Martian Manhunter Back On Detective Beat in New Orlando/Rossmo Comics Series

DC Comics is launching a 12-issue "Martian Manhunter" series this December with writer Steve Orlando and artist Riley Rossmo. First announced by The Hollywood Reporter, this new "Martian Manhunter" series follows his return in "Dark Nights: Metal" and prominence in the current "Justice League" ongoing.

"I've been calling this my dream project online for more than a year," said Orlando. "I started talking to DC about it at San Diego Comic-Con 2017. He’s always been my favorite character since I was younger, so to be able to fire our best shot across the bow of doing an evergreen story with him, it’s super exciting. Everyday I'm writing, I just can’t believe it; there’s no character I wanted to work on more." [Life on Mars? Top 10 Martians of All Time]

Orlando previously co-wrote the "Martian Manhunter/Marvin the Martian" one-shot.

Orlando and Rossmo's new "Martian Manhunter" limited seris is described by the Hollywood trade as "at once a re-examination of the character’s origins and emotional journey and also a detective story on Earth..." In this series, J'onnz will reprise his civlian identity as detective John Jones to solve a murder as it presents possible connections to his homeworld on Mars.

According to Orlando, the new "Martian Manhunter" will give the character added depth.

"In the past, J'onn has been too perfect. One of the reasons people have not connected to him is that he was a perfect upright cop on Mars, and yes, his family died but it was no fault of his own, and then he came to Earth and he was perfect," said Orlando. "Our favorite characters, that’s not them, you know? Spider-Man let the burglar go. Bruce Wayne was too afraid to save his family. This book gives J’onn that moment, and that’s the keystone as to why this book will be, is, the Martian Manhunter story, because we finally know the why. Why he strives to be so good on Earth, why he has this journey, because he’s never really had one before. All of our favorite characters overcome their faults, and we hope he’s going to do it here, but he has to have them first."

Originally published on Newsarama.