Comics Review
Is There Life in Mars?: Rob Williams on Martian Manhunter for DC Comics
Welsh writer Rob Williams has written for 2000AD and for Vertigo, with his series The Royals out last year. But this month sees him writing Martian Manhunter, DC’s JLA mainstay character. Tripwire caught up with him to find out how he approached the Manhunter from Mars in this new DC series, part of their Divergence line…
TRIPWIRE: Martian Manhunter has been portrayed a number of different times in titles like New Frontier and Justice League. What was your approach to the character when you first came on board the book?
ROB WILLIAMS: You want to stay true to the core of the character and why people like him – and for J’onn there’s this sad, lonely nobility to him – but you also want to add to the mythology and deliver something new and unexpected. The Martians are here and living amongst us – that’s the overall threat of the book. They want to destabilise humanity and have us do the hard work of tearing each other apart, and we’re very good at that. So there’s a contemporary political thriller aspect to the book. The theme of how fear controls us through news media etc. But J’onn J’onzz is revealed to be part of their plan. The memories he has – they may not be real. And he has to chose a side. So suddenly there’s a chase aspect, with the Martians coming after J’onn, and him finding rather unexpected ways to avoid them. And we’re adding a cast of brand new characters here that have been a lot of fun to invent and write. The book has a ‘team’ aspect to it too.
TW: How did the book happen? Did you pitch DC or did they approach you?
RW: I was doing work for Vertigo with The Royals and some digital-first work for DC’s then-West Coast office, on books like Batman 66, Adventures of Superman, Sensation Comics etc. I think that brought me to DC’s attention. Dan Didio asked me if I’d like to pitch a Martian Manhunter series. Fortunately they liked my approach.
TW: How did artist Eddy Barrows come on the book?
RW: Eddy’s been fantastic on Martian Manhunter. It’s a tricky book to draw in as much as we’re detailing a number of different character worlds and genres. There’s the big widescreen superheroics of J’onn, which Eddy really excels at, but there’s a noir storyline for one character, a horror feel at times, and then there’s a character with a Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki-type feel. But Eddy’s doing wonders on all of them. Very fluid visual storytelling. Our Group Editor, Brian Cunningham, suggested Eddy on the book and it’s been a great choice.
TW: How closely have you worked with Barrows so far?
RW: Eddy’s in Brazil, but his English is very good. There’s a lot of good communication on the book. He sends through layouts to myself and the editorial team, the inker, Eber Ferreira, and the colourist, Gabe Altaeb. I’ve enjoyed that with the book, it’s been very open. Every bit of the process gets run past the whole team. It’s been very open.
TW: The character gives any writer the opportunity to look at the enduring themes of being the outsider, being outside society. Is this one of the things that appealed to you about working on the book?
RW: J’onn’s baldness too. That appeals. But yes, I do like writing those types off characters. J’onn’s interesting, as he can shapeshift. He could look like anything or anyone, yet he chooses to be green and almost a Superman figure but still very alien. He could look like Clark Kent if he wanted to. Why not look human and live with us? Suddenly that adds a degree of complexity to the character. My take is that it’s like a warning sign from nature. The bright green poisonous animals… “Don’t get too close because I’m dangerous”. He wants to stand alone, but at the same time he has embraced this world and its people. He wants to be a hero. Then you give such a character the knowledge that he was maybe sent her to destroy, not to save. That brings in themes of us us chosing our destiny over genetic programming. That’s very interesting to me. A book like Martian Manhunter should deliver big DC superhero action, but we can throw a lot more in there too.
Martian Manhunter #1 is out this week
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