Absolute Martian Manhunter #12 – Deniz Camp, Writer; Javier Rodriguez, Artist
Ray – 10/10
Ray: Reading this series hasn’t been so much a straightforward journey as an experience, as Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez created a bizarre meta-story that’s heavily inspired by some of the most offbeat, experimental Vertigo comics of the 1980s and 1990s. That’s led to a book that often needs a second read to fully appreciate – but the effort is well worth it. John Jones is now torn between two different martians in his head, a friendly green ally who has opened his mind to the hidden world around him, and the twisted tulpa known as Despero, who has been corrupting him after being influenced by the overarching villain and making him see his worst nightmares. The end of the issue hinted that John’s son Tyler – the main thing tying him to his old human life – might actually be dead long ago, sending him spiraling off the deep end and becoming prey for the hostile entity.
Describing everything that happens in this issue would be a fool’s errand. It’s an issue that needs to be seen and experienced rather than described, but I’ll say that this is a story that heavily focuses on John and his wife Bridget, and in particular how both of them relate to their son after his autism diagnosis. This has really been the heart of the whole story, and it’s incredibly emotional and relatable at points whether you’re the parent or the child who was never fully understood. There is also some very heavy material here dealing with self-harm and suicidal ideation, so approach with caution, but everything is handled tastefully and in a way that feels absolutely essential to the story. We get our first hints of how this fits in with the rest of the Absolute Universe just as it ends, but this feels much more like an evergreen, one-of-a-kind comic that people will be talking about for years.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
