Review: Martian Manhunter Vol. 1: The Epiphany

Quick Summary

Pros: The story is intense and interesting. The characters introduced here are all compelling and charming in their own way, especially Mr. Biscuits. The art looks fantastic throughout.

Cons: The story’s timeline is confusing and hard to follow.

Overall: This is an incredibly unique look at Martian Manhunter that examines both his personality and his connection to Earth and Mars. This is a high stakes story of sacrifice and loss that still manages to take time out to introduce a wonderful cast of characters. Plus, the little bits of humor found throughout provide this series story with moments of brevity. This is a great book for anyone who wants a deep superhero story with just a dash of comedy.

Story

In Martian Manhunter Vol. 1: The Epiphany, by Rob Williams, readers will, quite literally, get to see aspects of Martian Manhunter they have never seen before. Through the exposition of four separate, and compelling, protagonists, a detailed exploration into the heart and mind of J’onn J’onzz is achieved. Along the way, readers will see some intense battles and genuine comedy that is sure to entertain. The only problem is that the book’s timeline is rather confusing and may take a reread or two to understand. However, in my opinion, seeing Mr. Biscuits talk about his love for cookies makes up for any negatives.

(spoilers start here)

This book follows Martian Manhunter, who has just remembered his hidden origin as a weapon created by Mars. Not wanting to be used in this way, he splits himself into four different personalities and scatters them around the world. The Martians, who have hidden themselves among humanity, don’t take this lightly and trick the personalities into coming together, thus completing an ancient ritual that will destroy Earth in order to restore Mars.

The story, all in all, is both entertaining and interesting. Readers get to see J’onn J’onzz struggle with the decision of restoring his homeworld at the price of destroying the world he has come to accept as his home. This decision is well balanced and does not come easily, especially when different aspects of his personality are unsure of what to do. This makes it all the more interesting to see play out, and provides a number of action packed fight sequences between the Martian Manhunter and the Martians themselves.

The book’s true accomplishment though, is the creation of multiple protagonists that are both fun and relevant to the plot as a whole. Each one of J’onn’s personalities is unique; they have their own lives, their own memories, and their own current struggles to overcome. However, in a strangely sweet way, they all represent a different part of J’onn J’onzz himself. This helps the book as a whole because, in learning about these new and interesting characters, we also get to learn about the book’s titular character as well.

It also helps that Mr. Biscuits is hilarious and awesome. Taking the form of an insect man, he trades children giant coins for biscuits and is the most bizarre aspect of J’onn’s personalities. He also fills the book with humor as his obsession with cookies and Paul Blart: Mall Cop is so absurd that one cannot help but laugh. His presence also helps to balance out the more serious moments in the book and his friendship with a human girl adds in more emotion.

The book’s biggest problem is its confusing timeline of events. Martian Manhunter’s initial quest to split himself into different personalities clearly has to happen before their personalities take on a life of their own. However, both events are shown simultaneously throughout the book, there is even one moment where Mr. Biscuits seems to sense what Martian Manhunter is currently doing. No indication is given that these events happen separately and I had to reread the collection multiple times before I was able to understand exactly what was happening. Even with this understanding though, the errors still exist and make small aspects of the book hard to enjoy.

In addition, some may not like how this story significantly alters Martian Manhunter’s origin (especially when it was just done so well in Justice League of America Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil (Review)). However, readers should understand that this era of DC Comics was designed with a “loose continuity” in mind so that writers could just focus on telling good stories. This volume is a perfect example of that, as strict adherence to continuity would not allow a story like this to be told at all. Those who go into this book with the concept of a “loose continuity” in mind and the understanding that Manhunter’s original origin will likely be reinstated further down the line will find a lot more to enjoy here.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Gabe Eltaeb come together to create a book that is a fun to look at as it is to read. The entire work is detailed and beautiful in a way that comics should be. This doesn’t just apply to the main characters either, as the backgrounds and scenery look just as good.

The real treat though is how imaginative Eddy Barrows gets with the character of Martian Manhunter. As a shapeshifter, Martian Manhunter can assume any form here desires, yet this is rarely taken advantage of. Here though, Barrows shows how versatile the man from Mars can be by drawing him in forms ranging from a sleek alien, to a hideous monster, to a literal dragon. You never know exactly what you’ll see on the next page in this book, and that makes for an experience that anyone can take pleasure in.

Continuity

Martian Manhunter Vol. 1: The Epiphany is the first volume of the new Martian Manhunter series. Though Martian Manhunter’s last major appearance was in Justice League United Vol. 2: The Infinitus Saga, this new comic is extremely divorced from this. Only a few brief callbacks are made to that series and most of these occur within the first few chapters. This means readers are free to jump into this series with little or no knowledge of the characters whatsoever.

The story here is continued in Martian Manhunter Vol. 2: Red Rising (Review)

This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• A few Justice League members are shown in uniforms that are rather different from their standard garb. This is due to the events of:
  • Wonder Woman starts wearing her new armor at the beginning of Wonder Woman Vol. 8: A Twist of Faith.
  • Superman switches to his current clothing at the beginning of Action Comics Vol. 8: Truth (Review)
  • Cyborg’s body morphs into the form shown here in Cyborg Vol. 1: Unplugged (Review)
  • Aquaman is first shown with this style of armor in Aquaman Vol. 7: Exiled.
• Martian Manhunter’s dialogue with Wonder Woman contains a number of references to the word “war”. This is because of how her life changed in Wonder Woman Vol. 4: War.