Some thoughts about Martian Manhunter #1

Who is the Martian Manhunter?

J'onn J'onzz is trying to have a normal life on Earth as a detective but his past will always come back to haunt him.

Well, goddammit.

A new beginning for Martian Manhunter has arrived. I have always been a big fan of the character, mostly because of how compassionate, kind and relatable he can be despite of being an alien. As you might know, I wasn't that much of a fan of the last series written by Rob Williams due that it quickly devolved into a lot of pretentious writing and a conclusion that was really unsatisfying due that the writer focused most on delivering an idea that an actual solid resolution for the character. For that reason I was hoping that Steve Orlando would give J'onn the proper treatment he deserves based on the last couple of stories he wrote about him.

Unfortunately, that's not the case so far.

The story opens with John Jones working on a new case along with a new partner. This is interesting enough due that they have to handle a murder investigation and, while his new partner is kind of an asshole, they still have a compelling enough dynamic and makes what happens the end much more intriguing.

Here comes the problem though, it seems like Orlando's vision to make the Martian Manhunter more interesting is simply to make him a brand new character with a much darker past than everyone expected. It turns out that he was basically a corrupt cop part of a fascist government who bullied people into giving them money and really, aside from being a pretty blunt political commentary, it does its best to get away from the classic noble portrayal of the character that is just ridiculous, it almost reach levels of parody, is the kind of "edgy" reinvention that you usually see being mocked, except that this is taken 100% seriously.

Mind you, I might be getting ahead of myself. I'm pretty sure that Orlando's idea is to sort of "redeem" John to make him closer to his classic self but if that's the case then why changing his background so drastically in the first place? Is really unnecessary and I have to say that, while I hated how Williams went with the idea of how John was crazy all along at the end, at least he respected the portrayal of the character much more.

Riley Rossmo's artwork is really good though. He might not be a great fit for humans but he really knows how to depict the Martians as pretty strange creatures that are different from one another from age to race.

Not promising but let's see how it continues.