In our review of Absolute Martian Manhunter #11”, Despero is doing his best to break John, as Bridget starts to realize that something’s not quite right.
ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #11
Written by DENIZ CAMP
Art and Main Cover: JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ
Variant Covers: DAVE JOHNSON, WERTHER DELL’EDERA, MIKE DEL MUNDO
Page Count: 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
Release Date: 5/13/26
This review contains spoilers
As John runs to stop the White Martian with both of his alien partners, one is trying to help him stay strong as Absolute Martian Manhunter #11 begins. But Despero’s pushing for despair. The pair are struggling for control, as the government agents catch up again.
Bridget, meanwhile, keeps telling herself the separation was truly Tyler’s idea…but was it really?
During the government fight, Despero keeps needling John, telling him how awful his luck with partners has been. An old partner of John’s had been a bit of a rat, Despero clearly has no respect for Martian, and Despero keeps accentuating the negative.
Bridget soon realizes that the windows aren’t opening, and that something feels very, very wrong. But she soon finds an escape route.
Despero keeps up his mental assault of John, telling him the Martian has always been in his head and that any free will he’d claimed was a lie. And then, he pushes him to a breaking point by claiming that Tyler died months before.
Mid-breakdown, Bridget tracks John down, pulling him into a hug.
Despero’s definitely been putting John through the ringer this time around. It was clear he’d be bad news when he first entered the scene just from the fact that his name is very close to “despair”, and he’s been pushing him toward the negative this whole time. But here is where that truly hits its apex.
One of my favorite pages for showing that may have to be when we see two scenes from John’s childhood at the same time, both involving his father. The first involves them camping, rendered in colors more related to Martian, as his father encourages him to be strong. The second is in Despero’s blue/green/purple scheme, set at a hospital, as John sits at his father’s bedside and is implored to be strong.
That image right there gets to the heart of the contrast between the two alien beings fighting for residence inside John’s head.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #11 also hammers home the aspect about free will, and if it truly exists. With what Despero’s been telling John, is it actually true that the Martian’s been guiding his decisions all through his life? Despero had said that he wouldn’t lie to him, but that also feels like it could be a lie in and of itself.
And we’re definitely hoping he’s lying more than he claims to by the time he tells John that Tyler died from the poisoned Chocos all those months prior. He may not be lying on that one, but that doesn’t mean anyone wants it to be the case.
On Bridget’s end of things, those sequences of her starting to see the cracks were really nicely done. Sometimes, the White Martian smoke overtakes the text boxes as she starts to question things, attempting to choke out her own sense of clarity.
The windows aren’t opening, the doors seem to disappear…the White Martian refuses to let her leave, and doesn’t even want her to realize that leaving is the right decision. It’s not until the green smoke creeps in and leads to a door that she can break out.
Given how the last issue ended, I’d wondered if she would end up hunting John down for murder-y reasons, but at this point, she seems to have broken free of the White Martian’s control, and I’m glad to see that happen for her. But that shade of green looks like it could be related to either the Green Martian or perhaps even Despero. And using John’s wife to twist the proverbial knife when he’s already brought him to his knees with the news of his son feels like the sort of psychological warfare Despero delights in.
Final Thoughts
Second to last chapter of Absolute Martian Manhunter, and things are more tense and trippy than ever, and I love this story for that. It’s the penultimate issue of this run, and this one brings one hell of an eleventh-hour drama bomb. How will it all end? I have no idea, but I’m pumped.
