A tribute to the Martian Manhunter

The Martian Manhunter has always been one of my favorite DC characters. The Martian Manhunter or J'onn J'onzz (his real name)  has never been a bestselling character but has proven to be a appreciated character never theless.

Debut
The Martian Manhunter first appeared in the silver age of comics. His first appearance  was in the Detective Comics series. Later J'onn would join the Justice League. Being a member of the justice league is where J'onn is known best for. Until the Crisis on infinite earths reboot, J'onn was a minor character. With the reboot he started to become a bigger part of the DCU. But it wasn't until Grant Morrison's JLA run that the Manhunter became one of the most recognizable DC characters. Beside starring in the Justice League America he was in a lot of other teams, most notably the Justice League International where he was often the leader.

In the late 90's the Martian Manhunter had his own series. Though only having a short run it was interesting to see J´onn having a solo book. Where in the Justice League he and his teammates would usually fight aliens or teamed up villains, in his solo book he would fight mostly masked villains and street criminals.

Death and resurrection.
Where the Crisis On Infinite Earths made the Manhunter are bigger character, the final crisis did quite the opposite, it killed the Martian Manhunter. After being captured by Dr. Light and Effigy, he was brought to Libra who would stomped him to death. After that, J´onn changed to his original Martian form. Before dying, he sent out a telepathic message to the Justice League. The Martian was burried in Egypt, his funeral was attended by many heroes. Superman gave a speech honoring  J´onn. In The Blackest Night (Green Lantern story arc) J'onn was resurrected with a black ring. While the black ring resurrected his body, it wasn't until the follow up story "Brightest Day" that Effigy (for reasons unknown) resurrection his soul.

New 52
In the New 52, the Manhunter had a short mention in the Justice League title. It was mentioned that he was in the new continuity part of the Justice League. But the time has was a member isn’t covered in the comics. The rest of the League didn't seem to like J'onn all that much. In the first few issues of Stormwatch, the Manhunter was part of the team. After he quite Stormwatch, it was announced that the Manhunter will be part of the Justice League America team that debuts in January.

Essential Martian Manhunter reading:

If you are intressested in reading more Martian Manhunter I suggest the following:

• The New Frontier - The new frontier takes place in the 40's and 50's and deals with the silver age heroes first coming up. It has a great Martian Manhunter origin story.
• JLA - This volume has 125 issues and J'onn appears in most of them.
• Justice League of America & Detective Comics from the silver age. These comic are a great way to read about the Martian Manhunter from before the Crisis of Infinite Earths,