While in Vegas, I popped into a local comic book store –Alternate
Reality Comics- as I am want to do in a new city and picked up the 1988 Martian
Manhunter mini-series the owner had bagged up as a complete set and had placed in
the front of the store. I had no idea what it was going to be about, but for
the price I figured it’d be worth checking out an old school J’onn J’onnzz
(Martian Manhunter’s name) comic. I’ve been in love with the character ever
since reading an issue of Adventures in the DC Universe that featured him when
I was a kid and figured it was worth a shot. Little did I know that this series
was actually going to be the one that that first showed us J’onn’s previous
life on Mars and why he is who he is! Even though I knew all this before, it
thrilled me to actually be reading the story that told of his past, and when I
finished reading it, it felt like I had just found a fascinating antiquity with
a metal detector when all I expected were a few bottle caps.
The story starts with J’onn seeking help from Batman, as he
thinks he is being chased by a demon. Batman deduces it’s a fever dream caused
by J’onn absorbing a harmful virus that had recently threatened to kill the
human race, but J’onn’s immune system shouldn’t have been hurt by. Soon after J’onn
is again fleeing, and continues to do so with no real advances to the plot for
the total run of the first two issues. It was at this point I felt I had been duped
into reading another go-nowhere limited series with an inane plot from a bygone age of comics, and if it wasn’t for it being a Sunday and having nothing
better to do than read comics and eat Twizzlers, I probably would have stopped.
Thankfully I didn’t, as the last two issues actually become
something wonderful. [Here come SPOLIERS,
but I figure no one is going to track this down to read, as I doubt it’s
collected anywhere, so no big deal. Plus everyone has known Martian Manhunter’s
backstory for almost 25 years now, so this isn’t going to come as a shock to
anyone who may care.] We find out in the last two issues that much of what
shaped J’onn J’onnzz was put into his head by a well-meaning scientist who
helped him bury his grief so J’onn could move forward with his new life on Earth
-his passion to protect the earth, and his physical appearance primarily- since
his past on Mars was so horrible he could never move forward. We also find out
that the demon that has been chasing him is actually the Mars god of death, who
needs J’onn to go back to his home world to help free the ghosts of the J’onn’s
species, who all died from a horrible plague. With the scientist’s help (the
man who initially pulled J’onn to Earth), J’onn is able to go back to Mars and
confront his past that he had originally buried under false memories and
amnesia. There we learn that the Martian race all died of a plague, including
his wife and child, and when the plague victims died their bodies were burned (explaining
Martian Manhunter’s fear of fire). We also see J’onn’s true form, which he from
this story on keeps whenever he is not in public, and only switches to the more
Burroughs-esque classic martian shape when he is out performing his duties for
the Justice League. Finally, by confronting his memories, he is able to let go
of the past and accept his family’s death, which releases the spirits of his
race from their limbo state and finally move on to heaven.
The story had an enjoyable last act in my opinion, and
DeMatteis does a surprisingly good job at capturing the need to let go of the
past, and reminds us to remember the dead, but not cling to them, lest it
consume you. For all of his overly wordy dialogue boxes, and 80’s-tastic repetition
of phrases to ‘drive home the point’, the final issue’s look at the above
mentioned themes and more straightforward writing make the final product stand
out more than the sum of its parts. The same goes for the art. Badger has a
Bill Sienkiewicz look to the pages that feature surreal imagery and
foreshadowing, although his depictions of people are not nearly of that same
caliber. Overall, his art took some getting used to, and as the book
transitioned from a mood piece full of foreshadowing to a clear cut finale, his
art became more grounded and enjoyable. Through the course of reading the book,
I went from feeling the art was functional to feeling like I wouldn’t mind
reading a few more books with him on pencils.
There is an interesting pattern to my reading of this book.
I started by being unimpressed by any portion of it, and after it hit the
midway point, it started to capture me, and every portion of the book –plot,
scripted narration, and art- got better. Overall, I’m glad I stumbled upon it
and I’m excited to have it in my collection just for the impact it had on the
Manhunter’s life, but at the same time I’d be hard pressed to suggest anyone
take the time to track the series down. It’s a piece of comic book history that
added some great ideas to the Martian Manhunter canon, but it is perfectly good
to leave it as a foundational stone and not bother digging it up to place in a
display case.
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