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Aquaman, The Atom, J'Onn and an Oreo
The finished sketch for Rob Kelly, keeper of The Aquaman Shrine.

Why Not Just Send Him Home to Mars?

John Byrne on J'Onn J'Onzz

This item slipped by the radar last week, in it John Byrne comments at his forum on the campaign to save J'Onn J'Onzz, in a thread titled, JB, about J’on J’onzz.

The discussion now is about DC killing him, and Michael Netzer is campaigning for DC NOT to go through with that.. Many think the character is underused. Since you've drawn one of the very best renditions of him just recently - I'm curious to learn what your thoughts are?

John wasted no time in response...

Whatever happened to the days when characters who had used up their mojo would simply leave? I look back to the launch of the All New, All Different X-Men, when "everybody" hated Wolverine, and mountains of mail demanded that he be sent back to Canada, and the Beast brought back to the group.

Then, only a handful of years later, Chris and I introduced Kitty Pryde, who was also instantly loathed by the letter-writers, but this time they mail wanted her to die.

Is it all my fault? Is it all because of Phoenix? Is that why the first instinct of so many writers these days seems to be "Let's kill somebody!"

When I started up on HIDDEN YEARS I learned -- I had missed the "event" -- that Candy Southern had been killed off in X-FACTOR. I hadn't had many thoughts about what I might do with Candy in my book, set in a time when she was still alive. But when I found out she was dead, I knew I needed to do quite a lot. I needed to make her, retroactively, important enough to die.

That's the problem with killing J'Onn. Altho he was the first superhero of the 1950s, beating the Flash to that title officially, he has never held a very important position in the pantheon. He is, in so many words, simply not important enough to die.

So, if DC wants to get rid of him "permanently", why not just send him home to Mars? Or are we so lost in the glum-and-gloomy that the idea of giving a character a happy ending just never occurs to anybody?

Sounds like a reasonable suggestion, as John Byrne is known to offer. This is in a case where a publisher is determined to do away with a character.

Though there may not be a better time to revive The Martian Manhunter than now. Certainly in his own series. This campaign alone has skyrocketed The Martian Manhunter's profile in comics fandom and serves as an ideal catapult for a well handled project. More comments from the thread at John Byrne's forum.

Andy Mokler: I have a very low tolerance for this sort of thing as well. Why can't writers seem to tell a compelling story without killing a character. Not all stories need to be driven by someone dying. Can't someone just get screwed over once in a while?

Mikael Bergkvist: I think that you are right JB, a big finale to the adventure makes it more worth the read than the pretty cheap gimmick of killing him. Infact, when Phoenix died, it WAS a part of a big finale, ending a romantic relationship that had been going on for a while, making it's impact about more that just spiking sales by 'killing someone'. Just killing for money is exactly what it sounds like - pretty cheap.

Taavi Suhonen: I hope this is just a rumour. J'onn J'onnz is one of my favourite DC characters.

Ron Chevrier: What I find galling about this situation is that they only made a half-assed attempt to revamp the character. They put him in a derivative superhero uniform, turned him into a green pinhead, and gave him a ho-hum miniseries that really didn't do very much to generate any interest in him, all to service the grand "One Year Later" B.S. "event."

Matt Hawes: DC really needs to get a clue about Martian Manhunter. When the JLA cartoon was still airing new epiosdes, Martain Manhunter was far and away the most popular character with kids that spoke about the series at my shop (just as The Beast had been with kids who watched the animated "X-Men" series back in the past decade). What does DC do with this character? Change his looks almost entirely from that which these kids had known, and then makes plans to kill him off. Sigh.

John Byrne: I was just starting at DC when Barry Allen was sent to the scaffold. I asked Dick Giordano, then EiC, why Barry was to die. "There are no stories left to tell with him," was the response. So an admission of creative bankruptcy becomes a death sentence for the character that most people consider to have been the one who started the Silver Age.

Paul Greer: There is nothing wrong with keeping a solid character like The Martian Manhunter around. Characters like The Vision, Hank Pym and others are fantastic characters who just are not popular enough to hold their own title. But boy do they work great in a team book. J'on J'onzz is no exception. I hope this is all just unfounded speculation. Why does every "major" event need a death to make it worth reading? It's complete horseshit the way they keep killing characters. Sure they come back, but if that's the case, why kill them in the first place?

Peter Svensson: What I think hurt J'onn more than anything was the Supermanization of his backstory. Originally he was just a Martian stranded on Earth. Then he was an exile from Mars. Then when they wrote him out of JLA for about a decade he left Earth to go find the Martians a new home. (Since having actual Martians on Mars is a bit much to swallow these days.) Then he was exiled again after the Martians invaded. Then they tried to make him cooler, changed his origin so that he arrived on Earth in 1955 (instead of a nebulous decade ago), made him ripped from the past (as there couldn't be Martians on Mars in the present) and the last of his species. Which meant that every writer handling the character either has to introduce a new Martian that survived. J'onn as exile from his people makes more much more compelling stories than J'onn as Superman-wannabe.

Conociendo el Universo DC

"Knowing The DC Universe" is a Spanish language blog that covers exactly what its name states, and also covered the campaign in a recent entry, Petition to Save J'Onn J'Onzz.

The movement goes beyond simply trying to save the Martian Superhero, and extends to highlight the sensationalism in comics, calling for a more serious editorial approach to Superhero Publications.

Of course, considering my position, I support the plea by Michael Netzer and also the movement to save J'Onn and the Superheroes. It is not essential for the great heroes to die in order to tell good stories.

Comic Book News

Comic Book News is a comics news indexing site designed and maintained by graphic designer Brett Weston, proprietor of Seaview Graphics.

Since January 2007, Brett has been staying at home to care for his young daughter, Lilah, while continuing to work (on a flexible part-time basis) for his main employer Oak Bay Parks & Recreation. He is currently pursuing additional part-time graphic design employment.

For graphic design and web development, contact Brett here.

CBN is carrying a wide headerboard banner for the campaign to save J'Onn J'Onzz, and has posted the campaign press release, front & center at the site.

Much gratitued, Brett! Best wishes for Lilah and for all your aspirations to be realized.

The Daily Blog

The Daily Blog is a community editorial blog maintained by web retailer, Discount Comic Book Sservice. In a recent item, J'Onn, We Hardly Knew Ye, an anonymous blogster related to the campaign.

While I’m not crazy about the current conehead/Michael Jackson quasi-military uniform look J’onn is currently sporting, I’ve always had a fondness for our favorite Martian and I hope that Netzer is wrong. But in the meantime, the campaign is attracting a fair amount of interest in online fandom circles (see, I’m writing about it even now…) and that’s all good for the often-neglected Manhunter from Mars.

I would suggest lighting a candle for J’onn…just in case…but he’s got that fire thing so we’ll all just keep a good thought, okay? Okay.

Grabbing Sand

Grabbing Sand is another nice blog, kept by Thomas, whose entry What’s Wrong With Comics In '08? laments the state of Superheroes and addresses the campaign to save J'Onn J'Onzz.

Maybe DC will take him up on the offer, but I doubt it. If J’Onn J’Onzz has been marked for disposal, I’m sure the dialogue has already been written and the art has already be inked.

So in a nutshell, I’m just not so interested in reading more stories where bloody death is substituted automatically for actual story and character development, particularly when the medium has proven itself so powerful, time and time again.

Instead, I’ll go back into my collection to rediscover the good stories that have gone before, all the while keeping my eye on the horizon, watching and waiting for signs of life.

Maximum365

This is another indexing service with its own Martian Manhunter classification page, which also links to much of the web coverage of the campaign.

There are countless such services operating on the web today where their primary automated function is to collect content relating to particular subjects.

I've refrained from posting such references where this campaign was inadvertently included because of a keyword match, such as a category on "Mars", for example... or even the many such comics related services.

This is a good example of how this campaign continues to spread on the web.

Petition Comments

Cindy Healy: A lazy writer's way out

So what's a character gotta do to stay alive these days. I guess being on TV in Justice League and Smallville isn't enough. DC, you should go ahead and off the character ONLY if you admit you have no ideas whatsoever and this was the only option left.

BRIAN POSTMAN: DON'T KILL OFF THE GREEN GUY!

i remember mike netzer's work from the 70's....especially those nice martian manhunter issues inked by terry austin...i was in sva in will eisner's class right around that time hoping to break in to marvel or dc....anyway,its a shame dc isn't saavy enough to keep a classic charactor like this alive,and also smart enough to give netzer a martian manhunter book!.....judging from the drawings he's recentely done,i think he could cetainly show dc's current "new" "hot" artists how it's done....he was certainly an influence on my work at marvel.....best, brian postman...

Sign the Petition to Save J'Onn J'Onzz
Click here to leave a comment and sign the Petition
and get banners to help promote the campaign.

Click here to download and distribute the
Save J'Onn and the Superheores
PRESS RELEASE

Click here for the
Save J'Onn J'Onzz
ARCHIVES