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What was the first appearance of Martian Manhunter?

Started by Limited66,

68 posts in this topic

adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
Detective #225 for many years was considered the first book of the silver age. Sometime in the late '80s or early '90s the consensus seemed to switch to Showcase #4 and a character that had a more lasting effect.

 

My understanding does match yours as I'm unaware that there was ever a time when you could construe that there was a reasonable hobby consensus of Tec 225 as the start of the SA. There were some attempts to promote Tec 225 at the start of the 90s and, as a result, that was when there was a dramatic price increase in Tec 225 leading some to speculate on the motivation of the promoters.

 

I thought it was printed in the old Overstreets as the first silver age book, but I must have that wrong. (I don't have my old copies any more.) Detectives was one of the titles I collected in the early '80s and I was asking John Verzyl why #225 was so darn expensive - I couldn't figure out why people would pay a huge premium for a minor character's first appearance - and that was the primary reason he gave. Perhaps I gave way too much credibility in my mind to his statement and I imagined reading elsewhere similar information.

 

Detective 225 was listed as the 1st DC Silver Age Hero through Overstreet #19. With #20 that distinction was dropped.

 

I guess that's different than saying the book starts the Silver Age. But it implies that the Silver Age is underway at that point, when it wasn't. I personally don't ever remember a time when Showcase 4 wasn't considered the start of the SA.

 

I notice that Overstreet doesn't call Showcase 4 the first Silver Age book, but it does call Flash DC's first SA superhero. hm

 

I'll go through through some of the older Guides. I did browse #20 which featured an article about the Silver Age (which is pretty clear about the importance of Show 4) so perhaps the attention on the SA caused them to change Tec 225 entry.

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Zonker

Zonker

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Martian Manhunter became a SA character solely by being included in the JLA. DC had many backup strips and heroes all through the GA and Atom Ages. I would guess that not a heck of a lot of thought went into throwing MM into BB28 at the time... but it made all the difference in the world.

 

 

Yeah, that matches my own belief-- MM became a silver age superhero only after-the-fact. As I've posted elsewhere, as originally conceived, he was just another in a long line of gimmicky "so-and-so, the adjective crimefighter."

 

Roy Raymond, the TV Detective

Sierra Smith, Western Lawman

Mysto, Magician Detective

Captain Compass, the Maritime Crimefighter

John Jones, the Martian Manhunter

 

In those early stories, he is just John Jones, plainclothes detective who secretly uses his Martian powers to solve cases. Rarely do you see him in his super-hero styled Martian form, and then it is usually a greenish halo effect meant to indicate his true form is invisible.

 

After JLA took off, he became more of a conventional super-hero.

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rjpb

rjpb

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Martian Manhunter became a SA character solely by being included in the JLA. DC had many backup strips and heroes all through the GA and Atom Ages. I would guess that not a heck of a lot of thought went into throwing MM into BB28 at the time... but it made all the difference in the world.

 

 

Yeah, that matches my own belief-- MM became a silver age superhero only after-the-fact. As I've posted elsewhere, as originally conceived, he was just another in a long line of gimmicky "so-and-so, the adjective crimefighter."

 

Roy Raymond, the TV Detective

Sierra Smith, Western Lawman

Mysto, Magician Detective

Captain Compass, the Maritime Crimefighter

John Jones, the Martian Manhunter

 

In those early stories, he is just John Jones, plainclothes detective who secretly uses his Martian powers to solve cases. Rarely do you see him in his super-hero styled Martian form, and then it is usually a greenish halo effect meant to indicate his true form is invisible.

 

After JLA took off, he became more of a conventional super-hero.

All true to a point - though none of the others could be considered "super" - and DC wasn't really

introducing other super powered characters at the time - I prefer the "Detective" Martian Manhunter to the later one - one of the reasons I would prefer Tec 225 over the others (while I would agree that Adv.247 is a probably more important debut - the story and cover are so lame I can't see getting excited by it).

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Old Fashion PB and J

Old Fashion PB and J

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This has been a wealth of information! Thanks for chiming in fellas.

 

I've always liked MM, even if he is a C character, he's got good backstory and plenty of potential for good storytelling.

 

 

Potential of DEAD

 

Seriously, hes dead. As of like 2-3 months ago. A few villians laid him to rest. :cry:

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Mister_Comics

Mister_Comics

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Poster: JohnT

I personally don't ever remember a time when Showcase 4 wasn't considered the start of the SA.[/Quote]

 

When I bought it off the newsstand there were no ages for comics.

 

 

Personnally I like the early stories of Jonn Jonzz in Detective. Up until that goofy Zook character showed up.

 

Zook started the silverage. :devil:

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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So is Young Men 24 not even in the argument as the first SA book?

 

It's a wonderful book! :cloud9:

 

But the titles all died, the characters were put to bed shortly after and there was no lasting impact.

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Limited66

Limited66

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This has been a wealth of information! Thanks for chiming in fellas.

 

I've always liked MM, even if he is a C character, he's got good backstory and plenty of potential for good storytelling.

 

 

Potential of DEAD

 

Seriously, hes dead. As of like 2-3 months ago. A few villians laid him to rest. :cry:

 

. Well, no one is ever really dead in comics right? Plus he is MM, there's plenty of ways he could resurrect/regenerate or some such.

 

 

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Old Fashion PB and J

Old Fashion PB and J

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This has been a wealth of information! Thanks for chiming in fellas.

 

I've always liked MM, even if he is a C character, he's got good backstory and plenty of potential for good storytelling.

 

 

Potential of DEAD

 

Seriously, hes dead. As of like 2-3 months ago. A few villians laid him to rest. :cry:

 

. Well, no one is ever really dead in comics right? Plus he is MM, there's plenty of ways he could resurrect/regenerate or some such.

 

 

I think the Justice League burried him back on mars. But he may be back after Final Crisis

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General Zod

General Zod

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This has been a wealth of information! Thanks for chiming in fellas.

 

I've always liked MM, even if he is a C character, he's got good backstory and plenty of potential for good storytelling.

 

 

Potential of DEAD

 

Seriously, hes dead. As of like 2-3 months ago. A few villians laid him to rest. :cry:

 

. Well, no one is ever really dead in comics right? Plus he is MM, there's plenty of ways he could resurrect/regenerate or some such.

 

 

Lately it seems like the editors are doing a better job of at least extending the deaths for a while. So far, Captain America, Sabertooth, Max Lord, Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) and others I can't think of, are remaining dead.

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Old Fashion PB and J

Old Fashion PB and J

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Yeah, I think Wolverine #55, right? Variant cover has that classic horror swipe.

 

Yes.

 

And to answer the "nobody stays dead" they havent brought back quite a few characters now. It seems they are keeping dead, dead. At least long enough for a big return.

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