It's been a nice treat to see Carl Lumbly as the father of J'onn J'onzz on Supergirl. His voicing of the Martian Manhunter on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited was great and it's cool to see him working with the character again. Plus, I have been a fan of his since his own 90's superhero show, M.A.N.T.I.S.
iceman vs killer frost???
ReplyDeleteI've never understood why, if "J'onn" is pronounced "John," "J'onzz" isn't pronounced "Johns." Either "John Johns" or "Joan Jones" would make sense, but not "John Jones."
ReplyDelete@Los Thunderlads: I guess it's a Martian thing.
ReplyDelete@Ross: I couldn't agree more. I was so disappointed when Fox opted not to renew M.A.N.T.I.S. for a second season. As far as I'm permanently concerned, it was the best show their network had, that year! If nothing else, they could have used the first season finale as a jumping-off point to make the character more like he had been in the two-hour pilot movie! Thereby ret-conning the latter into a sort of prequel.
Ah, well! 20/20 hindsight, and all that jazz.
P.S.---will Cousins Rick and Jessica be joining them in tomorrow's issue? ;-D
ReplyDelete@Los Thunderlads - tell that to Game of Thrones actor Sean Bean.
ReplyDelete@Los Thunderlads: In Martian grammar, a vowel followed by a double consonant is pronounced with a so-called "short" sound, but a vowel followed by a single consonant has the so-called "long" sound, so...
ReplyDeleteOkay, yes, I just made that all up!
Preach it, Brother Ross! Carl Lumbly as M'rynn J'onzz is a joy to behold! The storyline is more relevant to me--compared to the other soap-opera tropes they're exploring--because I went through some of the same things with my father before he passed, and with my father-in-law during a similar time in his life. He and David Harewood seem to have a strong working relationship.
ReplyDeleteIn general the Berlantiverse shows have honored the past with their casting choices, and casting Lumbly was one of the best choices they've made.
John Jones was the name of the detective the Manhunter replaced in original continuity.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the current season of Supergirl, but I do recall his voice as J'Onn and tried to place where I'd heard it before. Now that you've pointed to M.A.N.T.I.S. (of which I, too, was a fan), I've got it, and now I'm looking forward to seeing him on Superhgirl. (And it's a shame you weren't able to show M.A.N.T.I.S. with the Martian Manhunter; that would have been awesome!)
ReplyDeleteGlenn: That, I think, is a retcon. I don't really have a source, but my impression is that creator Joseph Samachson just wanted an alien-sounding name close to "John Jones."
Los Thunderlands: "Jones" is a Welsh form of "John's" (what in English would be Johnson).
Sorry, Glenn, but in the original version, J'onn created the identity of John Jones. He didn't replace anybody.
ReplyDeleteGiven the obvious immense knowledge of comics history by readers of this blog, can I ask when Marco Xavier entered the picture? After all, we all need more superheroes who are millionaire playboys in their civilian lives.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the comments on this page are almost as entertaining as the art. Thanks
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Marco Xavier came from the House of Mystery years, when Robby Reed / Dial H for Hero was the lead feature (only reason I know that). Marco Xavier was a millionaire playboy with vague ties to a criminal organization named VULTURE which J'onn was trying to eliminate. On his first surveil of Marco he saw him drive his car over a cliff. Bad timing, huh? So J'onn shape-shifted into Marco and used the trauma of his near-death experience as an excuse for partial amnesia. He managed to hide his MM identity from VULTURE's headman, Faceless, for the remainder of his (and Robby's) run.
ReplyDelete(SPOILERS AHOY)
OR SO HE THOUGHT. For you see, Faceless was Marco Xavier all along.
Which makes no sense, but leaves things tidy.
@Cary Comic. And what of Forsythe and Josephine?
I was going to say, "I was jonesing for this cover!" until I saw your title and realize you beat me to it.
ReplyDelete@Bradley Walker: he was having a different family reunion. With his mother's uncle, J. Wellington Wimpy...in Hamburg, Germany.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: that's right! I feel like a real jug-head for forgetting that.
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