough following to sustain an ongoing series.

Been there and tried it... with poor results. I think it'll sell well to start and quickly disappear.

[The Adventurer]

As much as MM is a perfect fit for the JLA I don't think he has enough following to sustain an ongoing series.

Been there and tried it... with poor results. I think it'll sell well to start and quickly disappear.


Only because dealing with the current "Status Quo" Martian Manhunter is a rather dull guy, without any kind of "alterego" homelife, and too much power.

Rework him to make him more relateable with a solid civilian life and job, and he can go the distence.

But it's the old "People hate change" problem.

[Agentum]

Well i happens to like difficult characters like Spectre or MM, and we have seen that they can have good books.

Read the last series with him if you want to know something else than the HQ sitting telepath.

But yes most writers can't really write and make intresting such alien characters.

[Captain Jim]

Y'know, I was just thinking that a Martian Manhunter Showcase volume would be sweet. There'd probably be enough material in the Detective stories, but if not, you could move on to House of Mystery.

[CaptainAwesome]

I dont really like MM, but i loooooooved him in New Frontier. If the new book is a detective story Ill get it for sure. In fact, in the "pain of the gods" story in JLA, didnt J'onn become a detective again for one issue? Maybe that was a prelude to whats to come. Probably not though.

[Apathy Boy]

Oh, lord. I love J'onn, but man, GOTHAM KNIGHTS was horrible.

Ah well. On the bright side, at least this means J'onn survives the Crisis. And this creative team suggests a more detective/manhunter approach to the character, which I approve of mightily. Maybe Lieberman can produce something more in line with his HARLEY QUINN work, which was solid.

And I hate, hate, HATE the "he can't be interesting if he's too powerful" argument. Because Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN would've been so much better if Morpheus had been a street-level crimefighter.

Oh, and as much as I love Ostrander, he didn't write the definitive J'onn J'onzz. That title would belong to the Giffen/Dematties team.

[geordiesteve]

Well i happens to like difficult characters like Spectre or MM, and we have seen that they can have good books.

Read the last series with him if you want to know something else than the HQ sitting telepath.

But yes most writers can't really write and make intresting such alien characters.

I agree, I enjoyed both series by Ostrander and Mandrake, and thought there was a lot of stories to be told on the Manhunter series. I think he should be kept exactly as he is powers wise, there is no real reason to power him down. For more grass roots stories in amongst the big JLA stories you only need to have him pose as some of his different human personas, like John Jones the PI and away you go with a murder or other local story. I think since the new Spectre was also a former cop, we will get a few more of those types of stories, than trips into Hell, which I always enjoyed.

[4DGlasses]

Oh, and as much as I love Ostrander, he didn't write the definitive J'onn J'onzz. That title would belong to the Giffen/Dematties team.

No offense, brother, but Ostrander wrote J'Onn in a way that gave tremendous depth to his character, creatively imagining his extra-terrestrial roots.

JLI was good, but a Martian Manhunter needs to be a bit more ALIEN in my humble opinion.

[The Adventurer]

Honestly as great as Griffen era JLA is, that MM is part of the overall problem with the current perseption of J'onn. To get J'onn back to his ROOTs you have to go ALL the way back to his original stories, to see what made him really tick before the the JLA came on the scene and made him more of a cookie cutter super-hero

[Alpha to Omega]

Actually, it wouldn't be hard to replace J'onn at all. He's the last GREEN Martian, but there's a whole bunch of WHITE Martians out there. Maybe one of the white ones has reformed, and will take over after J'onn dies.

J'Onn killed all the White Martians when he was Fernus.

[Forsaken_One]

I think a more logical origin would be that Jonn was transported from a far future mars. A Mars that was terra formed but was still very hostile. A mars inhabited by geneticly altered humans. To cope with this harsh enviroment These new humans or Martians were decended from humans who's DNA was mutated with the DNA of superman or supergirl or supeboy, plastic man, beast boy and aquaman.
Problem here is that while this might be more logical (up to debate considering we're dealing with superheros, eugenics, terraforming and time travel in your example, but nevermind that) it certainly isn't simpler. It's much easier to understand "Martian" or even "Martian from the past" than "genetically engineered Human from a future Mars that was terraformed who also has parts of of various superhero's DNA."

And I agree that MM probably needs a bit of a power down and a focus on street crime. But I also want that to happen to Batman and I want a Question series that focuses on street crime and I want the whole power level of the DCU dropped a few notches. And I want Hal to stay as Parallax and be a misunderstood hero. Also I want a pony and my one hundred more wishes. ;)

[Agentum]

But it was a funny JLI type story in the Ostrander run, when Booster and Beetle buy up all oreo caces within miles from the HQ and MM goes crazy in Hulkstyle:D