Absolute Martian Manhunter 1: Martian Vision
DC’s Absolute Universe (AU) is a re-imagining of the DCU that I think takes pride in just how radically it refashions the traditional DC line-up of superheroes. That’s certainly the case with Deniz Camp’s and Javier Rodríguez’s version of the Martian Manhunter. Gone is the shape-shifting guy from Mars who assumes the human identity of a detective on Earth named John Jones. Now John Jones is an FBI agent who is somehow possessed by (or psychically “entangled” with) an alien force that can read minds, which is the essence of the “absolute perspective” that is “Martian vision.” What this looks like on the page is a groovy psychedelic burst of swirling clouds of coloured smoke with text that reveals various inner lives. The Manhunter him- (or it) self is rendered as a green Picasso face with a single big red eye and long rubbery arms. Yes, he’s Gumby. But he has no physical form that anyone can see and remains John’s imaginary friend.
He’s not even called the Martian Manhunter here but the Martin Mind****er. Because that’s what he’s all about. He’s not a superhero so much as an alien therapist with the reach of the Internet, operating like some concerned AI program able to read the minds of everyone in Middleton. “Why do people do the things they do?” John asks. MM replies in his typically disjunctive manner: “Traumatic quantities of pain damage despair! You I we are coming apart! Overexposure to fundamental reality results in anti-life spiral!” It seems the whole world is suffering some kind of psychic breakdown.
It’s nobody’s fault though because what’s really happened is that people have been infected with the mind virus of the White Martian. This is another alien force, opposed to the MM, that is turning people into homicidal maniacs. Together John and his Gumby parasite have to stop the White Martian, which I think they mostly do, though I couldn’t follow the story at all.
OK, it’s something different. Very different. Different enough to give you a headache. The feeling I came away with though is that there really wasn’t much story here. It felt like six issues of set-up, at the end of which I still didn’t think the idea had been properly introduced. If the style of it is your thing, I think this is creative to the point of being visionary and it’s incredibly original. At times I felt blown away. But in the end I wish it had been more grounded, with an actual story, and had made a bit more sense or been more coherent. Plus I hate almost everything psychedelic.
The regurgitation of universes from DC and Marvel seem endless, and pointless really. I hate psychedelia too.
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I guess the point is re-setting franchises that are totally played out. And to be fair sometimes it does work. I like the Absolute Batman series. And the Old Man Logan universe. You give writers and artists freedom and there’s no telling what you’ll end up with.
The only psychedelia I could think of that I like was Pink Floyd.
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We call them prog rock, much cooler. 😁
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That’s a save then!
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yeah, the Absolute universe has a view hits and a lot of misses. Sounds like this was one of hte misses 🙂
And who doesn’t love Gumby? I remember watching him and his pal Pokey the Horse have adventures. Good times.
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Just finished the first volume of Absolute Superman. Didn’t like that at all. Might not read any more of them. I’ve got the second Martian Manhunter one lined up and don’t know what to expect.
They even include some extras here of clay models of the MM that make him look even more Gumbyish. Well, it’s different.
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I’ve heard nothing about Absolute Superman, and I’m trying to keep it that way. Since he’s my favorite character, messing with him is a big no-no in my books.
Gumby was different! Too bad they don’t bring him back to the screen. Claymation is a great artform imo.
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My understanding is that claymation is a lot of work and expensive, especially if you want to do it right. And there aren’t that many people who can do it well. Also, what with computer effects now you can just tell AI to give you something that looks like claymation. So I think it’s a dying art. There are a lot of those now.
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Never heard of this guy, though now I’m wondering how you fill out a detective story if you can simply read everyone’s mind.
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That does make things awkward. Basically the MM scans everybody’s mind in the whole city and he sends John out to try to deal with trouble before it happens. But he’s usually too late. Then the fact that there’s an evil alien involved complicates matters.
I didn’t think much of the story. Crazy look to it though.
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