With the CW Supergirl series completed, and Zack Snyder's Justice League already released, have we seen the last of a live action Martian Manhunter for a while? While it's been cool to see him on the screen, I still do not think that the character has been completely done justice yet, so I'd love to see him return in the DCEU at some point. With the right actor I can see him being a fan favorite.
Whoa!
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple great J'onn J'onzz stories I would love to see in live action: JLA: Liberty & Justice, by Paul Dini and Alex Ross; and/or Mark Waid's A Midsummer's Nightmare.
If you have not read them, Liberty & Justice is like the JLA meets Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. A Midsummer's Nightmare is a great Dr. Destiny story, that really is tragic and heartbreaking for J'onn...
I enjoy re-reading them. The Justice League animated series really did J'onn well...
I hate to write it but it feels like all the great J'onn stories are the tragic ones (some amazing, funny scenes from the Bwahaha era but the stories that stick with me are all tragic.)
DeleteMy disappointment with the Supergirl series finale is already well-known. And my local cable TV provider has yet to carry the Zack Snyder cut of "Justice League." Does Jonn appear in more than just the flashback sequence that explains how Steppenwolf of Apokolips wound up imprisoned on Earth in the first place?
ReplyDeleteBut, that's beside the point. The point being...what Bill and Ted
would no doubt describe as "today's most excellent cover!" You took an earlier suggestion (Jonn vs. Jack Kirby's Grogg)...and did it one better.
"Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster" was the first Godzilla movie I ever saw on TV during the pre-Bicentennial Seventies. It was also the first time I had ever heard of Mothra and Rodan! And I felt that making the Central Asian princess be the clairvoyant reincarnation of an ancient Martian refugee was a stroke of anglo-dubbed genius.
It wasn't till I recently saw the sub-titled Japanese original that I learned the actual devastation was supposed to have been visited on ancient Venus! But, the latest real-world satellite data about Venus' climate, back then, probably made that bit of Japanese exposition instantly obsolete.*
*Besides, anybody who's seen that old b/w flick, "It Conquered The World" with Peter Graves and Lee Van Cleef, knows that at least one Venusian physically survived that devastation. A Dracula-fanged giant turnip with crab-like pincers for arms!
@Chris Daley: that's part and parcel of the literary device I like to call "masterful poignancy."
ReplyDeleteP.S.---that may not be the actual technical term! I just like to call it that for my own convenience.
ReplyDeleteI think J'Onn will probably appear in future Arrowverse crossover events, but I don't think he'll be front-and-center for anything within my remaining lifetime.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ghidorah, if I'd realized that he had comic-book images available (and I should have figured it, since Godzilla's had so many), I would've suggested him for #3333. Ah, well, hindsight and all that.
@Cary: Somehow I don't think the Venutians you describe are the same ones from whom The Doctor learned Judo and Aikido.
Never mind the Venusians. How about Jonn Jonzz meets Martin O'Hara (nee Zydygeous 12.5) or Ghidorah vs. Fin Fang Foom?
ReplyDeleteAwesome cover!
ReplyDeleteI second Anon1019's motion. JJ and Martin O'Hara are my two favorite Martians.
ReplyDeleteP.S. @ Anon---that's pronounced "Exigius Twelve-and-a-Half."
ReplyDelete@Carycomic: thanks.
ReplyDelete@Carycomic: teacher Miss Pringle and nephew Andy would be proud of you. Just remember to keep extra glink oil around for the winter.
ReplyDeleteLong time fan of John Jones alter ego as well.
Here's where I horrify most of your Martian Manhunter fans. If I were given the go-ahead to write a comic book, movie or TV series with this character, I'd take him right back to his roots. A stranger trapped in our strange land and working as a police detective. I would forego the super-hero and sci-fi stuff to tell human stories with this one jarring element. Heck, I might even work out a timeline for him from his coming to Earth to his leaving, a timeline that would encompass several decades...and make it an anthology series that jumped around that timeline.
ReplyDeleteI'd watch it!
ReplyDeleteTony: That would absolutely have worked as a TV series in the 70s or 80s, and probably lasted a few seasons. Today, it would have to be done as a comic, and it probably wouldn't be quite as much of a hit, but if done right with sufficient emotional stakes and social commentary it'd do well enough to last. In fact, if it were to get the green light after DC's pulled its metaphorical head out of its equally metaphorical you-know-what, it might just become one of the first titles I'd subscribe to.
ReplyDeleteTony, great idea.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note: how about Rankin-Bass' animated King Kong vs. Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla (minus Godzooky)?
ReplyDelete@Anon1100---I'm for it! :-)
ReplyDelete