You'd think Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa are from Mars with how nobody remembers them…
Chapter Eighteen: A Manhunter from Mars
Place: Offices of DC Comics, New York City
Year: 1986
"J'onn J'onzz was first introduced in Detective Comics where he played second string to Batman. He eventually headlined another anthology book, House of Mystery, before being out on a bus in a Justice League story where it was explained why he could be a Martian if the planet is now known to be dead. O'Neil had Commander Blanx kill all life on the planet and J'onn went to build Mars II alongside his people before he stood against them in the Earth/Mars War. His classic origin is good," said John Ostrander, "and there's no need to change it. So his classic origin updates as such.
"Long ago, on the planet Ma'alaca'andra (known as 'Mars' to Per'landra'ans), the people developed a unique culture based on the idea of dualism. Martians were, as a people, fascinated by duality and that was seen in how their gods were a pair of twins. It was not a contest of good and evil but rather of two complimenting halves. They were shape changers; one of whom forsook his shape changing to remain in one form always and the other who was in constant transformation. According to legend, the gods ultimately allowed for creation of the two races in the intent that they work together in harmony. Strife happens when the opposing forces are not in balance.
"This duality can be seen in other things. Martians have a private face (a spindly, craggy, cone head form) that was share only with family and deeply loved ones. They also had a public face (the humanoid, beetle-browed appearance) that they share with others. As telepaths, they constantly heard a background noise they called the Great Voice. By the same token, they were very earnest in their respect for each other's privacy, thus protocols were followed in just how telepathy was used. Another example is how they had strict laws concerning gender roles whilst they ascribed no meaning to gender."
A confused Perez asked "What? I don't get it. That's not paradox, that's contradiction."
Ostrander shrugged his shoulders. "Not really when you consider how they beget children. In the absolute sense, Martians have no biological sex since they can take any shape and they don't reproduce like we do. Instead, when a couple decides to 'settle down' and start a family, the two parents use their shape-shifting abilities to give away some of their own mass to create a baby. The newborn is genderless and is exposed to masculine and feminine roles as it grows up. Part of becoming an adult is deciding what gender roles it wants to fulfill and thus what gender it will shape change into as its default identity. When the cycle starts again, the gentle nurturing Martian who chose womanhood will seek out the big protective Martian who chose manhood and together make their child. Two halves, united."
Schwartz raised an eyebrow. "Now I know this is from Mars."
"Different strokes for different folks," said Ostrander as he shrugged his shoulders. "But that's what happened to J'onn. 'He' was a gentle and quiet child who loved nothing more than to sit next to its mother and telepathically listen to her stories. Everyone took it for granted that the J'onzz family was going to have a daughter. Sha'sheen Jonzz sighed at the thought of J'onn becoming a girl so that she might dress her up and teach her to wear makeup. When J'onn entered its teen years decided to be male, everyone was surprised. True, his love of flowers and poetry would suggest a female identity but more than that, J'onzz wanted to know that those things would be kept safe and allowed to prosper for future generations. In his coming of age ceremony, he hugged his mother and said that he didn't want to fight but he'd become a Manhunter because he knew he had so much to protect.
"See, Martians don't educate their children as we do. They use their telepathy to pass down memories. Not every recollection is passed down—after all, only a lawyer needs to remember obscure court cases—but there are memories every Martian must have. It was those memories (those nightmares) that horrified a young J'onn and made him swear that he would do whatever it took to keep them from happening again. Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it.
"By this time in young J'onn's life, Mars was a cold and dry world with what life that remained clustering in the canals. Some places were virtual dead zones where only bacteria could survive. True the Martians survived and even thrived as best they could; it was no more austere than the traditional culture of say Tibetan people or Inuit. In the memories passed down to him, however, he saw a wet warm planet swaddled in clouds. He saw whole oceans of liquid water and whole continents covered in green. It was a world of life.
"At the time there were no Green or White Martians; the ancestors' true color had long since been forgotten. It was a world where you could judge book by its cover because a chosen form told you of Martian's allegiance. Here duality almost destroyed Martian civilization when two strains of thought came to occupy Martian thought.
"One group believed in living a venerable life through meditation and moral conviction. To those following this path, they chose to defend what is right above all else. It taught that success in any endeavor never justifies dishonorable deeds. It was a philosophy of high ideals and immutable laws of right and wrong. Its practitioners would become the Green Martians.
"The other held that inaction is the greatest injustice. It held it just to defend home and family no matter the cost. It accepted the idea that morals can change depending on the situation. Its practitioners tended to be outgoing, passionate, not ones for deep thought, and always the first into the fray. It was one of scrappy practicality and one that served the future Whites well.
"Still, the new races worked together well enough and, ideologues aside, most saw this disagreement of opinion as merely different ways of achieving the same goals. Green skin, white skin, it was comparable to Democrats vs. Republicans in modern American politics. Though of course, not even the craziest demagogue will wear a 'Vote Reagan' t-shirt 24 hours a day."
The writer spared a glance at Miller's clothing. "No offense Frank."
He smiled and gave Ostrander the finger. "None taken."
Typical Miller, he thought with a shrug. "As I was saying, Martian society began dividing when decided to colonize the solar system. Only Earth with its native sentient life was declared off limits. (That also means that if anyone wants to use our old stories of aliens from other planets in the solar system, you can just say that they took place in the small terraformed patch of an otherwise dead world.) The thing is that in spreading their number across the solar system, the Martians needed more people than they had.
"Remember, we humans can reproduce easily; we in fact have to take measures to prevent overpopulation. No so the Martians. A consequence of being so long lived and their shape changing physiology, they can only reproduce with great difficulty. The Martians instead created clones in order to increase their numbers and soon the various colonies had enough people to become viable.
"Here I'd like to stop and give a tip of the hat to Greg Potter. He wasn't able to come but I talked to him over the phone about this beforehand." Ostrander stopped to collect his thoughts.
"I am not the first one to try to reboot Manhunter. Potter wanted to do it too but when Miss Khan nixed it as being too radical a retcon Potter just changed the names and released his Manhunter story as Jemm: Son of Saturn. A Red alien Prince (J'onn) is forced to leave home world of Saturn (Mars) and come to Earth. He must go back to make peace between his people and the White Saturnians (White Martians). It's really good and it's an interesting idea as to where Manhunter could have gone. Of course, Jemm's not Manhunter nor even our guy's cousin but who's to say they're not connected somehow?
"We'll see their exact relationship later on but for now we go back the struggle between Green and White. It all came to a head on Saturn where they built a permanent base to mine the gas giant for hydrogen. Huge floating islands were built and each domed island reflected one aspect of Mars. The Martians lived well with their clones doing the menial work. After all, the Martians were best fit to lead, right?
"While that was true at first, the Saturnians quickly educated themselves and sought to advance themselves where they could. Amongst the Greens, this went well. Their philosophy of right above all meant not only that they had made their clones red so that they might develop their own identity but that those Reds were treated as friends. The Greens saw Saturnians as equal citizens and gave them equal opportunity.
"Among White Martians however who said my family and the hell with everyone else, they were against the project from the start. Even when they were forced, the Whites could only stand to look at their clones if they were made as pale as themselves. They grew increasingly reactionary and saw their creations as little more than talking animals at best. At worst White Saturnians were somewhere between talking tools and abominations that should all be destroyed." Ostrander frowned. "It's worth saying that the pale Martians did not see themselves as enslaving the clones because it's not slavery if you buy an animal and force it to work for you.
"It built up over decades with the place of the clones in Martian civilization splitting society in half; it was like how slavery polarized American society in the 1850s. By the end, meetings between Greens and Whites would likely end in fistfights and very often did. It came to an end when Whites decided that the clones, regardless of color, were more trouble than they were worth and decided on their liquidation. This very public genocide was the last straw before outright civil war.
"Now I admit that it would be easy to portray the Greens as good and the Whites as all bad and for the most part it certainly was. The fact is, however, that the Greens won the war by the logic of the rack; one nuclear strike against the Whites for every thousand clones killed in their concentration camps. That was what they believed, do right above all and damn the cost. It turned into a game of chicken but when it became clear the Green leader—hailed as a saint by his followers and as a demagogue fanatic by his enemies—really was willing to destroy the world in order to save the clones, the Whites had no choice but to surrender. They had no desire to join the Greens in mutual suicide.
"As for the Saturnians in all this, the Red saw the Greens as their best friends and even kin. The White Saturnians, on the other hand, were another matter. Some had grown so afraid of their masters that they refused to be freed for fear that the masters would punish them. Others were, in fact, fighting for their masters. Imagine the son of the Grand Rabbi as a card carrying Nazi shoving other Jews into a furnace. Hey," gesticulated Ostrander to a shocked crowd of writers, "as long as it means you and your immediate family are safe, why not do any evil deed? That is what they learned from their creators.
"On Saturn itself, some of the satellites/flying islands were destroyed and it was this debris from all this formed the initial rings of Saturn itself. The Martians finally left, but the Saturnians stayed on the remaining satellites, evolving down their own paths. Like the Green and White Martians, the Red and White Saturnians would be forever at war.
"As for Mars itself, by then it was too late. An armistice was declared and not a moment too soon; the decline of the planet's ability to sustain life was accelerating. The 'nuclear winter' caused by dozens of massive exchanges of missiles combined with the natural cooling and drying of the planet led to a deadly feedback effect. Over the course of a few centuries the oceans were salty lakes, and the highlands became almost entirely uninhabitable. Cities needed protective domes to shield them from sandstorms and icy winds, and each year the crop yields were smaller. What little water that remained was left was locked up in polar icecaps and underground aquifers. Oxygen was no longer being replaced and once fertile regions became desert. The planet was dying.
"Both Greens and Whites knew that they had to set aside their mutual loathing and work together to halt the death of their planet. They combined forces and designed a worldwide network of canals to draw water from the polar caps and carry it to the thirsty equatorial regions. Construction began in about 500 B.C., and work went on for centuries, interrupted by famines, more civil wars, and tremendous migrations of refugees. In the end, they fought their dying planet to a draw: the aqueducts and domed cities could support the Martian population, but there was no way to reverse the process and restore Mars to a more fertile state.
"Canal building aside, however, most Whites were not well appreciated by their cousins. The defeated Whites were ultimately exiled to the frigid poles where they guarded the polar icecaps, Mars' last source of water. They were allowed to immigrate south solely for menial labor. The victorious Greens, on the other hand, wandered the deserts enjoying the waters that flowed to them through the canals. They nevertheless knew that, as weak as their planet now was, they had to do something, anything, to prevent its death. Thus were formed the Manhunters.
"And yes, Manhunter is not just a codename that J'onn just came up with; on Mars it was his actual job that he continued doing when he arrived on Earth. Manhunters are a combination Martian police, army, firefighters-"
"Martian firemen?" interrupted Schwartz.
Always the editor, thought Ostrander. "Very well," he grumbled quietly as he got back on this train of thought. "The Manhunters were also rescue workers as well as conflict mediators, etc. There was no direct Earth analogue to the Manhunters who did a little bit of everything in their policing of the Red Planet. They were meant to bridge the gap between the races and did that most admirably; they were often the only Greens that White's trusted.
"All this was passed down telepathically to J'onn. The young neuter was a terrible idealist and the moment 'he' saw all these memories, he knew what he had to do. He signed up the moment he made his gender decision and adopted a male body. The training was hard though, especially for someone whom everyone had taken for granted would become a woman. Regardless, young J'onn trained furiously, pushing his strength to the limit but more importantly refining his shape changing and telepathy far beyond the levels of his fellow recruits.
"It was there in Manhunter boot camp that he met and befriended his first white, Roh'kar M'orse; it was quite amicable as the drill sergeant made it clear he saw his recruits, regardless of color, as equally worthless. M'orse even thrived under the regimentation. The sarge' even reminded him of his father… He had a heavy burden on him; as the first polar dweller to try to make it as a Manhunter, not only was his family watching him but all pale Martians. If he failed the Greens would say that that just a White for you; even if he succeeded, close minded polar dwellers would see him as an Uncle Tom—to use a human phrase.
"M'orse of course knew that whining wouldn't solve the White Martian predicament, only action could and if that meant playing the game by Green rules, then so be it. J'onn and Roh'kar eventually made it through boot camp and gathered atop Olympus Mons were they swore the Manhunter's oath before the Tree of Blue Flame. It was a sacred object that was their world's primary source of light and warmth. Legend had it that their gods had planted it to give life to what would otherwise be a dead world and that it would burn only as long as Martians lived in peace with one another. It admittedly had grown weaker in recent centuries. Regardless, many people there swore that it flared just a little bit brighter when they saw J'onn and Roh'kar jointly say, 'Once begun, to walk the path, to pursue the prey, to never turn aside, short of death, until justice is done.'"
Ostrander saw Perez raise his hand and nodded. "I was wondering John, what about Mars' role in the Wonder Woman books? I mean, if the Red Planet is your playground will I be able to have Ares daughter Eris/Duke of Deception have a base there?"
The Manhunter's scribe looked away "…Perez, you and I are going to have to agree to disagree on that. Mythology has no place in my story. The most will be that the Duke whispering war into the White Martians ears. I plan on this era being the Mars of 50s B-movies, a Mars of flying saucers and tripods. Only the campiest interpretations of Greek Myth could fit. Sorry."
Perez morosely nodded and Ostrander continued. "Happy days don't last however because Commander Ben Blanx rises to power among the Whites using every insult and oppression hurled at them from the Greens to cement his base on power. His slogan is simple: hate the Greens. After all, didn't they destroy the world for the sake of those clone freaks? Didn't the Greens exile them to the poles? Haven't the Greens humiliated them, driven them into poverty, and taught little White children to be ashamed of themselves? What did the Greens ever do for the Whites except take the water that should be the White Martians' by right!
"Blanx started out small but even though a lot of polar dwellers disagreed with him publically, they still stopped to hear what he had to say. Later when one officer was captured by the Manhunters and asked why he joined the demagogue, he explained why. 'Blanx was the only one who had the guts to say the hell with Greens!' Blanx ultimately became leader of the pale Martians and began rearming his people in defiance of longstanding peace treaties. It began when he nationalized all polar canals and threatened to cut off all the Green's water if they didn't immediately capitulate.
"The Greens, of course, faced death, drought, and famine if they didn't get the canals back and, not wanting to be the commander's slaves, declared war. There's no need to change what O'Neil said, J'onzz served as a soldier in the Green Martian army and served well. He was a Manhunter and hunted down the extremists who had plunged Mars into war. That's not to say that Blanx didn't have his own Manhunters; Roh'kar M'orse sided with his people and Blanx charged him with creating special operatives for the pale Martian cause. Both sides sent their tripods and saucers and every scientific macguffin the lab boys could think of. It was comparable to World War II for us or even bigger.
"J'onzz eventually became the Green's greatest soldier and a hero to the green cause. He was every mother's son, every boy's idol. He acknowledged that his fellow Greens made him a symbol of everything they cherished, kinda like a Martian Captain America, and accepted it. If his deeds and his stoic virtue could give his people hope then so be it but J'onzz never spent time in the lime light, not when there was was a war going on.
"It all came to a head when he was captured by Roh'kar and brought to Commander Blanx. While J'onzz, for all his heroics, was just one Martian, his capture was of inestimable propaganda value to the White cause. Blanx initially thought to put J'onzz to death but Roh'kar spoke for his old friend suggesting exile instead. J'onzz was respected by both Greens and Whites and the summary execution of such a Martian would discredit the Commander utterly.
"Coincidentally, Blanx was already considering invading Per'la'andra and taking the fertile world for his impoverished people. His research had shown him that it was unfit for conquest… but that it was fit for use as penal colony. Blanx had learned of one of the alien's attempts to contact Mars and waited until he tried contact again to get exact Earth coordinates. One flash of light later, J'onn is 140 million miles from home, trapped amongst alien monsters
"To be more precise, it's Denver, Colorado, and Earth scientist Dr. Saul Erdel had used his wormhole technology to open a portal. The year is 1954. Erdel knew from circumstantial evidence that Mars had liquid water and an oxygen atmosphere so he had hopes of contacting life; instead, he brought J'onn to Earth. He panicked and the rattle trap device he'd cobbled together from blenders and military surplus exploded, causing a fire. Though weakened by the flames, he remembered his role as a Manhunter when he saw Erdel hurt and rescued the scientist from the inferno. J'onn tried to comfort Erdel telepathically and keep him alive until help came but it was too late. Erdel died in his arms.
"Sensing humans approaching, J'onn made himself invisible and watched as they came to investigate. Upon observation the Martian was surprised that they fulfilled roles in society similar to the Manhunters. He hid from them and at first J'onz just lingered around the Erdel house trying to find something, anything, that could take him back home. When that failed and when he saw that Erdel's work had no ties to the greater scientific community, he realized that he was trapped on Earth indefinitely. He didn't know what else to do and so began invisibly following these 'police' he'd seen the first night and learned about something called… TV.
"As a telepath from a civilization of telepaths he believed in the importance of stories and how much a sincerely told story could tell you about the culture that thought it worth telling. After shape changing into a human, renaming himself John Jones, and 'acquiring' money by unclear means he rented a motel room and holed himself up day and night watching Leave it to Beaver, I love Lucy, and every TV show that graced the 50s. It was from all this that he learned something; stories produced by powerful individuals and meant to appeal to the broadest audience possible said that conformity was good and anything not confirming to the rigid ideal was bad.
"It's worth adding that the rare times he left the motel were when he went to see sci-fi b-movies with drooling bug eyed Martians. You'd think it would be an exercise in masochism if not for one thing; it confirmed his thoughts. Whether as classy as War of the Worlds or as cheap as It! The terror from beyond Space, they all said that the other is bad and must be destroyed. 'A monster,' he said, 'a freak, a thing to be destroyed, that's all they would ever see me as.' If they would segregate themselves by race what would they do to someone not even from their world?
"No, he couldn't openly reveal himself not even as a metahuman; the dissolution of the JSA was still a recent event in 1954. He also knew he couldn't stay in his motel room forever. He decided that he'd make the best of a bad situation and live in disguise among the humans until he found a way to return home. He knew that to survive he'd need more of this 'money' in order to obtain goods and services. He also knew how he'd earn it.
"He had seen form TV and from his own invisible observations that there was good as well as evil on Earth. J'onzz remembered the policemen who rushed to the late Dr. Erdel's aide. He saw them and knew that if he couldn't fight evil in one way he could do so in another. He passed police academy with flying colors despite a few eccentricities and became the best police detective in Denver, Colorado, thus continuing his life's work of hunting down criminals and protecting innocent life.
"Once again all this happened in the 50s when Martian Manhunter's comics were first released. He served as the Terran Manhunter for years using his powers secretly and letting his fellow police officers think he just got lucky. Eventually he retired from both the Denver PD and from his John Jones identity to embark on a search for a way to return home. However, as he traveled, it becomes more an appreciation of his new home and we thus explore the new DCU between the retirement of the JSA and the new age of heroes. Manhunter travels the world, praying in Mecca, tasting Italian cuisine in Rome, attending Brazil's Carnival, and reading manga in the medium's motherland.
"He studies humanity and maintains the masquerade, only using his powers in secret lest panic ensue. J'onn sees that he is not alone. All over the world he sees metahumans hiding for fear that they'd be subject to persecution. Despite the attention we've given the US, America, ironically, has the easiest time of it with how people just have to register with the government. The Soviets decree that all metas have the patriotic duty to turn over their services—their freedom—to the state. Europe is a hotbed for anti-meta race groups and the Arab countries… no god but Allah and death to the idols. J'onzz saw that the hard way when he went to Mecca. Kid with laser fists was lynched, after of course his hands had been amputated.
"J'onzz knew that there was a chance that all this could change when he returned to America and saw Superboy arrive to play Jackie Robinson. He saw no reason not to assume the identity of John Jones again with a new police force, especially since that identity's original incarnation had never been famous to begin with. It had been his first human identity and his introduction to the world, so he had a particular fondness for it. As a cop, Jones was once again fighting crime and again using his powers covertly when necessary; now it was in the small town of Middleton, Colorado, under Police Chief Harding.
"It was at about this time when Superboy disappeared that Jones noticed something; people actually missed the Teen of Steel. All the Kryptonian's heroics actually had made a difference for metahumans everywhere. Yeah, it was hard going in some places but when superguy-X saves the world for the tenth time, you change your opinions about him. Jones knew that he'd be able to step out into the open when Superman made his debut and immediately inspired a new age of heroes.
"The clincher was when Blanx invaded Earth. Its 1986 now and since Superman's generation began about ten years ago, that means J'onn's had been in exile for over twenty years by this point in our story, twenty years of wondering whatever happened to Mars. That was when Roh'kar M'orse made it to Middleton and met with J'onn to tell him that the war was over, Blanx had won. M'orse had also asked his commander to end J'onzz's exile and to everyone's surprise, the victorious warlord had agreed. It was not for compassion's sake, though, as he knew that fear alone couldn't hold the Greens in place. If the they saw their great hero acknowledge his legitimacy, the few remaining rebels would lose all theirs. In return J'onn would get a full pardon and a place in Blanx's regime. With his knowledge of Earth, he'd be invaluable in the Commander's long term plans for invasion. M'orse urged his old friend to take the offer. He knew the Green wouldn't like it but it was the best he could get and really wasn't so bad.
"Of course J'onn refused it and took Earth's cause. It was not just for the sake of ideals but his dream of going home was dead. From what he learned from M'orse, Blanx had not only taken over Mars but a great many Greens had converted to his evil philosophy. Why have high ideals when you can have immediate satisfaction? His old home was gone but he still had a new home that could yet be saved.
"The new generation had been around for just a few months when J'onn sent out his telepathic summons. The future Justice League, minus Green Lantern who hadn't gotten his ring yet (it was that early), gathered and were told by the Martian Manhunter that not only did Mars have life but that evil Martians had come to take over Earth as they had the Red Planet. As recorded in the original JLA comic… Hold while I go through this," paused Ostrander as he shuffled though a binder for an old comic. "Ah, here it is! Justice League of America #144. There the superheroes won though the victory was bittersweet for J'onn.
"He asked Superman not to take him back to Mars because, and I quote, 'Oh no, Superman! Take them if you will but I wish to remain! Once I would have sold my soul to return home. Now, I see the truth—the truth that I should have seen years ago! The Mars I loved is gone! It is world of lost causes and dead dreams! Evil triumphed over good there!'"
Ignoring the few snickers at the overwrought dialogue, Ostrander added, "Now, J'onn was truly an exile because now he had no home left to go to. Now, he told the Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Aquaman, he was truly alone." Ostrander grinned mischievously. "Or was he?"
"The heroes sympathized with his desire to stay but others told J'onn that he should delay his debut for a few months while the anti-Martian hysteria calmed down. When that happened he could make come out with the whole hero community's backing. And at that, Superman, who in this continuity was conveniently trained by the JSA, suggested some kind of team or society.
"Of course, that's what happened when the Appelaxians invaded six months later and on schedule." Ostrander smiled. "I think I'll let J'onn himself wrap this up. He told the future JLA that Blanx had taken Mars but that 'here on Earth, the eternal struggle continues! Here, one such as I—and ones such as yourselves—can still tip the balance the right way! I love my adopted world! It needs a Manhunter from Mars!'"
Author's Notes: I'm like Frankenstein's Monster. I don't die; I just need the occasional lightning bolt to wake up. ;-) My Godzilla stories are going slow but at least this is done and the outline for part two is finished. (And yes, after that Justice League at last) For everyone who's who still following, I want to thank you all. You're kind words keep me going. But for now let's check the mail bag, shall we?
SoW: Glad to have you on board and thanks for the line! BTW if you like bickering editors I hope you liked the scene with Frank Miller and John Ostrander. ("Nothing personal," said Ostrander. Miller smiles and gives him the finger. "None taken.") As for Damian Wayne, however, I already gave him a line. Check Chapter Part II. Its not much but I hope you like it; might expand it if I get any new ideas. Lastly, no major are OCs planned.
Sir Thames: As always, thank you for your kind words sir!
Wolvmbm: ... I honestly have no idea who wrote the Hulk in this alternate timeline...
Yeah... I don't agree with everything the real David did but he was the first writer to really tackle (among MANY other things) how the loss of his family might change the man. As for Manta, let's just say if there's a Justice League of America... then there must be a Legion of Doom!
As to the rest:
1) Shazam... yeah first JLA than Cap
2) Identity Crisis and Doc Light, not sure, I'm still working on an outline.
3) My JLA is Morrison's incarnation and Waid's Babel story is in the same vein. So... probably.
4) Heck yes! Teen Titans are definitely in there!
Well that's all and once again thanks to everyone who left a review and everyone for readiong. Don't know when the next part will be ready but hopefully soon. Until then, I bid you all a very nice day. ;-)