Where Were You When the Martian Manhunter Died?

I don’t remember.

This week, DC put the latest ad for Final Crisis in all of its funny books, asking the question of where we all were when the Martian Manhunter died. It’s supposed to evoke this weight or gravity to the situation that just simply wasn’t there, not since the villains, “changed the rules,” as Final Crisis writer Grant Morrison defends it.

I remember where I was when Superboy died. I was sitting on an old blue couch that my parents gave me when I moved out, at my old rat-hole apartment in the ghetto (not to be confused with my current rat-hole apartment in a different ghetto).

I remember where I was when Batman got his back broken. I was at my parent’s house, sitting on the back porch late at night one summer way back when.

I remember where I was when Superman bought it back in ’93. I was lying on my stomach in my parents’ basement in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

I very vividly remember where I was when Blue Beetle Ted Kord got shot through the head by Max Lord.

But a couple weeks pass, and I can’t remember where I was when I read Final Crisis #1? Yes. You know why? Because Martian Manhunter’s death was completely unremarkable. All this ad reinforces is that the brass at DC have no concept of what’s dramatically important or impactful anymore. When you pose a question like that, you better be fairly confident that the answer will be something along the lines of, “Oh, I’ll never forget where I was, because that scene shattered my entire universe.”

You certainly don’t want the response to be a pause followed by a head scratch or a shrug of the shoulders.