He’s fighting for J’Onn J’Onzz’s very life, as the Martian Manhunter is rumored to be on the potential kill list for Final Crisis. Is there no one else who will fight for the life of this comic book character?
Michael Netzer has a cause!
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I’m in. Off Aquaman instead. Or Mike Carlin. Either way, I’m good.
Yeah, kill the new Aquaman or new Firestorm instead. Both are unnecessary replacements for characters that were just fine before DC’s editorial department started messing with them.
If J’onn has to die, though, couldn’t we just sacrifice his new Skrull chin instead?
Dan Didio: OK, we have yet another huge nothing-will-ever-be-the-same miniseries, so we need to kill off some beloved character to prove to our readers that DEATH REALLY MATTERS.
Writer: OK. Let’s kill off Superman. For real this time.
Didio: Death doesn’t matter that much.
Netzer doesn’t seem to realize that anyone who cared about DC’s characters has long since stopped reading their line of snuff comics, leaving them for the drooling, impotent fanboys who got off on the rape of Sue Dibny and can’t WAIT to break into comics to write this Stargirl idea they’ve had for a few years now.
Years from now, comics historians might say that the eventual deterioration of the comics reading public mirrored the continued use of characters as cannon fodder for big events that pushed up sales in the short term but left readers feeling empty and sad. At least, that’s the argument I’ll use when I write up my history! :P
Don’t kill J’onn! He won’t be available for at least a month of stories!
Unless you count the J’onn from earth 2…and earth 4….and Earth 3…and…..
“Netzer doesn’t seem to realize that anyone who cared about DC’s characters has long since stopped reading their line of snuff comics…”
Oh, I’m well aware of what you say, Ken. But that’s one side of the story, as you say. The other side are the ones who do care about the comics mythology and are voicing it very strongly in response to the plea.
So, whether all this will have some marginal effect in changing editorial direction in the long term, isn’t it better to unequivocally state what side we’re on, and to do it with maximum effect and have our voice recorded as such for posterity?
So guys and gals reading and commenting here.. there’s a petition to sign and a superhero to save (link a the bottom of the article).
And Heidi… thank you for carrying this. You’re a sweetheart. The finest and prettiest face that comics journalism has.
I’ve always been primarily a Marvel guy, but Martian Manhunter is one of the few DC superheroes I ever liked.
Hey, if Batman’s gonna die, and the New Gods already have been dying, then Marian Manhunter is fair game. Manhunter has been made out to be as powerful as Superman, but he does have his weakness.
Wow, I have this huge, about the size of a movie one-sheet, Mike Netzer pencil Batman sketch that Mike Netzer did for me, golly, more than 25 years ago. I would love to scan it and show it to you Mike, but I don’t know how to turn such a huge thing into a digital file. Thanks for the sketch anyway, it was back from when NYC had cons in large hotels, either Creation or before at hotels like The Commodore, Roosevelt, or Statler-Hilton.
Oh yeah, I am not the first ken. I didn’t even know they wanted to kill off anybody.
A Martian Manhunter book with the right concept and drawn by Michael Netzer would a comic that I would buy and one that should sell as well as books like Blue Beetle and Iron Fist, both of which I look forward to reading every month. J’Onn was the heart and sole of the Morrison/Porter JLA a while back so it would be a crying shame if he is one of the casualties of Final Crisis.
Brian Davison said:
“Yeah, kill the new Aquaman or new Firestorm instead. Both are unnecessary replacements for characters that were just fine…”
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Brian, you may have thought they were fine, I may have thought they were fine, but they didn’t sell. That is why they were changed.
If they do decide to kill Martian Manhunter, though, it would only be right that they assign the writing job to…
J’ann J’ones
:P
Ken, you’ve certainly raised my curiosity and brought back good memories of that convention era. As for the poster sketch, maybe you can simply photograph it with a digital camera in good lighting. Should be enough to see and even art dealers do this sometimes. Email me at michael(at)michaelnetzer(dot)com. (change the characters in parenthesis)
Roman, thank you. From your keyboard to DC editors, hope it comes true.
And thanks to everyone who’s signing the petition and voicing their support for J’Onn.
There are more rumors circulating that after a noble sacrifice, J’onn will come back as the next Spectre only to have four mysterious duplicates come, each saying that they’re really J’onn J’onzz. This will set up for a big battle with Martian Manhunter-Prime whose reality-altering punches will cause another Crisis to occur.
I’ve given up on DC and Marvel after buying their comics for over 20 years. They can kill who they want, reboot whoever’s storyline they want, or dress them all in pink for all I care now. None of these writers or people that work at these 2 places are worth much anymore. They want to “make a name for themselves” and really have no care how they do it. I’ve got other things I can do with the cover price of a comic these days anyway.