Absolute Martian Manhunter #5 Variant Cover

When the Absolute Martian Manhunter book was announced last year, with the promotional images of the titular martian as a floating psychedelic green blob, my hype was through the roof for a weird-comic lover, such as myself. Deniz Camp had already won me over by building a new dystopian Marvel world, one that rang unsettlingly true to the real world in various regards. Combined with Javier Rodriguez and this creative team, he has lived up to every bit of the hype. This is a series that has moved me deeply, extolling the importance of empathy and human connection against the collective manifestation of a toxic mindset.

Dustin Nguyen’s cover for #5 is a beautifully abstract piece that perfectly captures the vibe of the entire series. Throughout the comic, wild bursts of color are constantly exploding onto the page, John Jones is stumbling around trying to make sense of the martian vision his new friend has granted him. There's an ongoing, pervading, Lynchian sense that the subconscious feeling invoked by a scene is more important than what is physically unfolding. What better way is there to summarize all this than a delightfully cubist painting that encourages your eyes to stroll around the geometric shapes and find all the hidden imagery?

I've always tried to gear my collection towards art from books that I connected with, and more recently I've been trying to steer more towards images that stand alone and tell a story all on their own. This is all of that and more. Much appreciation to Dustin for letting this one go; he was a pleasure to deal with.