In this review of Absolute Martian Manhunter #2, John attempts to find out more about why the Martian’s latched on to him, while trouble brews in another part of town.
ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2
Written by DENIZ CAMP
Art and Main Cover by JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ
Variant Covers: CRYSTAL KUNG, CHRISTIAN WARD, RILEY ROSSMO
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: April 23, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 opens on the scene of a double homicide, with the game show the couple had been watching still playing. The shooter, their son, is staring at a poster of an alien on his wall of alien stuff, with some visible camo clothing and a rifle nearby, psyching himself up for the actions he’s about to take.
Meanwhile, John is still trying to make sense of what the hell’s been happening to him since the explosion, but the Martian tells him that he’s not going to understand much about it just yet. That’ll all come in due time. In the meantime, he keeps appearing to John (and only John) in random places. It’s revealed that rather than being literally from Mars, the Martian is more of a concept of extraterrestrial life itself.
It’s also revealed that the thoughts John’s picking up on are all of the negative things going through people’s heads, ranging from self-harm to taking that rage out on others. The negativity that the Martian directs John’s attention to over the rest, however: the impending mass shooting that’ll be carried out by the shooter from page 1.
The gist of John’s new Martian-driven purpose is to help heal people’s negativity, starting with the mass shooter. John isn’t entirely convinced…but he does make sure to call for backup before rushing to the scene, himself.
John and the Martian arrive after the shooter (appropriately named “Trigger”) after he’s already gotten started on his spree. Trigger’s entirely convinced that his targets, a community of mostly-Syrian refugees living in Certa/Little Damascus, is really a group of aliens masquerading as humans with the intention of taking over. Okay, so he feels this about 99% of humans, but his target for this attack is this particular community.
The Martian probes his mind, which gives John a bit of information that he uses to try to talk Trigger down. He claims to be Trigger’s old friend from 6 years old Clyde Toomis. As he’s trying to talk him down, the police show up. He flashes his FBI badge to them to get them to hold their fire, as the Martian finds the source of his hallucinations and brings him back to clarity just long enough to be horrified over his actions…before a cop’s bullet takes him out.
John discusses this with his boss, while the Martian makes a discovery that makes his green blood run cold: the White Martian has gotten to Earth. We end Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 with John returning home to his wife and climbing into bed, staring at the ceiling as he ponders what madness his life has become.
So, story-wise, in Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 we start to get a sense of the overall plot for this run. From the look of things, John and the Martian together will help deal with people’s negativity when it hits an absolute crisis point. The extreme uptick in negativity that requires their intervention is probably the doing of the White Martian. While the White Martian hasn’t been properly introduced to John in this story, they have been outright name-dropped by the Martian post-discovery. During this discovery, we also see the poster at the center of Trigger’s alien shrine again, so that definitely points to them being responsible for Trigger hitting the point that he had.
But the question is: how much of one’s negativity when the White Martian gets involved is their own? Does WM amplify what’s already there? Looking forward to finding out more on that front.
John’s reluctance to believe just what’s going on is portrayed excellently. Shakily going for a smoke to calm his nerves, knowing that he likely looks utterly insane to passersby when he interacts with the Martian…even the random forms the Martian melds with, like the front page of a newspaper, a parking meter, a woman’s baby…Others give him odd looks, wondering if he’s losing his mind. He’s experiencing this, himself, and also wonders if he’s losing his mind. It makes one wonder if that aspect will come to a head later on.
Visually, Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 was stunning. We get more of the bright and trippy colors from issue 1. And the shade of green used for the Martian is very specific to him. Even in the normal scenes, where we might see some green here and there, his stands out pretty obviously whenever he shows up. The single eye likely helps, of course, but that bright green pulls the eye.
The color work overall is pretty great, with the scenes featuring Trigger on his way to his killing spree being done in harsh shades of red, perfectly displaying the sheer violence he’s about to take out on these people that had specifically fled home to avoid this sort of thing.
I think a standout visual for me in Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 would be when the Martian has been explaining to John how he’s able to pick up on everybody’s horrifically bad vibes. On one page, all of the signs in the city around him have morphed to reflect the hate radiating from those around him, John himself highlighted in a red monochrome. It’s just an incredibly striking effect.
Final Thoughts
Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 is a visual masterpiece, mixed with teases of the story’s antagonist and what they’re capable of. Things can only get crazier from here, and I, for one, am ready.
