DC’s Absolute books have proven to be some of the best superhero comics on the market. DC definitely took inspiration from Marvel’s new Ultimate Universe for this imprint; however the Absolute books have been lapping them in quality and sales, and nowhere is that more apparent than Absolute Martian Manhunter, by writer Deniz Camp (who has been killing it on Marvel’s The Ultimates) and artist Javier Rodriguez. Absolute Martian Manhunter is a comic on another level, a perfect synergy of art and writing that has enthralled fans with every issue. It’s the kind of comic where the best way to read it is to pour over every page, searching out the art for the hidden meanings, and then reading it again.
Absolute Martian Manhunter is casually brilliant, and Absolute Martian Manhunter #5 is yet another example of why the book is so great, as John Jones and the Martian try to stop the White Martian’s latest attack on Middleton. So far, the Absolute books have done a great job of referencing DC’s past, but Absolute Martian Manhunter #5 features multiple references to stories and concepts from the mainline DC Universe. Longtime DC readers will recognize these seven references in the book, as Camp and Rodriguez use all of their considerable talents to take Absolute Martian Manhunter to the next level.
1) Great Darkness Is a Reference to “The Great Darkness Saga”
The first reference that noticed while reading the book came as John and the Martian were driving through the darkened Middleton. The White Martian was able to make a coordinated attack on the city’s power stations, leaving it in darkness. The Martian refers to this as, “Great Darkness. Cosmic Darkness.” This seems like a reference to one of ’80s DC’s best stories — “The Great Darkness Saga” from Legion of Superheroes #290-294. This pre-Crisis classic pit the 30th century teen team against a returning Darkseid, who was trying to inundate the galaxy with darkness. Darkseid is the creator of the Absolute Earth, so it makes sense that the White Martian is a force under his control or even one that is fueled by his powers. In “The Great Darkness Saga”, Darkseid used a cloned Oan, Kryptonian, and other cloned New Gods as his cat’s paws before he was ready to show himself. Could the White Martian in Absolute Martian Manhunter be similar? The Great Darkness is referenced several more times throughout the book, and maybe this is a hint about the relationship between Darkseid and the White Martian.
2) Is the Final Night Coming?
As John and the Martian drive through the city, they notice more crime, and the Martian talks about how the darkness will spread and “the final night” will come. Final Night was a four issue event book from 1996 that saw a Sun Eater — yes, it’s exactly what you think it is — destroy the Earth’s sun. The heroes sprang into action, using their powers, resources, and intellect to try and find a way to reignite the sun. Everything they tried to do kept failing, and the planet grew colder and colder. The New Gods, the enemies of Darkseid, tried to help to no avail, but finally salvation came from a quite unlikely source — Hal Jordan, who was possessed by the fear spirit Parallax at the time. Jordan had tried to recreate the infinite Earths using temporal energies in Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time, and was thought dead after being shot with an arrow by Green Arrow. No one expected to him come back alive and they expected him to save the day even less, but he did, sacrificing his life and power to restart the sun. Could the White Martian’s master plan involve putting out the sun? Or is this something more sinister that Darkseid will try down the road?
3) New Gods Are Born
As they drive through the city, the Martian and John see lots of strange things. One little thing I thought as I read the issue was that shadows of people were sort of like the Shadow Demons of the Anti-Monitor in stories like Crisis on Infinite Earths and “The Darkseid War”. At one point, John and the Martian see the shadows of a group of teens as they create what is termed in the captions as “new gods”. Now, obviously, this seems like a reference to the New Gods, the group of beings that has battled against Darkseid since the birth of the Fourth World. The shadows kind of remind me of the technology that Orion uses to tap into the Astro-Force. The captions talk about the teens creating new gods to worship, giving them new names and stories, before burning it all away. This is sort of the story of the New Gods in microcosm — they were born from the shadows of the last world, taking new names and carrying out new stories, fighting and sacrificing until their own inevitable end, when the cycle starts all over again, birthing a new world of gods. Is that the point of Darkseid’s experiments on the Absolute Earth? To create New Gods of his own to burn away the others?
4) A Craving for Chocos
The Jones family has played an important role in the events of Absolute Martian Manhunter so far. John’s wife Bridget and their son Tyler both seem to know that there’s something wrong with John, and the way that he’s thrown himself into his work with the Martian to stop the White Martian has left his family feeling pretty neglected. Absolute Martian Manhunter #4 saw John and Bridget get into a massive fight over the neglect of his family, leading to one of the emotional pages I’ve ever seen in almost forty years of reading comics (anyone who read the issue knows what I’m talking about). Issue 5 sees the family separated, with Bridget protecting Tyler from the darkness. While the two of them are out at Pacheco’s (I know, I know, but that would be getting ahead of ourselves), Tyler sees Choco’s, the DCU equivalent of Oreos that Martian Manhunter is obsessed with (and appeared in Superman on billboards across Metropolis during the battles in the city), and he and his father, who are apart, both get a craving for them. However, Choco’s also showed up on the first page of the book, a page that showcases some of the White Martian’s possessed servants. We see someone injecting Choco’s with a poison before the page with Bridget and Tyler, adding some danger to the whole situation. Bridget stops her son from getting the cookies, but he finds some that were dropped when his father talks down the poisoner, putting them in his jacket, a danger to himself that will almost certainly blossom as the book goes on.
5) Pacheco’s Market
This one isn’t just a DC deep cut, but one that is about the entire comic industry. Carlos Pacheco was a Spanish comic artist who worked at Marvel, DC, and Image. His first American works were at Marvel, but he joined Mark Waid’s The Flash for issues #93-94 and #99. He’d also draw JLA/JSA: Vice and Virtue, the “Absolute Power” arc of Superman/Batman, provided covers for JSA, joined Kurt Busiek, who he had worked with at Marvel and Image as well (the two men were great friends), for Superman‘s “Camelot Falls”, covers for the Trinity weekly series, and provided pencils for Final Crisis #4-6, one of the greatest Darkseid stories of all time (and in my opinion, one of the greatest DC stories ever) with Grant Morrison. Pacheco is one of the greats; his simple, detailed linework making every story look like a billion dollars. Unfortunately, Pacheco died in 2022 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after spending most of the year suffering. It was a sad day for the entire industry. Pacheco was one of the greats, and his place in drawing one of the greatest Darkseid stories of all time is probably what earned him his place in this issue.
6) The Secret Origin of Everything
John is hit by an ambulance, with two of the White Martians killers getting ready to “help” him by amputating everything. As that’s happening the Martian is traveling through the Great Darkness, and comes across what he thinks is the “Cosmic Secret Origin”. Longtime DC fans will recognize this as the name of a DC series called Secret Origins, the first volume of which kicked off in 1973. There were three separate volumes of Secret Origins, with the next two kicking off in 1986 and 2014 (the second series has Alan Moore doing the best origin for the Phantom Stranger in Secret Origins #10, which is collected in DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore, and it’s phenomenal). In this instance, it appears that the Martian has learned the secret origin of Absolute Universe. DC fans will also notice another phrase on this page — “Creation’s burning Tiger Force”. This “Tiger Force” is very familiar to DC fans because it refers to the creator of the Absolute Universe…
7) Darkseid Is.
Jack Kirby called Darkseid the “Tiger Force at the Center of all Things,” and the Martian finds that out in Absolute Martian Manhunter #5. Now, obviously, as readers, we know that Darkseid created this world, but this is the first indication of him in any of the series’, the first time one of our heroes saw him. Darkseid is the creator of the Absolute Earth. He is the Tiger Force and the Cosmic Secret Origin. He brings the Great Darkness, and everything on the Absolute Earth is in some way his will. The Martian has found the secret of everything and readers get a truly stunning page (I’m going to be honest, when I first read this issue, I didn’t realize that this was Darkseid; this book’s abstract art has me looking for patterns more than for things like figures. It wasn’t until my second read that I saw this and my jaw dropped). On the last page of the book, the injured John, his life in danger, says two words that have haunted DC fans since they were first uttered in JLA‘s blockbuster “Rock of Ages” — “Darkseid Is.”
Absolute Martian Manhunter #5 is on sale now.
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