A Guide For Writing the Modern Martian Manhunter, Part 4

Top Ten Things Writers Need to Remember When Writing the Martian Manhunter

Here's Number 10, Number 9, and Number 8.  Onward to Number 7!

7.  J'onn J'onzz likes Earth.

For a minute, put aside all that cone-headed post-52 full-body-suited goth version of the Martian Manhunter.  Clear your mind of all that angsty "why should I help humans" nonsense.

Are we clear?  Good.

On more than one occasion in his Silver Age appearances, J'onn had the opportunity to leave Earth.  And he always chose to stay, either because he wanted to keep helping us, or because he remembered his Earth friends, or because he just wanted to do the right thing.  You know, heroes did that back in the day: sacrificed their own needs to serve the greater good.  It's kind of the definition of the word "hero."

Exhibit A:

Detective Comics #228

J'onn chooses to apprehend a criminal rather than escape back to Mars.  What makes this even more impressive is that this is from an early appearance, where no one even knew who the "Martian Manhunter" was--he hadn't yet gone public as a superhero, just used his powers covertly to solve crime.  He hadn't gotten any public adulation, just everyday human decency and friendship, yet he still considers Earth a welcoming (albeit lonely) place.

Exhibit B:

Detective Comics #267

Whereas I would've been like, "Screw it, I'm going home to my family and my dog," J'onn takes the high road because he's a class act.

Bottom line: he likes Earth.  He likes Earthlings.  He considers Earthlings his friends.  He wants to help Earthlings.  Got it?  Good.  Now don't forget that.  And don't let any emo-body-suited Martian Manhunter impostors tell you otherwise.

A Guide For Writing the Modern Martian Manhunter, Part 3

Top Ten Things Writers Need to Remember When Writing the Martian Manhunter

We've already covered Number 10 and Number 9.  Onward with the Top Ten:

8.  Give him back his secret identity.

Why?  Well, I'm glad you asked, and if you didn't, I'll tell you anyway.

Giving J'onn J'onzz his secret identity of human John Jones accomplishes several things.  First of all, it's the easiest way for him to observe humanity directly, and by assuming the guise of a human, it's the best way to show the differences between humans and a lone Martian.  Whenever I hear J'onn waxing tragic about feeling alienated from humanity when he's in fact sitting far above Earth on the Watchtower, I feel the need to roll my eyes.  How can you feel alienated from something if you never spend any time with it?  It just rings hollow.  To feel truly alone, you need to be around lots of people different than you.

Second, having J'onn assume a secret identity of a human opens the door to all sorts of juicy story conflict. Now, besides having to save the day, he's also got to keep a lid on his secret--that's more to juggle, and therefore, more interesting.  The constant threat of having his identity exposed is a wellspring of conflict and keeps the reader in a constant state of suspense.  There might be people threatening to give away that secret:

Detective Comics #243

Or J'onn might be tempted to give away that secret himself:

Detective Comics #246

It's a very classic conflict, and there's a reason it's stuck around for so long: from a storytelling standpoint, it just plain works, and it never gets old.  That's why Clark Kent is still around.  It also works wonders for effectively showing his alienation.  It's so efficient that it only takes two panels for us to understand his dilemma.  (You learn efficiency pretty quickly when you only have six pages to work with, I suppose.)

Third, having J'onn live amongst humans will deepen the character by allowing (or not allowing, depending on who it is) him to connect personally and professionally with humans.  Letting him have some acquaintances and deal with the quirks of daily life on Earth will only help readers identify with him.  Plus, it's another source of conflict: how close will he allow himself to get to his human friends?  What will happen if he loses one?  Also, seeing the people he cares about threatened by a villain is a classic weakness to be exploited, and J'onn J'onzz is the type of character who is defined by his weaknesses, not his strengths.  Just don't have him do anything stupid and pointless while he's down on Earth, like, you know, live as a cat or something.  (Wait, what?  That actually happened?)

Finally, having J'onn live among humans will show how much he cares about us Earthlings.  I mean, he's always going on about how he loves his adopted world, and he genuinely does.  Well, let's see him put those words in action and get down in the thick of it, rather than stand off in the corner and watch everything from afar.  Watching things from afar gets kinda dull after a while, both for you, and the reader.

In short, let's see John Jones come back.  After all, in his early appearances, that's how he was billed: John Jones, Manhunter from Mars.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

I saw this meme over at Sea-of-Green's blog, Hoosier Journal of Inanity, and she inspired me to fill this out.  I like surveys, and I'm not prepared to write another entry in my Silver Age J'onn J'onzz appreciate list.

So here goes.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
10:32, after hitting the snooze three times.

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Pearls.  Though I don't wear jewelry much.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Umm....wow, I can't even remember.  The second Night at the Museum movie, I think.  I really don't go to the theater much.  DVDs, Turner Classic Movies, and TV are usually what I rely on.  And like Sea, I haven't seen Avater yet, either.  I need to.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Lost.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
An English muffin.

6. What is your middle name?
Marie.

7. What food do you dislike?
Fish.

8. What is your favorite album at the moment? 
I don't really listen to albums.  But I've been listening to the Children of Dune soundtrack a lot lately.

9. What kind of car do you drive?
A silver Olds named "The Star Destroyer."  Yes, I named my car.  After Star Wars.

10. Favorite sandwich?
I hate sandwiches!!  But I like the Dunkin' Donuts chicken sandwiches.  That's about it.

11. What characteristic do you despise?
Hypocrisy.

12. Favorite item of clothing?
Um...fun socks.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Italy.

14. Favorite brand of clothing?
I don't care about brands.  As long as it's comfortable and decent-looking.

15. Where would you retire to?
I'm staying here, wherever here is.

16. What was your most memorable birthday?
My 16th surprise birthday party.

17. Favorite sport to watch?
Figure skating, or anything at the Winter Olympics.  (Hello, biathlon!)  Summer--baseball, occasionally.  Everyone keeps switching teams and that makes me lose interest.

18. Furthest place you are sending this?
I have no idea.

19. Person you expect to send it back first?
No idea.

20. When is your birthday?
December 12th.  The same as Frank Sinatra, John Jay, and Bob Barker.

21. Are you a morning person or a night person?
NIGHT.

22. What is your shoe size?
5.  Make shoe shopping rather difficult.  But I don't care much about shoes anyway.

23. Pets?
A nutty little Brussels Griffon named Fiona, an angry Chow Chow named Peaches, a rabbit (just one, though I used to have 48 at one point), my horse just passed away last week, sadly, and a pitbull named Lucky that kind of hangs around here.

24. Any new and exciting news you 'd like to share with us?
Let me see....umm...nope.

25. What did you want to be when you were little?
An artist, and later, a writer.

26. How are you today?
Okay.  Tired.

27. What is your favorite candy?
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

28. What is your favorite flower?
Orchids and lilacs.

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
None, really.

30. What's your full name?
I shall remain anonymous.

31. What are you listening to right now?
Brave and the Bold in the background.

32. What was the last thing you ate?
Dango (rice dumplings) that I just made.  Rather interesting.

33. Do you wish on stars?
No.  But I try to keep recognizing the constellations so I stay fresh.

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Green Blue, becuase it was my favorite, and Crayola RETIRED it when I was a child.

35. How is the weather right now?
Cold.  I wish there was more snow.  :(

36. What is your natural hair color?
Brown, never dyed.

37. Favorite soft drink?
Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda, though I hardly drink soda.

38. Favorite restaurant?
Does McDonald's count?

39. Favorite color of nail polish?
I rarely wear nail polish, but anything mauvey, berryish or purple, I guess.

40. What was your favorite toy as a child?
My Raggedy Ann doll.

41. Summer or winter?
Either.  I don't like the transition seasons: spring and fall.

42. Hugs or kisses
Neither.  Get away from me.

43. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate.

44. Coffee or tea?
Tea!  I'm not supposed to have caffeine, and I can't stand the taste of coffee anyway.

45. Do you want your friends to email you back?
Sure.

46. When was the last time you cried?
I can't remember, but it probably had to do with work.

47. What is under your bed?
Comics, believe it or not.  And dust bunnies.  And books.

48. What did you do last night?
Fell asleep on the couch, woke up, and stayed up to watch Craig Ferguson while I recorded my comics for reselling.

49. What are you afraid of?
Enclosed places and not being able to breathe.

50. Salty or sweet?
Either.  I put like a tablespoon of salt on my food.  Yum.

51. How many keys on your key ring?
Two on one, two on the other.  That's kind of a boring question.

52. How many years at your current job?
This'll be my sixth year...wow.

53. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday.

54. How many towns have you lived in?
One.

55. Do you make friends easily?
Not at all.

A Guide For Writing the Modern Martian Manhunter, Part 2

Time for the next installment in Top Ten Things Writers Need to Remember About the Martian Manhunter...the first one is here.

9.  J'onn is a detective.

J'onn J'onnz is a character with a gimmick, like most comic book heroes.  While Superman is the ideal hero of goodness, Batman is the relentless drive for justice, J'onn's premise is that he's a detective who happens to be from the planet Mars.  He uses his Martian superpowers to collar criminals, leaving the humans around him stumped as to his uncanny ability to solve crime.  That's pretty much the extent of his early years in Detective Comics.  His stories were police procedurals with the occasional dose of the absurd.  Not only did his use his superpowers, but he used good old fashioned deduction to figure things out, too:

Most importantly, even though he was marooned here against his will, J'onn choose to be a detective to help rid Earth of crime so that we could enjoy an enlightened age just as Mars has.  Back home on the Red Planet, J'onn was a scientist.  He believed, much like we do, that science--reason, enlightenment, technology--will bring us a better future, free of human hardship.  If you know anything about science in the 1950's, this will make a lot of sense to you.  J'onn choosing to help us out is all rather benevolent and what we would expect from an advanced race.

Now.  Let's clear up this whole "Manhunter" business, becuase I think it needs to be addressed.

In recent years, his role back home has suffered from the same muddled treatment that pretty much everything about his character has suffered.  So what's a "manhunter?"  In his 90's solo series, J'onn was said to have been a "manhunter" back on Mars, and it's defined as sort of a policeman who hunts down people.  (Like a Mountie, I guess?)  So, basically, when he arrived on Earth, he's doing pretty much the same thing he was back home.  Where does that leave his decision to help us out and bring forth a better future for us?  I guess in limbo.

So why'd his original creators use the word "manhunter?"  What does it mean?

It's dumfoundingly simple, really.  Back in the day, a manhunter was just another word for someone out looking for a criminal.  You know, like a cop.  So, in his early days, when J'onn was known as "The Manhunter from Mars," basically it means, "The Cop From Mars."  Occasionally you'll hear "manhunt" today when police are out looking for a criminal at large: "the manhunt for so-and-so continues," etc.

The Spanish-language version of "The Martian Manhunter" provides a more apt title: Detective Marciano--Martian Detective.  It's a much more accurate description, and if I had to change one thing about J'onn J'onnz it would be that.

So there you have it: J'onn J'onnz is a detective who happens to be a Martian.

A Guide For Writing the Modern Martian Manhunter, Part 1

March is fast becoming Month of the Manhunter here at CMMH.

With all the Brightest Day hullabaloo, there's the promise of a reboot of many a character back to their Silver Age days.

First, I urge you to read Manhunter of Integrity over at I-HoD (Idol-Head of Diabolu), a post explaining J'onn's original incarnation as a detective, which is the essence of his character.  It's a great introduction for readers and a guidepost for writers on how to remain faithful to this character's original design.  Currently, the Martian Manhunter has derailed mightily from his roots, and I hope that will be fixed.

And now, my own humble foray into how the Martian Manhunter should be written...

Top Ten Things Writers Need to Remember About the Martian Manhunter

10.  Stop trying to explain the weakness to fire.

Guys, you don't even need to bother with this.  Just accept it and move on.  It's part of the premise of his character, and yet I've lost count of how many writers have tried to explain it, make sense of it, or just plain get rid of it.  It's psychological, it's a phobia, it's genetic, it reminds him of the funeral pyres during the plague on Mars, it's only flames of "passion," etc., etc., etc.  How many multi-issue arcs have been written about why Kryptonite affects Superman?  Or did Superman ever go so far as to be best buds with Metallo to "get over" his weakness?  No, because the Man of Steel needs no explanations.

And quit whining about how a civilization can be built without fire.  I give you this panel to whisk away that complaint:

From Detective Comics #245

What's that, Mr. Jones?  Earth weakness?  Yeah, you heard him.  Fire only weakens him on Earth.  So there you go: now you don't have to worry about how a whole civilization got built without fire, becuase it probably didn't.  Just like the yellow sun of Earth somehow mystically gives Superman his powers, fire on Earth mystically takes them away from J'onn.  No need to explain it.  Simple, no?

Wow, looking back at all these Silver Age issues, it's like all of J'onn J'onzz's current problems could easily be solved.  I think we're on to something...

To be continued...

The Trouble With Telepathy?

I've been stewing on this for some time, and a recent discussion over at The Idol-Head of Diabolu brought it back to mind.

We here at CMMC are big fans of the Manhunter from Mars.  (By "we" I mean the royal "we."  There's only just me.)

Now, one thing that seems to be an instant plot hole for J'onn (and arguably any character) is telepathy.  J'onn has always suffered from a fuzzily-defined powerset, and this isn't limited to his mental powers.  Throughout his history, we've seen the Manhunter from Mars do everything from read thoughts to control minds to erase memories.  In 52: World War III he took Black Adam down by barraging him with memories of the tragedy of Mars.

J'onn's telepathic powers showed up very early in his history.  In his second appearance ever (Detective Comics #226) he is seen using "Martian molecular hypnosis" to mind control a baseball player:

Dammit, J'onn.  Where were you when the Red Sox won the Series?!

In the next issue, Detective #227, he reads a criminal's mind, but then he lays off the telepathy for a while and relies on "Martian superhearing" and his other powers to get information on crooks.  Later on his adventures mostly revolve around his not trying to give away his secret identity and the telepathy seems to have fallen by the wayside.

But it's panels like this that irk me:

The market share for luminous paint in that town is off the charts...

The plot revolves around some crooks who fool J'onn into thinking he's no longer affected by fire so that they can later set a trap for him.  He could easily have read that man's thoughts to determine a.) he's a crook, and b.) it's not really a match.  However, he didn't really use telepathy after that.  J'onn seemed to have abandoned his mental powers, the problems with telepathy fell to the wayside, and J'onn resorted to other means to solve crime.  In Detective #299, J'onn didn't even bother using his mental powers to determine the identity of a spy; he just went undercover.  Was this abandoning of telepathy a conscious change by writer Jack Miller?

Telepathy is a huge plot killer which opens up all sorts of plot holes.  Why do any detective work if you can just read minds?  (Okay, I guess maybe because telepathy won't stand up in a grand jury because it's hearsay...)  In Detective #227, J'onn knows a criminal mastermind is guilty from reading his mind, but can't prove it, so he drives the guy crazy until he confesses.  I suppose he could've kept on pulling off stunts like that, but a trick like that can only work just so many times, and it might make our hero look a little cruel after a while.  I'm almost wondering if the Silver Age writers wanted to abandon the telepathy entirely.  In his early appearances, when his character was being still being developed, J'onn had all sorts of crazy powers, many of which were whittled away.  Maybe the telepathy should've gone away, too.  It just leads to all sorts of story problems.

If you can mind-control people, then you could stop criminals in their tracks.  And not just petty criminals, but supervillains, too.  Why doesn't J'onn use this ability all the time?  If I had those kinds of powers, I'd lead with a mental assault, not my fists.  (Not only that, but since he can go intangible, he never should get hit at all.)

What about simple mind-reading?  J'onn tries not to "invade" the minds of others.  Since he's an upright guy, that makes sense to me.  But in the Silver Age, he didn't mind resorting to a little deviousness to get the job done.  I think the whole "ethics" of mind-reading was tacked on later to depower him a bit.

Basically, if you're going to write a chracter with telepathy (or magic), you need some clear-cut rules.  Maybe he can only read what someone's currently thinking about.  Maybe he has to touch them.  Maybe he can't read insane minds.  Maybe using telepathy exhausts him and takes him out of battle for a while.  Maybe there's the risk of feedback which can shut his mind down.  There's got to be limits on power, or you don't have an even battle, and hence, no story.  And putting rules (though not necessarily limits) on J'onn's power will get rid of the need for silly ad-hoc plot devices like "telepathic locks" and whatnot.

Either that, or ditch the telepathy entirely.

End rant.

For Luthor's sake, I hope he chose Master Lock brand