Martian Manhunter, Volume 1 by Rob Williams

That we like Biscuits makes us like Alicia and Wessel meanwhile an equally fun sequence involving the thief Pearl, Mould (J'onn's rogue intellect), and Aquaman endears us to those characters, too. Amidst the drama, Williams offers legitimately laugh-out-loud schtick, like FBI agent Daryl Wessel carrying Biscuits through an airport in pieces, with Biscuits's telepathy keeping the public from seeing the insanity of the situation, and Biscuits goes, in a bag, through security ('Dark Tunnel!' 'Warm X-Rays!'). Biscuits's malapropisms and general antics remain funny throughout the book.

This device gives Williams considerable leeway to open up the book and give it many different tones - an FBI agent solving a supernatural case, a thief on the run, a buddy comedy with a kid and a goofy alien, plus superheroics with Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and more.Ĭlearly the book's breakout star is that goofy 'stick insect' alien, Mr.

Of course, through a process of psychic gymnastics, those latter 'people' are actually aspects of J'onn. In a way kind of like Kevin Smith's Green Arrow classic Quiver, Epiphany is as much about the people who surround J'onn J'onzz - the Justice League, but also a collection of humans and aliens 'related' to J'onn - as it is about J'onn himself. I can give it no higher praise than to say I reached Epiphany's ending cliffhanger and immediately wanted to read more. The cast is engaging, and moreover they're charming and funny this is a book with sci-fi action but also with laughs, and also one that's set directly in the middle of the 'Divergence'/'DC You' universe. It's all too easy to populate a book with new supporting characters and go terribly wrong (see Lobo), but Williams gets it right. Even as I don't necessarily like that Williams drastically changes J'onn's origins, Williams spins an exceptionally interesting tale that feels to me truly like a Martian Manhunter story. Also, the idea - as suggested right up front in the 'Divergence' short - that Manhunter J'onn J'onzz's origins were an outright lie didn't sit right with me.īut in the end, I recommend this book almost unequivocally. I'm not familiar with writer Rob Williams, and Eddy Barrows's art has unfortunately missed for me ( Teen Titans, Superman) more often than it's hit ( Nightwing). I had some trepidation going into Martian Manhunter Vol.

Martian Manhunter, Volume 1 by Rob Williams