Thursday, June 30, 2011

And how fares J'onn J'onzz?

When I heard they were first revising the JLA to include basically the "Magnificent Seven" I thought, "Ahhh.  Finally.  Some JLA stories that involve my favorite Martian."

Wait, what?  He's not on the team?  They put all Silver Age heroes on the team, but decided that the seventh slot should go to....Cyborg?  He wasn't even around in the Silver Age.  He has no history whatsoever with this team.  He's a Titan.

Ahhh, okay.  I guess they're saving J'onn for the new Justice League International title.

What?  He's not on that, either?!

Then where is he?

He's on some Wildstorm title, with characters I never knew existed.  My only (heavily-biased, bitter) guess is that the conversation went something like this:

Comic Editor #1: Okay, so we've got to integrate Wildstorm into the DCU somehow.  We need some C-list DC hero to bridge the gap.  Hey, Dan?  Who's a pathetic, loser character that no one cares about with copius amounts of untapped story potential that we keep throwing under the bus?

Dan: Martian Manhunter.

Comic Editor #1:  Thanks, buddy!  You're the greatest!

Then they all go out for coffee and burn down an orphanage on Christmas Eve.

9 comments:

Diabolu Frank said...

Ouch. I have some more thoughts on this. Next week?

LissBirds said...

Oooh...I'm intrigued, as always. I know you'll be able to make sense out of all this.

will_in_chicago said...

I hope that you can make sense of this. I do know that Apollo and Nightsider began as pastiches of Superman and Batman. Maybe J'Onn can stand out more. Mind you, I think that J'Onn not being involved in the Justice League is disappointing.

Erin S. said...

I had been hoping J'onn was in JLI because it seems like forever since he was last with all these guy in the present timeline. He's never even addressed his issues with Booster, Ted or Max.

will_in_chicago said...

I honestly wonder if it would have been better for DC just to do a new reboot where the world becomes aware of the heroes for the first time (J'Onn and some others may have been doing things in the background), have the new first issues represent a new continuity, and have the Justice League set shortly after the heroes became publicly known. One big issue is how J'Onn becomes known to the larger world -- as his first public appearances were tied closely to the league in some versions of continuity.

Let's say that I am hoping that Stormfront turns out to be better than what the Justice League seems to be turning into -- a refugee camp for characters who did not make it on teams elsewhere. (Mera, Element Woman, Deadman -- I'm looking at you!)

SallyP said...

*sigh*.

I was REALLY hoping that J'onn would end up in the JLI book, or at least in the Justice League. I like J'onn, but I really don't want to have to read about Wildstorm characters.

Diabolu Frank said...

Four hours or so later, it's a beast, but its written. Manifesto for Manhunter of the 2010s. When to publish on a holiday week, though?

LissBirds said...

Erin, if J'onn and Ted ever met up again, I'd like J'onn to be all, "Hey....sorry for not listening to you that time you were telling me Maxwell Lord was taking over the world." Becuase a Martian Manhunter who doesn't listen to people just seems way out of character.

will, if they did that, they could always go the Silver Age route and have B'rett out J'onn J'onzz.

I know, Sally. JLI without J'onn just isn't JLI. *sigh*

Frank, post it on the 4th as some sort of "Declaration of Martian Manhunter Fans' Rights?" Or just post it now and leave it up until the 4th because I have no patience?

Eyz said...

He's an important long time DCU character, and was a major player in Brightest Day...he should have been given a full title, like Aquaman, the Hawks, Hawke&Dove or Firestorm.

Instead they "improvised" this and shoved him in the roster of such a random book..