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Showcase Presents: Martian Manhunter #2
Showcase Presents: Martian Manhunter, Vol. 2
Over 500 pages of classic adventures are included in this value-priced volume collecting stories starring this charter member of the Justice League of America, and a key hero from FINAL CRISIS.
Adopting the Earthly identity of Police Detective John Jones, the super-hero known as The Martian Manhunter uses his incredible strength, shape-shifting abilities and other powers to battle crime.
Adopting the Earthly identity of Police Detective John Jones, the super-hero known as The Martian Manhunter uses his incredible strength, shape-shifting abilities and other powers to battle crime.
592 pages, Paperback
First published May 19, 2009
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About the author
Jack Miller
69 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 17, 2020
Questo Showcase raccoglie le ultime storie del mio marziano preferito degli anni '60, sia quelle su Detective Comics, dove appariva in appendice a Batman, sia quelle su House of Mystery. Sempre Jack Miller ai testi e Joe Certa ai disegni anche se, specialmente in alcune delle storielle di HoM, si nota la mano di qualcun'altro alle chine.
Diciamolo subito: questa lettura ha un puro valore filologico, ed è l'unico motivo per cui si possono dare 2 stelle a una raccolta di storie estremamente sconclusionate, spesso dalla trama debole e mal costruita. L'introduzione di un sidekick inutile, l'eliminazione dell'identità civile di John Jones, il cambio di ambientazione e il tentare di creare un avversario ricorrente risultano fallimentari. Sia la sequenza di storie legate alla testa-idolo di Diabolu (Ma nomi migliori no? e sì che agli inizi degli anni '60 i nomi migliori erano tutti ancora liberi) sia quella alla società segreta criminale della Volture sono estremamente deludenti. Il finale di questa seconda saga è da dementi, con il capo della Vulture, Mr. V. che altri non è che il playboy Marco Xavier creduto morto dal marziano, il quale ne prende l'identità. Per oltre una quindicina di storie questo Mr. V. sa che Marco Xavier non può essere altri che il Martian Manhunter e lo ingaggia ogni volta facendosi gabbare da lui!
Ed erano gli anni in cui la Marvel lanciava i Fantastici Quattro, Iron-man, Thor, L'uomo Ragno, Hulk, Ant-Man e Wasp e i Vendicatori, e infine gli X-Men e Devil.
Quello che salta all'occhio da queste storie è come la DC gettasse dalla finestra un sacco di buone idee per mancanza d'interesse e per, quasi certamente, il pregiudizio per cui i fumetti erano stupidaggini per bambini dementi.
Peccato.
Diciamolo subito: questa lettura ha un puro valore filologico, ed è l'unico motivo per cui si possono dare 2 stelle a una raccolta di storie estremamente sconclusionate, spesso dalla trama debole e mal costruita. L'introduzione di un sidekick inutile, l'eliminazione dell'identità civile di John Jones, il cambio di ambientazione e il tentare di creare un avversario ricorrente risultano fallimentari. Sia la sequenza di storie legate alla testa-idolo di Diabolu (Ma nomi migliori no? e sì che agli inizi degli anni '60 i nomi migliori erano tutti ancora liberi) sia quella alla società segreta criminale della Volture sono estremamente deludenti. Il finale di questa seconda saga è da dementi, con il capo della Vulture, Mr. V. che altri non è che il playboy Marco Xavier creduto morto dal marziano, il quale ne prende l'identità. Per oltre una quindicina di storie questo Mr. V. sa che Marco Xavier non può essere altri che il Martian Manhunter e lo ingaggia ogni volta facendosi gabbare da lui!
Ed erano gli anni in cui la Marvel lanciava i Fantastici Quattro, Iron-man, Thor, L'uomo Ragno, Hulk, Ant-Man e Wasp e i Vendicatori, e infine gli X-Men e Devil.
Quello che salta all'occhio da queste storie è come la DC gettasse dalla finestra un sacco di buone idee per mancanza d'interesse e per, quasi certamente, il pregiudizio per cui i fumetti erano stupidaggini per bambini dementi.
Peccato.
October 4, 2018
This second volume of Martian Manhunter stories is not up to the standard of the first. The book starts out with 22 stories in Detective Comics where Manhunter is pretending to be John Jones, Detective. That set up was really played out. The strip gave Manhunter a pet/sidekick in the strange alien creature Zook. The character wasn't annoying but also didn't really help the series. John Jones was killed off as the series moved to being a back up in House of Mystery.
The House of Mystery strips were better. Most months, the idol-head of Diabolu would create some new nightmare creature for him to battle most months. Fighting monsters of the month aren't great comic stories, but they were fair.
The final House of Mystery stories were the best in the book as Manhunter tried to take down a criminal organization known as Vulture and discover its leader, the mysterious Faceless. I love the 1960s spy motif. These are mostly fun stories, even though the solution is utterly illogical.
Overall, this isn't a bad Silver Age collection, but there are a lot better ones. This isn't as good as the first volume.
The House of Mystery strips were better. Most months, the idol-head of Diabolu would create some new nightmare creature for him to battle most months. Fighting monsters of the month aren't great comic stories, but they were fair.
The final House of Mystery stories were the best in the book as Manhunter tried to take down a criminal organization known as Vulture and discover its leader, the mysterious Faceless. I love the 1960s spy motif. These are mostly fun stories, even though the solution is utterly illogical.
Overall, this isn't a bad Silver Age collection, but there are a lot better ones. This isn't as good as the first volume.
July 16, 2015
After a pretty mediocre run of late 50's/early 60's superheroing, Vol. 2 is much better.
The very first issue, "Detective Comics #305" is an example of why. J'onnz runs into a cop from the future with a fancy destructive gun. But it tuns out there is some mistaken identity and their allegiances in the battle switch. It's not Shakespeare, but a clever little story.
It seemed like Jack Miller/Joe Certa sensed a little datedness in their stories and threw stuff against the wall to make the story better. The strangest but still an improvement one is Zook, a creature from another dimension who kind of looks like the body of a baby with Droopy Dog's head on top and antennae.
But he gives some actually counterpoint to Manhunter in terms of their dual cop existence, and his random cuteness helps to make it easier to like Manhunter.
The stories get even more depth when J'onn J'onnz meets the tribal head of Diabolu, who has all these evils in his head. So as Manhunter switches to "House of Mystery" Magazine, every month he attacks this head in the hopes of ending its evil and killing it. The stories are all over the place, but the suspense is still better.
In "House of Mystery #150", Manhunter finds that this month's evil from Diabolu gives these two painter friends accidentally destructive powers with their art. The descriptions are incredibly convoluted, and the plot a little hard to follow, but the ending was a little clever, and again, the suspense of Diabolu was potent and helpful to storytelling.
After that storyline, probably the best storyline as Manhunter gets caught up in espionage, impersonating a dead guy named Marco Xavier so he can hunt this evil criminal organization called "Vulture". Much better overarching plots, and better action in terms of spying of around, a lot of dead end leads towards killing the faceless guy in charge. Good stuff kinda!
The final issue, "House of Mystery #173", shows Manhunter/Xavier closing in on what is hopefully the final lead to capturing the bad guy. A pretty good set-up of suspense, even if the ending is kind of convoluted.
So in general, the diction and the dialogue is not great at times, but I think the improvement alone is very important to the quality of this book.
The very first issue, "Detective Comics #305" is an example of why. J'onnz runs into a cop from the future with a fancy destructive gun. But it tuns out there is some mistaken identity and their allegiances in the battle switch. It's not Shakespeare, but a clever little story.
It seemed like Jack Miller/Joe Certa sensed a little datedness in their stories and threw stuff against the wall to make the story better. The strangest but still an improvement one is Zook, a creature from another dimension who kind of looks like the body of a baby with Droopy Dog's head on top and antennae.
But he gives some actually counterpoint to Manhunter in terms of their dual cop existence, and his random cuteness helps to make it easier to like Manhunter.
The stories get even more depth when J'onn J'onnz meets the tribal head of Diabolu, who has all these evils in his head. So as Manhunter switches to "House of Mystery" Magazine, every month he attacks this head in the hopes of ending its evil and killing it. The stories are all over the place, but the suspense is still better.
In "House of Mystery #150", Manhunter finds that this month's evil from Diabolu gives these two painter friends accidentally destructive powers with their art. The descriptions are incredibly convoluted, and the plot a little hard to follow, but the ending was a little clever, and again, the suspense of Diabolu was potent and helpful to storytelling.
After that storyline, probably the best storyline as Manhunter gets caught up in espionage, impersonating a dead guy named Marco Xavier so he can hunt this evil criminal organization called "Vulture". Much better overarching plots, and better action in terms of spying of around, a lot of dead end leads towards killing the faceless guy in charge. Good stuff kinda!
The final issue, "House of Mystery #173", shows Manhunter/Xavier closing in on what is hopefully the final lead to capturing the bad guy. A pretty good set-up of suspense, even if the ending is kind of convoluted.
So in general, the diction and the dialogue is not great at times, but I think the improvement alone is very important to the quality of this book.
June 9, 2009
Another fun bit of nonsense from the DC archives, this, no-doubt final installment of the Martian Manhunter's Silver Age adventures plays a lot like the first, with the Martian hero always stumbling into bad guys using his oh-so-common weakness, fire. This time around he acquires a sidekick, Zook, and actually has some reoccurring enemies. Like Aquaman and Hawkman, he had an international crime syndicate of his own to take down (with a good twist ending on who their leader was in the final story), and he even inherited a very minor Batman foe (Prof. Hugo). Fun stuff, about standard for this line of books.
November 8, 2009
J’onn J’onzz foregoes the lame Lois Lane type sidekick for a cute little alien tyke named Zook who goes “Eek!” when he’s startled. The stories are even crazier than the ones in the first volume, with musical instruments taking flight and creating chaos in the streets and inter-dimensional rings stealing the color out of everything in the city. Am I the only one who thinks the Martian Manhunter looks more Afro-American than Intergalactic? Just wondering.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews