Vindication

I had a delightful Christmas, and one of my the big gifts I received is the fantastic DC Comics: Year by Year, a "visual chronicle" that covers the entire seventy-five year history of DC Comics.

It's a beautiful book, and I'm slowly making my way through DC's history and learning something along the way. In the process I've come across something that will make somebody very happy.

I had just reached the entry for November, 1955 where Detective Comics #225 is discussed. The key point about Detective #225 is that it features the first appearance of Martian Manhunter. While reading the entry my mouth dropped open at these words:

"Now stuck on Earth, J'onn observed the culture and created the identity of John Jones, a crime fighter and investigator in Apex City."

The existence of an Apex City has previously been proposed. But now we have confirmation from an official DC publications proving that Martian Manhunter really did reside in Apex City.

Martian Manhunter, Detective

I'm particularly enjoying Martian Manhunter's story in Brightest Day. Part of that is the art; Patrick Gleason has done most of it I've seen and he's one of the more unique artists around these days.

But as with most comics it's the story that draws me to it. Martian Manhunter has never been able to hold a series for long, but he's a really intriguing character to look at as an individual. So I'm glad to see that they're taking advantage of a book like Brightest Day to give him some of the coverage he deserves.

I also like that Martian Manhunter is getting to flex his classic detective muscles. He's always been a fine detective (and until Bruce Wayne comes back he's probably the best detective currently active in the DCU) but too often it's his super-powers that get all the play. He does have a lot of them.

But Johns and Tomasi are using those powers in support of Martian Manhunter's detective abilities rather than in place of them. By doing this I think they're moving him to a unique place. It feels like they're moving him towards a character who works in the behind the scenes. As one of my one-shots put it -- paraphrasing here -- "Superman saves the world in the sun, Martian Manhunter saves it in the shadows." That's where J'onn J'onzz belongs.

The Battle for Mars

This week's edition of War of the Supermen is billed as "The Battle for Mars." I'm not sure why they've gone out to Mars (though it looks like Superman may have forced Supergirl there at the end of issue #1). Whatever the reason, I imagine that means we're going to have some serious fighting in the skies over the red planet. Here's the one thing I want from War of the Supermen #2:

Martian Manhunter.

He's back and has set up shop on Mars. These Kryptonians (as always, the "assholes of space") think they are really tough. They don't think anyone can stand against them. So I want to see J'onn J'onzz absolutely devastate them.

We saw during Blackest Night how incredibly powerful Martian Manhunter is. So I want to see one Martian up against, oh, ten or twelve Kryptonians. And I want to see that Martian just take them apart without breaking a sweat. It's one of those "holy shit that's awesome" scenes that I just really want to see.

Now, it's probably not going to happen. Martian Manhunter hasn't shown up on any covers, of course. Still, that could be DC's attempt to keep his resurrection from being spoiled (after all, he was still dead when Return of the Supermen #2 was solicited). Even though he's probably staying confined to Brightest Day, I can still dream...

Real Fear

I don't know about you, but Green Lantern #44 scared the crap out of me.

Not in the most literal sense, of course. I didn't cower in fear at the sight of the book and run away screaming in the middle of reading it. No, it scared me in the sense that it was at its heart objectively frightening.

That's the thing about this whole Blackest Night event. Sinestro Corps War may have been about fear, but Blackest Night is the story that really has the potential to inspire fear.

The things going on here are just too terrible, too horrifying for anyone to honestly read it without admitting that it gives them that queasy fear feeling in the stomach. "Zombies" have been overdone. But the Black Lanterns aren't zombies. They are something far more sinister.

Are you afraid?

Suspension of Disbelief

Let's talk about something vital to the type of fiction we all enjoy. Let's talk about suspension of disbelief.

Suspension of disbelief -- as Samuel Taylor Coleridge put it -- is a method "to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith."

Put more simply, that means that the author (or director) of a work must infuse it with enough humanity and interest in order for the reader (or viewer) to willingly ignore the fanciful elements of the story.

This is not necessarily an easy thing to do, and it requires an audience that is willing to suspend their disbelief. This isn't hard to find in the world of comic books. We're willing to ignore a lot of things that are pretty fantastic. We know that men can't fly and that a man who dresses up as a bat couldn't really stop crime effectively. But we are willing to forget about that because it makes a good story.

But it's not entirely the reader's job to suspend disbelief. In fact, traditionally -- and in my view appropriately -- it's largely the job of the creator. The author has to know their audience and tread a thin line when it comes to suspension of disbelief.

This concept came to a head for me when I went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this past weekend. Yes yes, I know. It's a movie about giant transforming space robots. And I am willing to believe that for the purposes of the movie. Because, you see, there might be giant transforming space robots out there. It's exceedingly unlikely, but not impossible.

The moment in the movie when my wall of suspension came crashing down was from a very small thing in the scheme of things. Though I am willing to believe that such robots might exist, I cannot for a moment believe that there might be an alien weapon inside the Great Pyramid at Giza. Why not? Because I know for a fact that there isn't one.

I have seen photos of the inside of the Great Pyramid. Egyptologists have combed every inch of the structure. Not only isn't there an alien weapon inside but there can't be. That was the moment that suspension of disbelief was taken too far.

A good example can also be found within the pages of comics. Scipio over at the Absorbascon has talked about it before in regard to Martian Manhunter. Scipio notes that "the Martian Manhunter's origin requires too much suspension of disbelief." And he's right. We know there aren't cities on Mars. We've got photographs. We know that there wasn't an advanced civilization there at any time in the immediate past. We know this.

These kinds of problems truly aren't hard to fix. They require little more than a modicum of effort, some planning, and common sense. Setting aside Transformers, it wouldn't take much effort to make the Martian Manhunter's origin a little easier to swallow. In fact, I think this very point might have been done before. What if we say that J'onn J'onzz was not just pulled through space when he was sent to Earth, but through time?

J'onn J'onzz is not from the Mars of the present or even the immediate past. He is from a past so far removed from the present that all trace of his civilization has been wiped away. It doesn't remove all the problems, but it lessens them, makes suspension of disbelief a lot easier, and adds additional pathos to the character.

But again, it's not my job (except in the stuff I have written) to secure the suspension of disbelief. All too often writers and directors in this age are trying to pan that job off to the reader. But it doesn't work that way. If you're a writer or an artist, remember that. It's up to you to make it work. There are literally no limits in fiction. But there boundaries of a sort. They are the ones you set for yourself. And you must set them. Or everything will come tumbling down.

Thursday Night Thinking XLV

This week: a very special Thursday Night Thinking!

Right now Scipio is doing us all a favor by delving into the startling world of... The Human Flame! As we all know, the Flame plays a vital role in Final Crisis. But what does Apex City's defender Martian Manhunter think about the Human Flame?

Startling thoughts! If the Martian Manhunter is "slightly weakened" by the Human Flame, what hope do we mere mortals have?

Stop Calling Him That!

Not so long ago I made a bold declaration. I said that I didn't think Brad Meltzer understood the Justice League. My main argument was that he didn't want to include Martian Manhunter. For the likes of me, that's nearly criminal. But, I decided to give it a go anyway.

I feel as though I have been vindicated. As the end of Brad Meltzer's run approaches, let us consider the following statistics regarding the first nine issues of Justice League of America:

Number of super-villains captured: 0

Number of times the characters use each other's code names: 0

Number of times Red Tornado cries: 5,682

Number of issues where nothing happens: 4

Number of times the characters do things wildly out of character: 27

Number of times where I actually gave a damn about Geo-Force: -42

Number of times I wanted to punch "Red Arrow" in the face: 68

Number of times I wanted to punch him in the face when his name was Arsenal: 9

Number of issues with super-villains, giant starfish, world conquering intelligences, doomsday plots, or threats worthy of the Justice League's time and effort: not nearly enough

Oh, yes. I most certainly am vidicated.