Farewell to an Old Friend
One of my favorite superheroes of all time, J’onn J’onzz, who you may remember as “The Martian Manhunter” passed away recently. Comic Book Resources has put a very fitting elegy in his honor today.
The Manhunter From Mars was a mainstay in the world-changing Justice League of America, and indeed, since the League’s creation, it has never existed without him, until now. Although he possed many amazing powers, including, flight, telepathy, shape-shifting, not to mention his super strength and burning “Martian vision,” his greatest gift of all was the compassion he had for his adopted homeworld of Earth.
Perhaps more so than any other hero, J’onn consistently gave of himself, always putting others first, whether it be serving the Justice League in saving multiple universes, using his brilliant tactical mind to lead the League to sure victory, in saving individual innocent bystanders from being injured, or serving the police as a genius detective in one of his many secret identities.
J’onn was always somewhat of an outsider, even among his friends in the League, but that distance is something that resonated with me. I felt I could connect with J’onn in a way that I couldn’t with Superman. Behind the imposing gaze of the Manhunter was a gentle soul who mourned the loss of his family, who looked for a place to belong, and loved humanity unconditionally, even though they sometimes rejected him, and did not fully understand him. Although I was sad to see J’onn slip into anger and distrust towards the end of his life, I will never forget the love he had for this world.
Thank you J’onn. For a life of serving and protecting those who did not deserve it from you. Thank you for a life well lived.
Lets all remember J’onn this week by reading a few of his greatest adventures. My favorites are in Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare, and Grant Morrison’s early issues of JLA.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Wow…some of the things you say about him remind me of….dare I say it…Jesus Christ. Not all of the characteristics, of course (anger and distrust), but many of the others certainly brought him to mind. Nice eulogy, Mike.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Thanks, Chris, I really enjoyed writing this, for those reasons. Yeah, I think the Christ parallel is very strong in J’onn’s story, just as it is in Superman’s. No matter what your beliefs are, I think the Christ figure is a powerful idea in our culture, one that strikes us to the core — the ideas of sacrifice, grace, and love in spite of rejection are common themes in a lot of superhero lore, not to mention a lot of science fiction and fantasy classics. Something about the Christ imagery resonates with our souls, inspires us, and moves us to greatness, no matter what faith you have (or don’t have). Tolkien described it by saying that some ideas are so true, such a deep part of the human condition, that they weave their way into almost all kinds of art and culture in one way or another.
Thats my two cents anyway.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am
wow, the folks at dc did not do j’onn justice. the image of him that always came though the cartoons was less than he really was.
maybe we will get a re-imagined martian manhunter that follows the more noble qualities of this story in the future.
the tolkien quote is right on.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hey Mike, was Morrison the guy that killed him?
September 24th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Sort of, yes. The official death occurred in Final Crisis #1, written by Grant Morrison — but it was merely part of a bigger story. In Final Crisis: Requiem, we see the whole event, the aftermath, the reactions from the rest of the heroes, and the funeral. The Requiem issue was written by Peter J. Tomasi. To be fair to Morrison, it seems that DC is handling its main books much like a TV show does, where he is but one of a team of writers that plot the entire direction of all the books. Although he might script certain issues, there’s a team of writers working out the major plot points ahead of time for most of DCs main books, especially the “Crisis” line.
If thats not confusing enough, I don’t think I can help you
September 24th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I get it…Grant penned it, but DC ordained it.