As a sworn devotee of the Silver Age, the Fortress Keeper should love the Martian Manhunter.
After all, what’s not to love about a green alien who can read minds, shapeshift and go toe-to-toe with the Man of Steel?
Sadly, there’s an answer to that question and its name is Zook.
One of the great things about the DC Universe is that anyone, and anything, can be a hero. Dogs, cats, horses and small, flower-shaped aliens have all played their role in the war against evil.
DC has also provided a home to a number of imps and sprites who love nothing more than to use their fantastic powers to “help” (more like hinder) their favorite heroes.
Superman has Mr. Mxyzptlk, Batman has Bat-Mite, Aquaman has Qwisp and Martian Manhunter has - unfortunately - Zook.
While the aforementioned sprites at least appear in their share of memorable stories, the Manhunter’s “pal” does little more than speak broken English and forget to put on his pants.
Zook’s presence is so annoying that the Fortress Keeper can’t concentrate on potentially fabulous exploits involving evil idol-heads and extradimensional rips in the sky. All your humble narrator wants, and desires, is for the orange monstrosity to be fried by a judicious burst of “Martian vision.”
It’s true that creators like Grant Morrison, John Ostrander and J.M. Dematties provided more credible stories for J’onn J’onzz, but your faithful Fortress Keeper will always associate the character with Zook - quite possibly the most annoying being to ever grace a comic book page.
