We Interrupt This Story For........Martian Manhunter?
Written By: Matt Kindt, Rob Williams
Art By: Philip Tan, Jason Paz, Jeremy Cox, Tom Napolitano
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 25, 2015
Art By: Philip Tan, Jason Paz, Jeremy Cox, Tom Napolitano
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 25, 2015
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
Who's looking forward to continuing their Rao story-line?...... Well, too damn bad because you won't get it here. That's right, with delay after delay we finally get our JLA book and it's a one shot to fill up the gap in time so people don't go walking around wondering whatever happened to that JLA title and slapping a picture of Rao on milk cartons.......... does that still happen? Since there isn't much to say to bring you up to speed, I guess I'll just say this is a Martian Manhunter story and whether it makes sense or not, he's in the Justice League just so the title makes sense. Okay, let's check it out.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins by confusing the hell out of me. Here we are at the Justice League Watchtower, watching our favorite heroes chilling out with beverages of the alcoholic variety and everything is all fine and good........ except that Shazam and Martian Manhunter are there. Initially.... and this is no fault of the writer, but initially, when I saw Martian Manhunter hanging out in the Watchtower, I thought that we were finally going to see the story about when J'onn was actually a part of the Justice League in the New 52 and was kicked out for being a crazy Martian. Yeah, that's not the case and we spend the first part of this book with J'onn reflecting about where his place is in the world is.......... while walking through a desert for some reason. Yeah, for whatever reason, whether it's because this was a story that was simply finished and on file and DC just needed to put a book out rocking the JLA title or if they thought that nobody would notice, this is a Pre-New 52 story and I immediately don't care because it's out of continuity.
After Martian Manhunter gets done his desert brood-fest , he travels to Tokyo to investigate a slew of murders, who's victims were apart of a Martian Cult. Yeah, it's not a half bad plan to get Martian Manhunter's attention, the bad part is that we get a Egyptian bird god looking mofo..... or a wanna-be Nimraa from the Trinity of Sin series, who just wanted to fuck with J'onn because he was bored and they're both the last of their kind. To add to the mystery of this one and done character, he even goes by UnNamed and has some intel on J'onn that seems to actually go with current continuity........ but why would this issue start with continuity now? Has to be a coincidence or a mistake.
In the end, after getting his mind violated with images of rage and loneliness, Martian Manhunter finally Manhunters the hell up and takes this alien monster down pretty easy....... you know, with his mind powers because that's how J'onn takes fools down.
As our issue closes, J'onn strips down Martian ass naked to take another walk in the desert, but this time it's different because we see him phase into the Earth, where he talks again like this is a part of the current Martian Manhunter continuity and says that he'll create new lives and protect the people of Earth........ but all we see is him in a seated yoga pose as pictures of the other Justice Leaguers and even UnNamed are spaced around him......... Yeah, I miss Rao.
That's it for this issue of Justice League of America and even though this might be something that had to be rushed out in order to get a JLA title out there since the series has been delayed over and over again........ I kind of wish that it had simply gone on hiatus instead of giving us a story that has to do with nothing that we're dealing with. Yeah, you can kind of see parallels between what's going on in the current Martian Manhunter series, but placing it in a Pre-New 52 world is just confusing and unneeded. The story wasn't really interesting either because all we had was a serial killer alien who wanted to fuck with Martian Manhunter because he was bored and since this is a one and done story, where J'onn easily takes the villain out, I just feel kind of ripped off for getting this issue. I wasn't really a fan of the art and while I would like to elaborate more on that, I really can't. There was just something about the majority of the art in this book that I just didn't care to look at....... It's kind of a dick thing to say, but it just wasn't for me. In the end, the only thing that I really enjoyed was my own jumping to conclusions about how this fit in either the JLA or Martian Manhunter series, but all of that was quickly ended when I got to the final page and realized it didn't.
Bits and Pieces:
While completionists will be getting this book simply because having a missing issue in their series would drive them insane, the rest of us can hang back this month and save some cash because nothing in this book is worth it. We have a Pre-New 52 story that is a one and done and by the end of reading it, I just found myself angry that it wasn't rewritten slightly to either fit in the JLA series or the Martian Manhunter series. It just feels like a missed opportunity to give this issue a purpose instead of just throwing something out there and hoping that the readers don't mind.
In the end, after getting his mind violated with images of rage and loneliness, Martian Manhunter finally Manhunters the hell up and takes this alien monster down pretty easy....... you know, with his mind powers because that's how J'onn takes fools down.
As our issue closes, J'onn strips down Martian ass naked to take another walk in the desert, but this time it's different because we see him phase into the Earth, where he talks again like this is a part of the current Martian Manhunter continuity and says that he'll create new lives and protect the people of Earth........ but all we see is him in a seated yoga pose as pictures of the other Justice Leaguers and even UnNamed are spaced around him......... Yeah, I miss Rao.
That's it for this issue of Justice League of America and even though this might be something that had to be rushed out in order to get a JLA title out there since the series has been delayed over and over again........ I kind of wish that it had simply gone on hiatus instead of giving us a story that has to do with nothing that we're dealing with. Yeah, you can kind of see parallels between what's going on in the current Martian Manhunter series, but placing it in a Pre-New 52 world is just confusing and unneeded. The story wasn't really interesting either because all we had was a serial killer alien who wanted to fuck with Martian Manhunter because he was bored and since this is a one and done story, where J'onn easily takes the villain out, I just feel kind of ripped off for getting this issue. I wasn't really a fan of the art and while I would like to elaborate more on that, I really can't. There was just something about the majority of the art in this book that I just didn't care to look at....... It's kind of a dick thing to say, but it just wasn't for me. In the end, the only thing that I really enjoyed was my own jumping to conclusions about how this fit in either the JLA or Martian Manhunter series, but all of that was quickly ended when I got to the final page and realized it didn't.
Bits and Pieces:
While completionists will be getting this book simply because having a missing issue in their series would drive them insane, the rest of us can hang back this month and save some cash because nothing in this book is worth it. We have a Pre-New 52 story that is a one and done and by the end of reading it, I just found myself angry that it wasn't rewritten slightly to either fit in the JLA series or the Martian Manhunter series. It just feels like a missed opportunity to give this issue a purpose instead of just throwing something out there and hoping that the readers don't mind.
3.5/10
i think the reason why they did this side story is to give more attention to the Martian Manhunter. Respectable cause if the JLA book was selling well
ReplyDeleteExcept it does MARTIAN MANHUNTER (which is not only an incredible book, but the best book I've read in 25 years called Martian Mamhunter) absolutely no service. I can't imagine ANYONE read this and ran out to catch up on MARTIAN MAMHUNTER. In fact, I love his solo and am resentful of him after this issue.
DeleteYou sound like Eric! My only thought is that people who have no idea/connection to Martian Manhunter will read this (accidently??) and after hearing how good the solo book is, will give it a shot.
DeleteThis issue doesn't do any "Justice" to the solo book, but may make some aware there is a solo book.
I love the Manhunter so I was pleased with this issue but I know that people opening this issue assuming that it was continuing the JLA story were so pissed!
DeleteWell if its trying to drive up sales numbers on Martian as the last page seems to, I can see it being an attempt to prop up Martian in the hopes of giving him a bigger role someday.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe the writers a huge Martian fan and intends to somehow work the guy into his own book and wanted to use this as an intro