When Absolute Martian Manhunter #11 begins, Jones and the Martian are finally reunited. They’ve each been through their own trials and tribulations since they were together: the Martian’s grueling nightmare operation and John’s unceasing psychic war with the dark entity that has taken over his mind. A little growth, a little trauma, and a whole lot of character development have occurred in just a few issues. We’re here in the penultimate issue of the Absolute Martian Mindhunter’s tale to see if the cosmic dice will roll in humanity’s favor.
So, with what seems like renewed vigor and new layers of emotional depth, the dynamic duo becomes a tragic trio. Right away, this feels like the beginning of the last act of an action film. The momentum that Deniz Camp has been building over the last 10 issues is shaping up to be a surprisingly clear-eyed story, with arcs and motivations playing out in a more classical style than was seen in the first arc of AMM. Despite its high level of abstraction, the comic remains formal in its plot architecture, which allows the visual storytelling and philosophical themes to operate on higher and higher levels.
DC
One of AMM’s strengths is its consistency, issue to issue, in each aspect of the comic. The most rewarding consistency is in Javier Rodriguez’s art. Although the “style” from issue to issue is the same, that style is defined by unpredictability. This issue opens strong, with Rodriguez having firmly established his visual language by this point in the run. This psychedelic style continues to be an incredibly potent way to tell a story that very much takes place within someone’s mind, but shows that our minds make up reality itself, and the two definitions continue to drift in and around each other in this issue.
The delicate use of color, shade, and shadow allows flashbacks and hallucinations to occur within the realm of the “real”. The story and action of AMM can then happen on multiple levels at once. While this has been true across the series, this issue in particular highlights how well the formula works and the creative team’s ability to tell a compelling story within it.
This issue continues the focus on Bridget and Tyler as they struggle through their own dark possession. AMM was a great comic on the merits laid out in the first few issues, but it gets better as more characters are centered and fleshed out. Plus, it is refreshing to see this horror-show psychedelic experience orbiting a character that isn’t John Jones. Seeing the very real effect that these non-visible entities have on regular people adds some weight to everything going on.
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The mysteries get deeper in this issue, and they take on new forms. Gone are the cries of “what” and “who”, replaced by a large “why”? Why was John Jones in that coffee shop that day? Why did the Martian choose Jones, if he was chosen at all? With each issue that passes, more story beats are tossed onto the giant downhill snowball of this plot, but we’re given enough clarity to keep things from ever being confusing.
This many issues in, some readers might be wondering if the things that made this comic so novel when it debuted are getting stale. Well, they aren’t. No bit of this comic’s success has been a fluke or flash-in-the-pan. This second arc has so far been every bit as good as the first, and I’m very glad DC decided to extend this particular corner of the Absolute Universe just a little bit more.
Absolute Martian Manhunter ends with the next issue, #12. As sad as that is, I can say that this story is going to be ending on a very high note, whatever that note may be. The setup in issue #11 is satisfying in its own right, and the philosophical qualms that center the story have reached their zenith. Here’s hoping issue #12 isn’t the last time we see the Martian in the Absolute Universe.
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