In this review of Absolute Martian Manhunter #12, reality itself is brought to a breaking point.
ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #12
Written by DENIZ CAMP
Art and Main Cover: JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ
Variant Covers: ANDREW ROBINSON, WERTHER DELL’EDERA, SEBASTIÁN FIUMARA
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 7/1/26
This review contains spoilers
After a warning about the themes of self-harm and a list of resources for anyone dealing with those thoughts, Absolute Martian Manhunter #12 starts with John at a funeral, Despair/Despero hosting it. At that same time, White Martian’s throwing a party, with screams and chaos as the music and PossessedTyler leading a conga line.
Despair hands a concerned Bridget a knife, telling her that if she wants even a shot at saving reality, she needs to stab John. Martian fights with him, as Bridget starts thinking that, huh, maybe her husband was on to something with the whole alien thing. As Despair goes to join the Anti-Life shindig, Martian gets into both Bridget and John’s heads.
The party’s comprised of all of humanity’s worst concepts, also dragging innocent people into the line. John’s still in his head, grieving Tyler’s death and fighting Martian when he blames him for everything.
From there, we go into a flashback, starting with John’s youth. He gets older, meets Bridget, has Tyler, and deals with Tyler’s diagnosis (quite likely autism). He’s had immense trouble figuring out how to communicate with the boy, leading him to lash out at points.
Martian and Bridget are trying to get John back to reality, letting him know that Tyler’s not actually dead. Meanwhile, reality itself is physically cracking. Communication’s broken down entirely. The constant dance has left corpses.
Once they pull John out of Despair’s hold, we get glimpses of him and Tyler communicating in a positive way. And it’s shown that at the center of Anti-Life is Life, the two forever interconnected.
At the Shining City on a Hill, Agent Lowe reports John’s departure from the FBI to Uncle Sam. They’ll be keeping an eye on him. Meanwhile, John’s become a private detective, and is looking for his second chance with his family.
And that’s where Absolute Martian Manhunter #12, and the series, ends.
Where to start with this story’s end… This whole run’s been one hell of a trip, from the concepts to the artwork. And each issue’s gotten more and more beautifully strange. But they outdid themselves this time with Absolute Martian Manhunter #12.
For one thing, the whole prospect of a conga line spanning the world, made up of the worst concepts humanity’s ever conceived. Set to the sounds of screams and utter mayhem as music. It’s stuff like that that honestly makes me want to experience this in an animated form (and I mean actual animation, not AI-generated; that’d take away from the sheer artistry that is this title as a whole).
That may be one of the best terms to sum up Absolute Martian Manhunter in general: “sheer artistry” (along with “mind-bending” and other related terms). Things may be getting trippy as hell on each page, but you know it’s done with loving intention, and I’m here for it.
The little glimpse into Bridget’s history honestly explains a lot about her relationship with John. Her parents had a terrible relationship, threatening each other as she watched. It’d led her to self-harm as a teenager.
So, in marrying John, it was entirely likely she was hoping to avoid an abusive relationship like her mother had been in. But her husband also had a bit of a temper, and a complete lack of understanding in how to communicate with their son. She’d asked him to leave, rather than removing herself and Tyler from the home. As a kid, she may have thought that the problem was herself, but after growing up, she’s learned better.
Speaking of Tyler, the nature of the diagnosis wasn’t explicitly stated, but it didn’t need to be. No, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t on the autism spectrum somewhere. Neurotypical communication’s one of the big things they look for, and he wasn’t speaking verbally when the classic milestones said he should be. He’d found communication through art therapy.
Another thing I latched onto with Absolute Martian Manhunter #12: Holy Cameos, Batman! Yes, we have a few cameos from other DC characters. The Martian Manhunter run may have been doing its own thing in the Absolute ‘verse, but it’s still part of it. And we get glimpses of other players (particularly Batman and Wonder Woman) as they witness the communication and reality breakdowns in their own way.
The final battle of a lot of comics may be some sort of a knock-down, drag-out, city-leveling brawl. But as with everything else, this title takes its own approach. The physical breakdown of reality’s a dramatic enough visual, but the biggest battle is that inside of John’s mind as Martian wrestles him out of Despair’s sway. The visuals go into full-on Martian Vision, and John realizes that he needs Bridget in his life. The Martian may have set him on his path in life, but she’s his light.
Final Thoughts
Absolute Martian Manhunter #12 brings this wonderful mind-screw of a series to a fitting conclusion: life’s about taking the good and the bad together, and second chances are possible.
