Martian Manhunter

Welcome back to Supergirl Guys, our regular feature breaking down the highs and lows of CBS’s Supergirl TV show starring Melissa Benoist. Your travelling companions on this journey are Superman super-fan Chris Haley, and Flash recap veteran Dylan Todd. This week we got a heavy dose of Martians, metaphors, and emotions! So many emotions this week. “Strange Visitor From Another Planet” was directed by Glen Winter and written by Michael Grassi and Caitlin Parrish.

CBS’ Supergirl left us off in 2015 with a literal cliffhanger (well, discounting gravity and all), as Kara prepared to take on Kryptonian supervillain Non. A new trailer for the DC hero’s 2016 return teases not only the skyward square-off, but the arrival of a true Toyman, and Kara uncovering a certain Martian Manhunting secret.

CBS’ Supergirl will take a well-deserved winter break after this past Monday’s cliffhanger-y “Hostile Takeover,” thought many a DC fan have been left reeling by the prior twist that a major series star had concealed their identity as J’onn J’onzz, best known as Justice League founder Martian Manhunter. Now, Supergirl bosses explain the unanticipated subversion, as well as its impact on Kara going forward.

Welcome to Supergirl Guys, our regular feature breaking down the highs and lows of CBS’s Supergirl TV show starring Melissa Benoist. Your travelling companions on this journey are Superman super-fan Chris Haley, and Flash recap veteran Dylan Todd. This week, Kara finds herself powerless during a crisis, an alien named Jemm gets up to some truly, truly, truly outrageous behaviour, and Chris and Dylan discover they were right about Hank Henshaw all along. “Human For A Day" was directed by Larry Teng and written by Yahlin Chang and Ted Sullivan.

CBS’ Supergirl has had a cryptic relationship with other DC superheroes at best, but it seems a top-tier Justice League-r has been right under our noses all along. Find out who among the regular cast has been masquerading as a DC villain, only for tonight’s “Human For a Day” to reveal them as an out-of-this-world DC hero!

Today is the anniversary of the first appearance of J'onn J'onzz, also known as the Martian Manhunter, the green skinned telepathic shapeshifter who has historically been all but inseparable from DC's Justice League comics. J'onn made his debut in Detective Comics #225, in a backup strip written by Joe Samachson and Jack Miller, and drawn by Joe Certa. In this story, Dr Erdel uses a robot-brain and teleportation to capture something from space --- as one does --- and what he captures is J'onn J'onzz. The man who brings J'onn to Earth dies not long afterwards of natural causes, and J'onn decides that he is going to use his amazing powers to help humanity --- as long as he doesn't run afoul of his one weakness, fire.

Although cosplay has been present for decades within the comics, anime, and sci-fi/fantasy fandoms, social media has played an integral role in the thriving communities of costuming that exist, such as Cosplay.com and the Superhero Costuming Forum. Over the years, the cosplay community has evolved into a creative outlet for many fans to establish and showcase some impressive feats of homemade disguise, craftsmanship, and sartorial superheroics at conventions. In honor of the caped crusaders of the convention scene, ComicsAlliance has created Best Cosplay Ever (This Week), an ongoing collection of some of the most impeccable, creative, and clever costumes that we’ve discovered and assembled into a super-showcase of pure fan-devoted talent.

Q: What are the qualities that allow a character to sustain a solo book, and why doesn't Martian Manhunter have any of them? -- @RichBurlew A: I gotta tell you, Rich, this is a very interesting question, and I hope you'll forgive me if I completely ignore the first half so that I can talk about the second. I mean, let's be real with each other here, if I knew what qualities made for a successful solo character, I would probably be writing that comic instead of this column, and between the two of us, you're the one who's been doing a successful and beloved character-driven story for the past decade. If anything, I should probably be asking you. The Martian Manhunter, however, has always been a really interesting character to me, if only because in terms of being a solo character, he's the definition of an also-ran. He's been around forever, but he's never quite clicked, and I think the simple reason for that is that there's nothing he does that isn't already done better by someone else.

If a rumor from The Wrap reporter Jeff Snider is to be believed, Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment could soon have competing, craggy-faced, evil space gods appearing in their films very soon. Thanos has already made one appearance in a Marvel film, and his voice actor for Guardians of the Galaxy, Josh Brolin has been announced. Now, Snider reports that none other than Darkseid, the seeker of Anti-Life and the villain that simply "is," will be the big bad of the planned Justice League film, which is said to be coming out in May 2017.

This week, David S. Goyer, writer of Man of Steel and its upcoming sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, appeared on a writers podcast called Scriptnotes to talk about being a screenwriter for superhero films. Apparently he thought it would be a good idea to do this by characterizing She-Hulk as "a giant green porn star that only the Hulk could f*ck" before getting into an extended discussion about how the Martian Manhunter sucks so bad that he can only really work in a story where he also has sex with She-Hulk. Who would've ever thought that the guy who wrote a superhero movie with the line "you c*ck-juggling thunderc*nt" would have some problematic ideas about female characters?