The Martian Manhunter Takes The Spotlight!

Rob Williams talks to Nerdspan about Martian Manhunter #1!

Throughout the month of June DC Comics is debuting a slew of new titles and artistic teams designed to loosen the bonds of continuity and broaden their readership via an initiative they’ve christened DCYou. There are goofy, lighthearted offerings (Bizarro, Batmite), Vertigo-ish books with highly stylized art (Doctor Fate, Constantine), adventure titles starring strong female characters (Batgirl, Prez, Starfire), and serious-minded sci-fi (Omega Men, Martian Manhunter). To help spark interest and excitement, DC posted free, original, eight-page “sneak peeks” of each book online, and these are still available for you to read. In particular, I encourage you to give the Martian Manhunter sneak peek a try. It’s short, punchy, appealingly creepy, and acts as a direct prologue to DC’s new Martian Manhunter ongoing series, which debuts today!

Written by Rob Williams, with art by Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira, colors by Gabe Eltaeb, and lettering by Tom Napolitano, Martian Manhunter #1 shows serious promise, blending horror, action, mystery, sci-fi, and hints of weird humor in a manner entirely befitting DC’s preeminent shapeshifting hero. It’s been over 10 years since the Martian Manhunter carried his own solo title. He’s a tricky character to write and it’s been argued that he works best as a team player, as opposed to a solo star. Handled poorly he’s the epitome of boring; handled well he’s fascinating. From the evidence presented so far it would seem as though Williams and his creative partners have found a take on the character that has real potential. On the day of the title’s debut Nerdspan is pleased to present a brief interview with Williams, who was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book and the character of J’onn J’onzz.

Without further ado, please enjoy this interview with Rob Williams!

Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Rob. You were eminently approachable on Twitter, and I appreciate your taking the time to answer a few questions for the folks on Nerdspan. For those who may not be familiar with your previous work, can you tell us a little about your background and how you came to be the writer on the book?

I’ve written books like The Royals: Masters of War for Vertigo, Ghost Rider, Daken & others for Marvel and I’m currently writing Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor for Titan Comics and Judge Dredd for 2000AD. My writing Martian Manhunter came about following chats with Dan Didio. He asked me to pitch for the series. DC liked what I came up with and here we are.

Can you tell us a little about your artistic collaborators on the series? Why are you excited to be working with them? Why should Nerdspan’s readers be excited about them?

Well Eddy Barrows has just been doing incredible work on the book. There’s real fluidity, spectacle and drama to his work, and I’m constantly impressed by how he handles the different tones of scenes so well. J’onn does the big superhero stuff – and Eddy’s one of the best at that. But one character exists in a more noir-ish police procedural world, and Eddy’s nailing that. The more childlike ‘Miyazaki’-like character, Eddy’s killing on that. He’s flipping between these different tones so well. I feel very lucky to have him on the book. Ditto for Eber Ferreira on inks and Gabe Eltaeb on colours. It’s a great team.

Martian Manhunter hasn’t held down his own ongoing series since the Ostrander/Mandrake run ended in 2001 (that series, dear readers, is well worth your time if you’re a fan of sci-fi and horror tinged tales – and is on sale on Comixology right now). Why did you want to write a Martian Manhunter book? What is it about the character that appeals and/or speaks to you, and what tone are you going for?

I think J’onn’s loneliness and sadness, mixed with his being an alpha level heavy hitter – that’s a really interesting contrast. The A-listers in terms of power tend to be the best looking, with so many things going for them. J’onn’s big, bald, green, doesn’t fit in. By the essence of the character, he’s ‘the last of his kind’, and that pathos immediately makes him interesting to write and easy for the readers to empathize with. Add the fact that he’s a shape-shifter and has telepathic powers and there’s all sorts of possibilities there. He’s alien. Not in a Superman sense, where location and powers are what makes Kal from another planet. J’onn’s physicality and his way of thinking and feeling is alien. And he could take out half the DCU on his own if he really chose to. There’s so many ingredients for a fun book there. We want to get below the surface with him, see who he really is. And there’s a creepy, scary journey in that.

Sounds intense! How familiar were you with J’onn’s history and past appearances prior to being assigned the book? Do you think that background material matters in the context of DC’s New 52 reboot, and in the wake of their recent company crossover, Convergence?

It matters, sure. But it’s also up to us as the creative team on the book to go our own way, create our own story for J’onn, and change certain things while always remaining true to the core of the character. That involves creating brand new characters and backing cast, which we’ve done here. But I loved J’onn back in Giffen, Dematteis and Maguire’s Justice League International. He was my favourite character in that book. I thought Grant wrote him very well in his Justice League. I’ve always had a soft spot for J’onn.

Has J’onn’s past history influenced your take on the character and the book as a whole? If so, can you give some examples as to how it has done so?

It has, and I’ve taken certain aspects, ignored certain aspects, changed certain things. There’s no point us coming in and telling the same story you’ve read before. One of the remits on the book was ‘we need to find out who this guy really is.’ And so, the best way of doing that is saying: ‘well, ok, he IS the last of his kind. We just never told you the truth about what that kind was.’ I liked the idea that J’onn could look like anything, could make us see him as anything. So why choose a pretty standard superhero look? Is it because he doesn’t want us to be terrified of who he really is?

The Martians have come for Earth. We’ve established that in our 8-page intro story and the solicits. But all is not what it seems, as you’ll find out. You’re going to get to the heart of who J’onn REALLY is.

Tell us a little about the focus of the series in its initial issues, and most important of all, why should readers buy this book?

This is a kick-ass, widescreen superhero book and a whole lot more. It’s not a book that’s predictable. There’s a number of genres in play here. There’s an aspect of contemporary horror about it. One of the core ideas was: ‘all those horrible stories you hear on the news every night that you can’t believe human beings could ever do… what if human beings didn’t do them?’ If telepathic shape-changers are among us… that’s a frightening thought. It allows us some allegorical comment about the nature of fear in modern America. Then there’s a high-action chase aspect, where J’onn quickly becomes the hunted, by the Justice League and others. And there’s also one brand new character who is very strange and alien and seems more like something from a Studio Ghibli movie.  There’s horror, action and comedy in the book, and at its heart is the battle for J’onn’s soul. Is he a good ‘man’?

Assuming that the book does well, what are some general thoughts of yours on its direction going forward? Any characters you’d like to bring in? Any mythology from the character’s past?

You’ll see as we continue. The Justice League are players in issues 1-2, as you’d expect given J’onn’s allegience to them. But we’re establishing several brand new characters in the book too. One of whom I think stands a chance of really standing out in the DC Universe. Certain characters just pop on the page and you know it’s working really well. That’s happening here. You may see villains from J’onn’s past, but I really want to create a new mythology for the character here too.

Rob, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. Is there anything else that you’d like to add that you think is interesting/important/entertaining?

Martian Manhunter #1 is due June 17^th and I hope people give it a go. This isn’t the book you’d expect. We’re giving you the J’onn you know and a whole lot more. And biscuits. Lots of biscuits.

Mmmmm. Biscuits. Thanks again to Rob Williams and to the good folks in DC’s publicity department for making this interview happen. Martian Manhunter #1 is on sale at this very moment. You can find it in your local comic shop and on Comixology. Go forth and read.

MMorse is a comforting fiction. Follow him on Twitter: @M_Morse