Absolute Martian Manhunter #2 (2025)

His parents were dead, seen in their easy chairs with a game show still blaring on the TV as blood pooled beneath their cooling corpses. Trigger stood in his room with his arms held wide and a pistol still in his hand, the walls covered in posters glorifying the conspiracies of the world while the image of a white alien stared directly into his eyes. Correlative to this, John Jones walks through the city streets with the strange colored smoke still swirling around him, turning away from the image of the red-eyed green Martian. John lights a cigarette and thinks to himself that it is not real, that none of this is happening and it is all in his head, but the smoke swirls up and takes on the image of the Martian anyway. The image whispers in John's mind, "What happens in your head also happens." John throws away his cigarette in disgust and keeps moving, but the Martian whispers to him that resistance is futile, though not in the way he thinks. John keeps moving and the Martian follows him as an image appearing everywhere he looks, whispering that understanding comes later and that total, complete, full understanding would result in mind self-destruction. The Martian appears as an image pointing at him from a man's newspaper, but John grabs it and crumples it up, yelling for it to just leave him alone because none of it makes sense. The Martian reaches for him, whispering "Be calm" as it places a hand against his head. Suddenly, a sense of calm overtakes John, washing away his agitation as he looks into his past and sees his honeymoon with Bridget lying in the grass, and smells his mother baking cinnamon rolls after school. The anger leaves John's mind and he keeps walking, pointing out to the Martian that humans have been to Mars and taken pictures, and there are no aliens up there. The Martian appears on a crosswalk sign and tells him, "Not Martian. Not literal symbol concept. Alien different far away." John keeps walking as the Martian appears as a parking meter and then on the face of a baby, always following him. Speaking directly inside John's mind, the Martian tells him that they must go because the parents are already dead and he will soon decide on Certa Street. John finds himself getting agitated again, leaning down toward a baby in a stroller to demand what it wants and why it is here. The Martian says in his mind, "I, you, we, our mind. Hunt, kill, save, redeem, healer," just as the baby's mother whirls on him, shouting for him to get away from her baby. Across the city, Trigger has loaded up his parents' car and left them behind, driving away ready to strike. John keeps moving as the Martian tells him they must hunt because the human race is under attack, with the alien now replacing the head of Madame Xanadu on a sign. John demands to know what they are under attack from, but suddenly stops as the colors swirl all around him. The Martian whispers for him to open his eyes to Martian vision so he can see people clearly for the first time. John looks around at the passing people as the colors swirl, and thoughts seem to leak from everyone's mind, turning into a long stream that John can see and read at the same time. However, the thoughts are not good, as everyone thinks of despair, paranoia, rage, and fear. John cannot help but stare as the world seems to shift into what the people see, turning into a world of dismay. The Martian whispers, "Evidence. Sociotoxic buildup of bad vibes." John turns and stares into the window of a psychic's shop, where the Martian smiles at him as the head of a statue of Sheba, telling him that complete psychoplanetary collapse is imminent and the responsible entity must be hunt, kill, healed. John nods and keeps walking, but the Martian reminds him they need to reach Serta Street, promising that a consciousness expansion and an upgrade are in progress since John cannot understand it yet. John stops and sits on the curb, lighting a cigarette while still seeing the thoughts leaking out of those who pass by. A nearby mailbox warps into the Martian, and when John takes a deep drag and asks what it wants from him, the Martian answers, "Partner, ally, roommate, friend. Time is strange, frustrating, short." The Martian warns that Trigger has reached Little Damascus, and John's mind seems to expand as he sees the gunman moving down the street, whispering about invaders arriving on Earth taking the form of human beings who must be hunted down. John's eyes widen as he sees Trigger open fire on a crowd, the rifle thundering in his hand. John stands quickly as his phone buzzes with his boss warning him that there is a possible active shooter event, that local PD is en route and requesting assistance, and that GPS puts him nearby. John nods, acknowledges "On my way," and rushes to his car. As he starts the vehicle, the colored smoke swirls inside and takes the form of the Martian in the passenger seat, who cheers, "Let's ride, partner. Spooky action heroes at a distance." Trigger moves down the street, his rifle barking in his hand as he finds his targets, whispering that the invaders look like regular humans and walk around hoping no one will notice. The man in front of him begs for his life, but Trigger raises his rifle, whispers "Welcome to Earth," and fires twice. John's car screeches to a halt and he rushes forward, but the Martian seems to leap directly from his mind and into Trigger's. The gunman whirls, but John throws up his hands and shouts, "Hey, hey, Trigger!" John can see the life draining from the victims, some of whom are already dead while others have color swirls of their memories and thoughts. John can also see the swirling thoughts of Trigger as the Martian moves through his memories looking for something useful. With a smile, John says, "Trigger Taylor, it's me, Clyde Tumis," as he sees a memory of Trigger camping with a friend long ago. Trigger glares at him, his rifle wavering for a moment as he says, "Tumis? How? How long's it been? I hardly recognize you." The Martian keeps moving, turning his gaze on the thoughts and memories to find where Trigger was corrupted, while Trigger asks if it is really him or if he is just pretending, his finger tightening on the trigger. John smiles and tells him, "Of course, it's me. Now, put the gun down, okay, so we can catch up." The thoughts drift away as another victim dies nearby and more people hide, their thoughts turning to family and regrets from their past. Suddenly, local police arrive on the scene, screeching to a halt and readying their weapons, but John turns and flashes his FBI badge, shouting for them to hold their positions. In Trigger's mind, the Martian finds a swirling dark matter pulsing and shifting in shape, whispering, "Level 18. Delusion hallucination. Brain rotter invasion coded classic us versus them architecture very delicate destruction construction bad idea number 2894 the everywhere everyone everything enemy simple to disable uncreate disarm." The Martian turns his gaze upon it, shooting red beams from his eyes and burning the dark thoughts away. Trigger wavers again, looking around at the bodies as if seeing them for the first time, whispering, "What did I? Oh my god, I didn't. What was I?" Suddenly a gunshot rings out as local PD opens fire, and the round rips through Trigger's head. Blood splatters, but John watches as the swirling colors of thoughts and memories in Trigger's mind release into the world before fading away into nothing. In that final moment, the Martian sees Trigger standing before the poster of a white Martian, watching it distort, take shape, and jump into the young man's mind. That night, John returns home, slips into bed beside his wife, and stares up at the ceiling, but his eyes are no longer just his own as the Martian stares out from them as well, realizing that this is worse than he thought and the White Martian has come to end humankind.