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Are Joe Samachson and Joe Certa As Nearly Well Known As They Should Be?
posted May 29, 2008
 



I'll be perfectly honest: I wouldn't have recognized those names if they were mentioned to me this morning. Anyway, they created the Manhunter from Mars, later known as the Martian Manhunter, captain of the DC Universe character second team for almost 50 years. It's a big day for our favorite invisible, telepathic, Superman-power having, fire-sissy Mr. Jones, and it made me wonder who the hell was responsible for him and why I didn't know that already.

From what I gathered through the links, chances are the above isn't Samachson, who apparently left pretty early on in the character's long run in Detective Comics. I don't really know that, but Manhunter from Mars vs. Manhunter from Mars doesn't sound like something you do in the first few issues. Certa stayed with the character for a decade or more. Samachson also gets credit for creating Tomahawk. Anyway: a couple of joes, and if you're a superhero fan, you should probably know their names. I know I should have.