Longbox Review

Favorite B-list character.

Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz)

This is one of the most absurd characters, yet I love this guy. So, he’s a Martian and green skinned (stereotypical, thus absurdity #1), who happens to have some powers like Superman’s because he’s a Martian ? (absurdity #2), his traditional vulnerability is to fire ?! (absurdity #3), and look at his costume (absurdity #4). So why do I like J’onn? Because of all that absurdity! He’s Superman plus he can turn invisible, and intangible, and shapeshift. Oh, and he’s telepathic! Who needs Superman? :) He’s also Batman in that he is an accomplished detective, though modern writers seem to forget that about him. He also holds a unique position in terms of his creation: he preceded Barry Allen Flash by a year, thus making him perhaps the first superhero of the Silver Age.

I was first exposed to him, as I recall, in DC Comics Presents #27. That story in DCCP really made me feel for the character, and he seemed much more the hero of the story than Superman. While I missed a lot of Justice League stories featuring J’onn during the late 70s and early 80s, I did like him enough to buy the 1988 mini-series that bears his name. I now wish I would have bought his ongoing that came ten years later (but that’s the fun of comics: finding old material to read as new). Finally, this is how much I like J’onn: his inclusion in Stormwatch (2011) is why I bought the title in the first place. I just wish Paul Cornell would spotlight him more.