Joe Certa

If you read through enough back issues of Detective Comics, you'll run across a guy who seems an awful lot like a rough draft for Maxie Zeus. The only difference is that instead of fighting Batman, this guy decided that it would be a good idea to try and recruit the Martian Manhunter, who has all of Superman's powers plus the ability to read your mind and turn invisible. And it works out about as well as you'd think.

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.