When J'onn met an urban myth

[thelazyreader]

Earlier I posted scans of the Martian Mahunter's first encounter with Superman. Now it's Batman's turn. Don't worry, he wasn't disguised as Bruce's nanny or something. Theirs is more of a professional acquaintance.

Our story begins with a man falling to his death from a rooftop. This man happens to be the never-before-mentioned brother of one Diane Meade. Who happens to be the partner of Detective John Jones, Denver P.D. Who happens to be one of the Martian Manhunter's alter egos.



Because someone paid off the coroner, duh! Having established that there's a conspiracy at work the duo split up. Diane questions Maggs, a Gotham media mogul whom Brian met earlier.



John follows a different approach. He believes that the real answer lies with the Batman, who was seen on the rooftops at the time of Brian's murder. He figures than if he masquerades as Batman long enough he'll draw out the real deal(Well, it worked for Batgirl and Batwoman).



And he's right.



Unfortunately for J'onn, our young BatGod is able to deduce that he's being played.



Owned. Meanwhile Diane's lead on the Wayne foundation turns out to be a dead end.



Well, at least she found the perp responsible. That's police Lt. Paul Ross, who's in media Baron Maggs' pay. Turns out Maggs was behind the downtown fires mentioned in the second panel, and Brian got offed because he found out. And Diane is about to join him by becoming an unwilling victim of the latest arson fire. Mercifully, J'onn and Batman show up to save the day.



J'onn comes clean and tries to offer Batman the same hand of friendship that he gave Superman. Batman declines.

This isn't the last we see of Detective Jones in the Batverse. They work together on at least one more case, of which i own the issue and may post scans when I can find it.

Comments

[anothermoviegeek.blogspot.com]

Is that other issue is the one with the weird time traveler? If so, can't wait to see it. That issue always intrigued me but then i'm a sucker for the quantum.

[djt2445.livejournal.com]

I assumed he was referring to the JLI Annual 3, where Batman and J'onn get together to investigate the death of a friend of J'onn's.

There's a summary here: http://idol-head.blogspot.com/2008/06/man-i-never-was-jli-ann-3-1989.html

[thelazyreader]

Yes, it's the one with the time traveller.

[proteus_lives]

Perfect.

I love how Bats immediately retreats when he feels MM scanning his mind.

I assume given his martial arts/spiritual training he would sense a probe even if he couldn't stop it.

Very in-character.

[btravage]

IIRC it was because he was asking questions designed to invoke memories.

[icon_uk]

Boy he must hate job interviews, where most of the questions are designed to do pretty much exactly that.

[darkblade]

He's a multi-plot device money heir. I don't think he's ever had a job interview in his life.

[thelazyreader]

Well, he did try to join the FBI and/or the Gotham police in at least one continuity.

[proteus_lives]

Also I'm reminded of this scene from Final Frontier between Bats and MM.

"I have a 70,000 dollar piece of space-rock to stop the one in Metropolis but you? I just need a penny for a book of matches."

[icon_uk]

At which point we again discover the innate stupidity of Batman revealing his plans to a Superman equivalent with added telepathy and memory-editing powers.

[proteus_lives]

Bats is about the intimidation and showing metas that they're not untouchable. And did he know about MM's psi-powers at that point of FF?

[blackruzsa]

I remember the detective persona. At least this one, I can recognize in canon.

[icon_uk]

Detective John Jones was the MM's secret identity throughout the Silver Age.

[ogrebear]

This is much better writing than J'onn has had in the last what? year? 2 years? 10?

J'onn needs someone who can tell his stories well, who can mix the Superheroic costume stuff with the multiple personalities and mysteries that his 'Human' lives have. For all his 'hats' who is J'onn exactly?

[psychopathicus_rex]

An interesting story along those lines would be if his various non-Martian alter egos somehow started showing up independently of him - like the Bronze Wraith, for example, starts patrolling in places he's not.

[ejne7]

Oh man. Would read.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Yeah, it gets your attention, doesn't it?

[arbre_rieur]

I always found his relationship with Diane Meade interesting, ever since I first saw her in JLA: Year One.

[thatnickguy]

God, I wish DC would put this series out in trades!

ditto!

[apintrix]

I've only seen dribs and drabs of this series, but it seems really neat-- I fell in love with J'onn thanks to the DCAU, but I don't love much of what I read of him in comics canon proper.

Would love to see the other Batman story when you get the chance, OP!

[werehawk.livejournal.com]

It's funny. I just bought the MM meets Abin Sur issue the day before your Supes post. Of course it hasn't arrived yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I also have the Swamp Thing/future issue, which was pretty good. Ostrander can tell a story (and single issue stories at that, which are hard).

[psychopathicus_rex]

This is much better than the last one. 'Meeting them early in their career' is much less... intrusive, if that's the word i want, than inserting him into heroes' pre-heroic pasts.
That Bronze Wraith outfit just does not work, though - or at any rate, it doesn't as colored here. That color doesn't look like bronze, it looks like murky green.

[recognitions]

I hate it when they introduce a character and immediately have something bad happen to a member of their family or a loved one just to give the story added dramatic weight. It just always feels forced, especially if they don't have time to show the actual range of emotions someone goes through when they lose someone close because they have to keep the story moving along. There's no reason why it couldn't have been just an ordinary murder case without the familial tie.

[arbre_rieur]

Diane Meade isn't a new character. She's from the Silver Age Martian Manhunter stories.

[recognitions]

That makes it even worse, actually.

[bluefall]

Oh hey fuck you, J'onn. You'll violate the mind of a partner and friend who's put her life on the line for you a hundred times over, but trust a random paranoid vigilante you met three minutes ago with your deepest secrets.

I appreciate the attempt to make Diane seem competent enough to see what's right in front of her face, and all, but ultimately it ends up being far more disrespectful to her (and reflects so much worse on J'onn) than just leaving her as the rote ignorant damsel in distress that this story is also making her would have been.

[brushed_velvet]

What title/issue is this? I'd happily eat up any Batman/MM interaction with a spoon... except Batman's grim perma-scowl is a little off-putting here. J'onn's Batman impersonation is lol!tastic though.

[thelazyreader]

Issue 23 of the Martian Manhunter series. It hasn't been collected in trades, so it may be a little difficult to find.