Temperatures AND violence are on the rise in Middleton. Can Agent Jones and his Martian solve the mystery before the whole city burns? Your Major Spoilers review of Absolute Martian Manhunter #4 from DC Comics awaits!
ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #4
Writer: Deniz Camp
Artist: Javier Rodriguez
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Editor: Andrea Shea
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: June 25, 2025
Previously in Absolute Martian Manhunter: It’s a heatwave in Middleton, as tempers and temperatures run hot all over the city! In the white-hot heat, normally minor conflicts between neighbors turn deadly at the drop of a hat! Can John Jones and the Martian cool things down before Middleton erupts into chaos?
AN INVADER IN THE MIND
FBI Agent John Jones has awakened to find the hamlet of Middleton gripped by a heat wave, a side-effect of a strange white-hot sun, which no one else seems to notice. Then again, the other denizens of his new hometown don’t have alien beings of pure thought riding shotgun in their mind. While John and The Martian try to unsnarl the mystery of the heat and the conflict that it brings, John’s wife Bridget is trying to understand why her husband moved them from Washington, what he’s doing in this strange little city, and most of all, why it feels like she’s married to a stranger. With Jones focused entirely on the fact that his beloved wife is doubting their love and the Martian focused on trying to repair the damage done to the sun, no one is paying attention to the activities of the three white Martians… until it’s too late.
The Martian understands only too late: Darkness was the plan all along
AND HE’S NOT ALONE
This issue opens with a beautiful three-panel sequence of an alien figure with a white circle for a head, which it then removes and installs in the skies over Middleton. It’s a breathtakingly simple sequence that I can’t help but be incredibly impressed by. The rest of the issue’s visuals are equally so, as Camp and Rodriguez blur the lines of script and art, making it impossible to try to break them apart. To show us the Martian’s telepathic read of Bridget, we literally see John reading her thoughts off her face. As the city descends into chaos, the argument between the Joneses builds, with the explosive moment of Bridget informing her husband that she’s moving out juxtaposed with the literal explosions of the White Martians. As someone who remembers the early days of Vertigo, I can’t help but feel that same sort of excitement here that I did with Morrison’s Animal Man, Moore’s Swamp Thing, and whatever the hell was going on in Books of Magic. It’s honestly a unique kind of excitement, one that I really miss feeling.
BOTTOM LINE: REALLY EPICALLY WEIRD
The Absolute line has been kind of all over the place for me, but Absolute Martian Manhunter #4 is a reminder of why companies keep trying the “all-new, all-different” takes over and over, giving us a 21st century take on a character soaked in the tropes of 1954, making the idea of a detective/alien hybrid wild, and weird and shocking again, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. At this point, Javier Rodriguez could doodle ladybugs wearing top hats on the back of the phone book, and I’d pay good money to read it, so having Camp and the rest of the team bring an equal amount of creativity and talent is the best kind of surprise.
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ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #4
A most bizarre story, balancing domestic drama with alien invasion, with the trademark visual madness of Rodriguez delivering a story that stands with the best of '90s Vertigo.
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2 Comments
The JLA debuted in The Brave And The Bold, not Showcase.
You are correct. I’ll fix it. Thank you!