Skip to content

Please note that when you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Thanks!

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks!

Martian Manhunter Reading Order (J’onn J’onzz)

Introduced in the story “The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel” in Detective Comics #225 (1955) by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the Martian Manhunter is a DC Comics superhero also known as J’onn J’onzz (often pronounced “John Jones”).

A green-skinned humanoid from Mars, J’onn J’onzz came to Earth with an experimental teleportation beam constructed by Dr. Saul Erdel who can’t send him back before a few years. In the waiting, the Martian Manhunter shapeshifts into a human. When Dr. Erdel is killed, he has no way to go back to Mars. He then decided to fight crime under the identity of John Jones, a detective in Middletown, USA.

During this time, J’onn J’onzz revealed his existence to the world to act publicly as a superhero and became a founding member of the Justice League. However, he still kept his secret identity “alive” until “Detective John Jones” was killed in action. After that, he moved to The House of Mystery to fight a supernatural menace.

With Superman taking a bigger role in the Justice League, the Martian Manhunter became less and less present. At the end of the 1960s, he eventually went back to Mars and only appeared occasionally in stories and didn’t make a real comeback until 1984 (in Justice League of America #228). Three years later, Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, J’onn J’onzz stayed in the Justice League of America, unlike most of the other previous members. He quickly got a short miniseries that retcon his origin stories.

Now, the Martian Manhunter is the last of the Martian race. He has a lot of powers as he can shape-shift, fly, has super-strength and speed, possesses enhanced senses, can turn invisible, communicate telepathically, move objects via Telekinesis, and more! Despite his fear of fire, he is one of the most powerful heroes of the DC Universe. Also, he is known for his wisdom, calm demeanor, and profound sense of duty.

Martian Manhunter Comics Reading Order

Before going back to the 1950s, if you’re interested in reading a “new” take on Martian Manhunter’s first adventures on Earth, I’d recommend Darwyn Cooke’s The New Frontier which offers an epic tale about the DC Heroes uniting as the Golden Age ended.

The Pre-Crisis Essential Adventures of Martian Manhunter

During the Golden Age and the Silver Age, Martian Manhunter was present in the pages of Detective Comics then The House of Mystery (#143 to #173), but also in the Justice League of America.

J’onn J’onzz mostly left the title in issue #61 but was officially written out of the series (he was decided that he was too similar to Superman) in issue #71 in which the Martian joined the last survivors of his planet as a race war between White Martians and Green Martians destroyed everything. He became the leader of New Mars.

During the 1970s, Martian Manhunter only appeared occasionally, notably in a story published in Adventure Comics #449-451, and World’s Finest #245, or in the two-parter Justice League of America #177-178. He really came back as a regular in Justice League of America #228 in 1984.

  • Justice League of America: The Detroit Era Omnibus
    Collects Justice League of America #233–261, Justice League of America Annual #2–3, JLA Classified #22–25, JSA Classified #14–16, DC Retroactive: JLA – The 80’s #1 and Infinity Inc. #19.

The Post-Crisis Adventures of Martian Manhunter

Following the company-wide reset initiated by Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Justice League of America was revamped by writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (and later Adam Hughes). J’onn J’onzz was one of the few who stayed. The series had a comic tone and the Martian Manhunter was the “straight man” even if he also got quirky at times–that’s when he developed his cookie obsession.

Shortly after the new Justice League of America was launched, a four-issue miniseries Martian Manhunter coming from J.M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger introduced a retcon of his origins and redefined some of his character traits. Now, J’onn J’onzz is the only survivor of the Martian race.

  • Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 1
    Collects Justice League #1-6, Justice League International #7-25, Justice League America #26-30, Justice League Annual #1, Justice League International Annual #2-3, Justice League Europe #1-6, and Suicide Squad #13.
  • Martian Manhunter (1988) – not collected yet.
  • Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 2
    Collects Justice League America #31-50, Justice League Europe #7-25, Justice League America Annual #4, Justice League Europe Annual #1, Justice League Quarterly #1, and Justice League International Special #1. 
  • Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 3
    Collects Justice League America #51-60, Secret Origins #33-35, Justice League America Annual #5, Green Lantern #18, Justice League Quarterly #2-5, Jla 80-Page Giant #1, Formerly Known As The Justice League #1-6, Jla: Classified #4-9, Justice League Europe #26-36, Dc Retroactive: Jla –The ’90s #1, Justice League Europe Annual #2, and Justice League International Special #2.

J’onn J’onzz says goodbye to the Justice League in Justice League America #60.

Published in 1992, the miniseries Martian Manhunter: American Secrets written by Gerard Jones and drawn by Eduardo Barreto is a 1959 Cold War-era set mystery tale that is considered out-of-continuity.

In 1993, J’onn J’onzz became the most important part of the Justice League Task Force–the only member appearing in every issue of the run. This spinoff of Justice League Europe follows this ever-evolving team sanctioned by the United Nations. It lasted for 37 issues, not all of them have been collected in paperbacks, but they are available in digital format.

In 1997, after the Zero Hour crossover event, Grant Morrison and Howard Porter revamped the Justice League and Martian Manhunter was one of the founding members of this new iteration–and fought White Martians.

The following year, DC Comics finally launched an ongoing series Martian Manhunter. Written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Tom Mandrake, it lasted 38 issues and explored J’onn J’onzz’s life as he used multiple secret identities around the world.

The rest of Martian Manhunter’s ongoing series has not been collected yet, but you can find every issue in digital format.

J’onn J’onzz is believed to have been killed in JLA #119, but we discover that this is not the case in Infinite Crisis #3. This was a huge company-wide crossover event, you can find more information about it here.

The World War III event was in the continuity of the 52 miniseries taking place during the missing year following Infinite Crisis. The conclusion of the event saw the introduction of a redesign of the Martian Manhunter. It was explored in the DCU: Brave New World one-shot that led to the Martian Manhunter: Others Among Us miniseries.

After that, J’onn J’onzz was supposed to become a full-time member of the Outsiders, but changes in the creative team pushed him out quickly. He then appeared in the Salvation Run miniseries tied to the Final Crisis.

In the first issue of Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis, Martian Manhunter is killed, a death that is explored in Final Crisis: Requiem.

  • Final Crisis
    collects DC Universe #0, Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, Final Crisis: Submit #1, Batman #682-683
  • Final Crisis Companion
    collects Final Crisis 1: Director’s Cut, Final Crisis: Requiem #1, Final Crisis: Resist #1, and Final Crisis: Secret Files #1.

This death didn’t last long as J’onn J’onzz came back among the living during the next event, the Blackest Night storyline. At first, he was a Black Lantern, but he was fully resurrected before the conclusion. With others who were resurrected, he played a notable role in the weekly Brightest Day series. 

The Adventures of Martian Manhunter during the New 52 Era

In 2011, following the Flashpoint company-wide crossover, DC Comics relaunched its continuity. It was the New 52 initiative that offered some revised history for some characters. Martian Manhunter was reintroduced as part of the covert organization named Stormwatch–working with Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter, Apollo, and The Engineer.

After 12 issues, J’onn J’onzz left the team and even erased his presence from the memories of his colleagues! Then, he joined the U.S. government-sponsored Justice League, aka the Justice League of America, under the commands of Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor. It was a separate league from the “Justice League.” In fact, it was supposed to be an equivalent with the Martian being the Superman of the team.

In the aftermath of Forever Evil, with the Justice League of America being disbanded, Martian Manhunter joins the Canadian team led by Adam Strange in the new Justice League United coming from Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone.

In 2015, a new Martian Manhunter ongoing series written by Rob Williams and illustrated by Eddy Barrows was launched and finally gave us the New 52 version of J’onn J’onzz’s origin story. Not too long after the conclusion of the series, the DC Universe was once again relaunched.

The Adventures of Martian Manhunter during the Rebirth Era

For Martian Manhunter, the Rebirth era didn’t start immediately, but with the massive Dark Nights: Metal event. Before that, he was on Thanagar looking for Nth metal. That’s when DC dropped the Rebirth banner and mostly rebranded the line as “DC Universe.”

The Justice League: No Justice stories helped DC launch multiple new Justice League titles. J’onn J’onzz was the new chairman of the regular Justice League team. The book was written by Scott Snyder.

After a while, Martian Manhunter once again got a new 12-issue solo series. This one was written by Steve Orlando and illustrated by Riley Rossmo and take the form of a murder mystery.

Martian Manhunter’s Adventures through the Infinite Frontier and Beyond

Launch after the Future State initiative, the Infinite Frontier Era and the Dawn of DC Era are not full of Martian Manhunter’s adventures. In fact, since the end of Scott Snyder’s run on the Justice League, J’onn J’onzz has not been regular in any DC Title on the mainline (possibly because there is no JL ongoing series), except for the backup story “Martian Manhunter: A Face in the Crowd” from Shawn Aldridge and Adriana Melo that was published in Action Comics #1037-1042.

Beyond that, he still pops up in a supporting role here and there, appearing in the background next to other superheroes. Nothing of note though.

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

Pin
Tags: