Super Blog Team-Up #6 seemed like a perfectly fine event to  premiere the upconverted DC Bloodlines in its second life as a podcast!  Once again, we take the blog's title entirely too seriously and actually  discuss (shudder) New Bloods and Bloodlines Parasites from the 1993 DC  Comics Annuals theme event! Oh, and before you all comment, I screwed up  with the Levelator and didn't save the audio tracks like a good little  podcaster, so the background songs are way more foregrounded than they  ought to be. I'll watch that next time...

Spill Some Blood!!!* *across social media only.

Podcast: Threessentials

In a second(!) episode for April (clearly failing weekly offerings,  that's a step up from monthly!) we catch up with correspondence given  short shrift since the last mail heavy episode, #6: Strawmanhunter from Mars.  Besides reading all the long form comments since mid-March, Frank  elaborates at length. For instance, he reads a letter about applying the  "Three Point Model," three short definitive statements about a  character, to the Alien Atlas. Discussion includes the less than stellar  Martian invasions of Earth, John Jones' sociopolitical leanings, and  more randomness that hopefully augments folks' understanding of the  character.

After a hiatus of four episodes and three months, we finally return to  our year-by-year overview of the Sleuth from Outer Space's early  adventures, 1956 being his first full year of publication with a dozen  cases to cover. Co-creator and initial writer Joe Samachson is replaced  first by Dick Wood before the arrival of the longest consistent scripter  of the strip, Jack Miller. Joe Certa carries on with his own lengthy  run on art, here mostly on Detective John Jones as a plainclothes  policeman with extraordinary powers who only occasionally runs across  challenges of a truly supernormal nature.

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Podcast: The New 52 Martian Manhunter

In light of DC Comics' official discontinuation of the "New 52" brand  just as they finally announce the now-not-New 52 Martian Manhunter  series we've been waiting for since 2011, Frank looks at the history of  the Alien Atlas within the context of the current publishing continuity.

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Podcast: Strawmanhunter from Mars

This episode, we look at the solicitation copy for the 2015 Martian Manhunter (mini-?) series, as well as a fan rumor about Vile Menagerie favorite appearing on the upcoming CBS Supergirl show (we know better than to even hope without confirmation.) Then we  answer your comments from previous shows at length, including which  Marvel Comics heroes he most resembles (The Vision isn't even mentioned)  and more on J'Onn J'Onzz's solo viability related to that Comics Alliance article discussed last month.

This episode, Frank responds to an article on Comics Alliance by Chris Sims where the columnist devotes more time to thinking about the pros and  cons of the Manhunter from Mars than most folks would ever spare. Sims  felt the Alien Atlas compared unfavorably and unavoidably to Superman  and Batman in the Justice League, and that he works best filling their  vacuum in instances where the World's Finest duo are unavailable. Frank  mostly agrees, but explains that there are a lot more venues available  for that service within the DC Universe than might have been previously  considered, including adopting orphaned concepts from prior periods of  those heroes' library. Remember kids, just because you only know a  character from team books doesn't mean that's all there is to know...

Podcast: Martian Manhunter Multiversity

As part of a Super Blog Team-Up crossover, we look at Imaginary Stories featuring the unfamiliar J'Onn J'Onzzes of parallel dimensions! Trip the light fantastic with the below blogs/vlogs/podcasts!

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Podcast: 60 Years of Martian Manhunter - 1955

Three episodes in, we finally cover the debut comics of J'Onn J'Onzz,  the Manhunter from Mars. The Batman and Roy Raymond TV Detective stories  from Detective Comics #225 are given brief nods before diving  into a synopsis of "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel" (01:46). A  rather overwrought analysis of this first story of Detective John Jones  (05:54) precedes coverage of the second "half" of the origin, the  run-of-the-mill mostly standalone tale "The Case of the Magic Baseball"  (18:46). Finally, "Martian Morphing Mail" (21:10) has already morphed  away from the previous episode's audio, and is a bit livelier this  round. Coming in at a stout 31:24, look for the show to lean back up  again now that the heavy lifting of our subject's introduction is out of  the way (and hopefully less painful voice "acting.")

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Podcast: The Debut of Despero (1960)

This week, we look at one of the primary villains of Martian Manhunter  and the Justice League of America, Despero of Kalanor. Starting with a  brief glimpse at the JLofA's earliest issues and foes, we progress to a  synopsis of 1960's Justice League of America #1 (02:38,) Frank  discussing his first exposure to and thoughts on the Silver Age Despero  and his supporting players (06:41,) a synopsis of 1964's Justice League of America #26 (08:58,) further analysis on the character (11:46,) his current lack of a role in the films Justice League Parts 1 & 2 (14:17) and listener response on the first episode (17:07.)

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Episode #1 (Original Airdate: Dec 13, 2014)

The Idol-Head of Diabolu, a blog for J'Onn J'Onzz, the Manhunter from  Mars, is revived in podcast form ahead of the Alien Atlas' Sixtieth  Anniversary year. Acting as a prelude, this episode covers the prototype  of the Sleuth from Outer Space. Meet Roh Kar, Lawman of Mars...

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