This is bananas.
Creative Staff:
Story: Deniz Camp
Art: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
The other-dimensional alien consciousness calling itself the Martian continues its invasion—and transformation—of John Jones’ mind! The by-the-book FBI agent has been drafted into a cosmic war that will make him question the nature of reality and test his belief in good, evil, and free will! The weirdest hero of the Absolute Universe gets even weirder in this mind-bending,soul-baring issue #2
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of my favorite periods of comics was in the early 1990s, as the Vertigo books were starting to come together, but you had that British wave of creators playing just before it. Absolute Martian Manhunter takes me back to the days of Shade the Changing Man, both in story and visuals in a way few books have. Deniz Camp has worked the solid origin story here in an engaging way even if you can map it out within the first few panels. It’s the mixture of how it comes together and what Javier Rodriguez does with the artwork, and especially how Hassan Otsman-Elhaou works the lettering, so that we get this incredibly natural-feeling work. There’s an organic nature to it that’s exciting to immerse yourself in as the story reveals itself not just to the reader but to our lead character as well.
The opening installment of this book was the kind of thing that on some level just blows you away because it’s both a familiar approach and something that feels revolutionary for the character. We got a good look at John and his life and how he’s struggling now that there’s something else in his head, and how he’s trying to basically just wave it away. But the Martian is still there and trying to work with John and to ease into it because it is basically said along the way that if he just takes over, it’ll eliminate John’s persona entirely and the Martian doesn’t want that. But at the same time, it’s on a mission because we learn throughout the story here that the White Martian is here and it’s afflicting a lot of people in a lot of ways with a mind virus that’s distorting reality for them in very different ways. But how do you communicate that when language is limited and much of how the Martian communicates is through color and visuals?
What helps is that, along the way, John does start paying attention more as the Martian is trying to warn him of a shooting that’s going to happen before it happens. Or, more specifically, a mass shooting after the guy named Taylor Trigger kills his parents. He’s been warped by a number of things, but thinks the majority of people are aliens and playing at being human and he has to fight back. That John and the Martian are the ones to confront him is the simple irony, but the encounter in an immigrant district of town leads to John finally starting to understand the Martian as it gets into Trigger’s head and is able to relay that information to John, allowing him to talk him down. But John is also experiencing the last thoughts of those dying and those wounded, making it an even more complicated situation. We don’t get to see how John and the Martian deal with the fallout from it, but the entire situation helps to show John there is a real path to all of this…
In Summary:
There is so much to like here that it’s just kind of nuts. I mean, in a good sense, there’s nothing original here as we’ve seen flavors of it in other books and characters over the years, but the application to this character and in this way feels fresh and new. Especially with the visual design for everything. It’s just clicking in a really neat way that makes it thoroughly engaging and leaves you curious as to the future direction of the series. Watching as John grapples with this new reality and just how badly it can go for him, and just how much and how dangerous it is to hear other people, has a host of potential for storytelling in general even before getting into anything weird. The artwork is a huge draw but the combination of it with the storytelling style and the alienness of the Martian is simply fantastic. I can’t wait to see more.
Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: April 23rd, 2025
MSRP: $4.99
