I’ve read Absolute Mars Manhunter #1 twice, and even after I’ve had some of it sit with me, it’s still a difficult cartoon to explain. It’s not because it’s a bad comic and it’s far from it, but it’s a weird comic. It’s strange that Jack Kirby was cooking when he created the fourth world. It’s a strange and weird thing Grant Morrison regularly dabbles in. It’s the kind of weird thing the comic needs more, and it’s the frontier where Dennis Camp and Javier Rodriguez boldly jump in.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #1 begins when FBI agent John Jones gets caught up in an explosion. Despite nearly dying, he is eager to return to work… but there is a sight he cannot explain. He continues to have memories of his past life, intertwining with the thoughts of others, witnessing bright explosions of colour. Plus, something, or someone, is deep inside his mind.
The absolute beauty of DC’s universe is that it makes these characters wonderful while being able to guide them in new directions. Absolute Flash has Wally West, located in a puberty cusp and suffering from super-speed. The absolute Superman is not a steel man, but a champion of the oppressed people, as it is shaped by the events of Earth and Crypton. The absolute Mars manhunter influences Jones’ background as an investigator. Slowly, certainly, he starts to piece things together, leading to a great revelation that he is sharing his body with the aliens.
This mystery isn’t the case without Dennis Camp. The camp script begins with an explosion that almost kills Jones and moves from there. It flicks at the past, hinting at the Mars abode in Jones’ head. From start to finish, I was hooked. Even seeing the Martians reveal, it still hit like a lot of bricks. During this series, the ultimate and various crisis events – His Horribly Underrated Image Series – Camp, not to mention the men of the 20th century, has the talent to find new ways to know and love and tackle them.
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Javier Rodriguez draws images that must be considered to be believed, consistent with the pure creative energy of the Camp script. Still, these images go against the description. The Martian Manhunter is a lesser person, a swirl of colour and shape, everything swirls with nods to the power of his shapeshift. Smoke is also a recurring theme of Rodriguez’s art. Jones is a cigarette smoker and every time he or someone else lights up, there is a colour that floats in place of the actual smoke. One sequence wraps all the separate colors together, blurring all the surrounding Jones. It is a unique visual way to portray telepathy.
Finally, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou contributes to some of the strangest letter works and oddity I have seen in the comics. The words turn backwards as if they were in the mirror, the thoughts are blurry and full of colour, slamming the point where the Martian manhunter voice is painted “green.” As for Manhunter, that bubble of thought is filled with a vanishing but large script that takes the central stage every time you speak.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #1 is not only a standout in DC’s absolute universe, but also a standout in the comics released this year. It doesn’t look, feel or read like any other series. That’s what’s exciting. All I can say to the creative team is to “keep it’s weird.”
“Absolute Martian Manhunter” #1 ignores explanation and exceeds expectations
Absolute Mars Manhunter #1
Absolute Martian Manhunter #1 is not only a standout in DC’s absolute universe, but also a standout in the comics released this year. It doesn’t look, feel or read like any other series. That’s what’s exciting. All that can be said for the creative team is that they don’t change.
You don’t read, feel or see like any other comic, but that’s what makes it great.
Camp spins the mystery of the universe within the page, hooks readers, leaving more questions
Rodriguez’s artwork is a collision of colour and shape that seems to be believable, and yet continues to push it.
Lettering takes many different shapes and even colors, hinting at the nature of an alien
The need for strange comics.
