Comic books are a very special medium, unique in a sense that they can convey a story like no other medium can. Where novels rely exclusively on words, art is almost entirely image-based, and movies and TV shows and the like have limitations based on a hundred factors, comic books blend the freest parts of words and art together to tell a story without the practical and budget limitations of moving-picture media. When the art and the words unite to tell a story that can only be told in the comic book format, the trip it takes you on is elevated a hundred times. No current comic uses the strengths and specialties of the comic book medium better than Absolute Martian Manhunter. It is a true work of genuine storytelling and mind-boggling art, which pushes every boundary of the comic book medium, and blends its two main aspects in completely stunning ways.
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The Art and Story are One
Every issue of Absolute Martian Manhunter is a visual treat of the highest degree, but issue #4 perfectly encapsulates what I mean when I say that the art and story are indistinguishable from each other. The plot of the issue sees the White Martian casting a white light over the city in the middle of a heatwave, which both figuratively and literally gets people way too hot. Fights and riots and murders break out across the entire city, and all the while everything is painted in a queasy yellow background with a gross white light on them. Agent John and the Martian can’t directly treat the cause, so they do what they can to stymie the symptoms. However, as the days turn to weeks with the unlikely duo near always being out fighting this, only returning to the house to sleep, Bridget’s resentment only continues to fester.
Again, I cannot overstate how much symbolism and plot is packed into each and every page. One page shows John standing, staring at the white sun with sunglasses on while the Martian cures two small armies of churchgoers of their anger. The only other person who isn’t fighting is a young boy, who is standing directly in John’s shadow, being protected from the sun by him. Every artistic choice is deliberate, and the biggest show of it is with the issue’s depiction of Bridget. At the start her color scheme matches whatever John’s is, but as she gets angrier and angrier, more and more of her panels show her as colored pure red, until she is only ever red. Then, when she finally confronts John about how he’s been avoiding her and is never home, both spouses are completely greyed out, showing how neither one can tell how the other feels or what they’re thinking. John’s eyes especially show this, as Bridget continuously says that she has always known John loves his family because she can see it in his eyes, but she can’t anymore, and the readers see that his eyes show exactly what the Martian is doing.
While the Martian finally manages to break whatever spell the White Martian cast on the city, husband and wife talk. Bridget lets out all of her frustrations and fears, telling John that she doesn’t even know if he loves her or their son Tyler, but now she does. This causes an explosion in John’s mind and soul as he never once ever wanted to give her reason to doubt how he felt, and it’s communicated in a breathtaking explosion of colors. She says she doesn’t know who he is anymore, and John is drawn as the Martian when he replies that he’s who he’s always been.
The Martian undoes the false sun of hate, once again casting Bridget and John in normal lighting, but all is not well. Three separate men all prepare explosive vests and head for powerplants at the same time. Bridget tells John that he should stay somewhere else for awhile, and the first explosion fills the page. She tells him she can’t live with a stranger, and the second explosion paints everything. John’s eyes go as wide and white as the false sun, and the third explosion tells you everything you need to know about his mental state. Then, with all power to the city gone, everything goes dark, just like how John and Bridget are in the dark about how they could ever move forward. The Martian reveals that this must have been the White Martian’s plan all along. The light was only a distraction, letting it drag the entire city into darkness while they were distracted.
Absolute Martian Manhunter continues to astonish by fluidly mixing its storytelling with its art, showcasing exactly what the comic book medium is capable of. There are things that can only be expressed with words, some things that can only be expressed with images, and some that can only be fully captured when the two work together in perfect harmony. This comic book does exactly that, and I am more excited than ever to see what the next issue has in store. You definitely have to check it out for yourself, because it deserves to be seen.
Absolute Martian Manhunter #4 is on sale now!
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Image courtesy of Netflix
