Absolute Martian Manhunter #1-3

Absolute Martian Manhunter #1-3

Originally released in 2025

Written by Deniz Camp

Art by Javier Rodriguez

FBI agent John Jones has survived a suicide bomber blowing up a coffee shop, though maybe "survived" isn't the right word.  He can see smoke when nobody else can, he's hearing voices in his head, and a mix of Cyclops from the X-Men, Squidward from Spongebob, and Gumby is following him around.

Even without that, his life is a bit of a mess.  He refuses to take time off of work, figuring that even taking a week or two off will set the organization back months, while making it seem to his wife like he wouldn't be given time off.  He's growing distant from his son, who may or may not have some kind of powers based on what he makes for his art projects. (Though maybe it's just the alien projecting himself (?) into the model)

Compounding the tragedy of all of this is that the book will occasionally introduce Martianvision, a way for you (yes, YOU) to change the way that you see the world around you. (or rather to change the way that you see the comic book panels)

However, this is intended for physical copies and doesn't work digitally, resulting in pages that look like this:

Rather than being a shapeshifting Martian who arrived on Earth, this depiction of the Martian Manhunter seems more like Venom from Spider-Man, with the Martian being a symbiotic entity that possessed and saved a dying man. The Martian (who isn't from Mars, but goes by that name because it represents something alien to John) can read minds and knows about intended crimes before they happen, though it's tough for John to sort through all of his new information, and his reaction to the little green alien that only he can see and hear doesn't help with perceptions of his sanity.

Martian Manhunter's traditional weakness of fire doesn't directly come up, but it's used to represent particularly strong thoughts or acts of violence.  A suicidal bomber, a racist gunman, and a series of random arsons might seem disconnected, but the Martian determines that a White Martian is influencing society in Middleton, planning to end it however it can.

The use of colours in these issues are great, contrasting the duller grays and blues of ordinary life with the vibrant colours conjured up by the Martian.  The clash is intentionally jarring, making the thoughts of others and the images that the Martian conjures up stick out like a sore thumb and showcasing how baffling this whole experience must be for John.

The Martian kind of reminds me of Ryuk from Death Note at times; as an observer that only the protagonist can see and hear, he seems to get some kind of enjoyment out of the events in John's life, propping his feet up on the dashboard when John drives or listening to the thoughts of John's wife like they're an interesting discussion on the radio.

However, unlike Ryuk (who's purely involved for entertainment), the Martian is ultimately good-hearted, addressing the source of the trauma while trying to undo the damage that the White Martian did.  This sort of tampering with a person's mind seems like the sort of action that could potentially backfire horribly, but the Martian seems to be experienced with this.

John is cold, professional, and detached - almost too detached, seeing as he's obsessed with work and his wife is considering leaving him, only stopping because of the effect that a decision like that would have on their son.  Time will tell if the Martian's influence will help him with appreciating his family or driving him even further away from them.

Rather than taking a part of a character's mythos and tweaking it, this Absolute book feels like a complete reinvention. (which makes sense; J'onn doesn't have a ton of solo stories, so they likely had more freedom to get creative and weird with it)  One thing that I like is that, unlike a lot of modern comics, these issues seem stand-alone - there's an overarching plot, but it doesn't feel like it's written for the trade paperback with six part stories.  This is definitely the most unusual of the Absolute series that I've read so far, which is a good thing in my book.