Published Feb 20, 2026, 5:13 PM EST
Sean O’Connell is a globally recognized film journalist and author who has been covering Hollywood since 1999. His byline has appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, CinemaBlend, and Fandango, to name a few. He is a longstanding member of the Critics Choice Association, and has served on the organization's Board of Directors since 2018. For years, Sean traveled the world co-hosting the industry-respected film podcast ReelBlend with fellow Critics Choice Association members Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. The pod became a favorite interview stop for prestigious filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Sir Ridley Scott, Greta Gerwig, The Russo Brothers, Zack Snyder, and Tom Hanks. A rabid comic book geek, Sean has published three nonfiction books that delve deep into the entertainment industry: Release the Snyder Cut, detailing the controversial saga of Zack Snyder’s Justice League; With Great Power, an in-depth retelling of Spider-Man’s history in Hollywood, and; Bruce Willis: Celebrating The Cinematic Legacy Of An Unbreakable Hollywood Icon.
The ongoing story of the DC Absolute storyline has been the success of each book, from the explosion of attention that has been swirling around Absolute Batman to the changes that Jason Aaron has been making to Superman’s long-standing mythology. Most of us assumed that the Absolute books would extend on forever, but today we learned that will not be the case.
Artist Javier Rodriguez took to X today to reveal the gorgeous cover for Absolute Martian Manhunter #12. But in his Tweet about the book, Rodriguez revealed to a stunned readership that this would be “Or. Last. Issue.” And fans went nuts.
More than anything, fans of DC Comics, and specifically of the story that Javier Rodriguez and skilled writer Deniz Camp were telling, wanted to know why. The book definitely has been the most experimental of the Absolute storylines, even managing to be different from a book that originated with Wonder Woman in Hell.
Deniz Camp also took to social media with an explanation. He elaborated that he had a real fear of being able to keep up the originality of the storytelling. Camp said on X:
In that messaging, Deniz Camp does make it clear that they are leaving the book on their own terms, and that they have the capacity to return to it if they come up with a story that needs to be told. As he stated in another post on social media, Absolute Martian Manhunter was only meant to be 6 issues, so the fact that it extended speaks volumes to the book's success. And it was Scott Snyder who confirmed that the decision to end Absolute Martian Manhunter was all Camp and Rodriguez's, stating:
What Was Absolute Martian Manhunter About?
All of the Absolute books reinvent the mythologies of their central characters, but we really haven't seen anything like Absolute Martian Manhunter before. Far more abstract than the rest of the Absolute books, this was a psychological study of a man falling apart as his marriage and family life crumbled. The man in question just happened to be an extremely dedicated FBI Agent named John Jones, who had become possessed by an alien force.
There wasn't so much an evil adversary for Jones to confront in each issue, so much as it showed him encountering social unrest in the streets, and complete upheaval waiting for him back at him. His wife and child hated that he worked as much as he did, but the power given to him by his "Martianvision" meant that he too often saw the worst in humanity, and therefore could never rest.
While it's sad to hear that Absolute Martian Manhunter will be ending, we just got confirmation of at least two new Absolute books that will arrive in 2026. There is the potential that Manhunter can come back. And the rest of the Absolute Universe shows no real signs of slowing down. So keep it here with CBR as we continue to cover the DC Absolute beat, and make sure to grab issues pf these lines as they arrive in stores.
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