Martian Manhunter Annual (Volume 2) with a cover date of October, 1998.
Synopsis for "Heart's Afire"
Karen Smith entered the office of Smith & Jones before a girl appeared at their door and asked for help. Karen left the room before the girl introduced herself as Rachel and claimed that she was murdered and that "they'll" destroy the country before she was shot. Then, Rachel's body turned to fire and showed a vision of his dead wife and child. When Karen returned, she felt cold and wondered where the girl was.
John used his Martian powers to stealthily infiltrate the police precinct and visited Segarini for information about Rachel, although the Martian showed him a drawing of a smiley face while using his powers to plant her image in his head. Segarini searched and learned that Rachel Munro was reported missing by her boyfriend six days earlier. He told the disguised Martian that Rachel lived with another girl in an apartment. The Martian told Segarini that he would forget their encounter in ten minutes before calling Karen and giving her the name of Rachel's boyfriend's address. As Karen wanted to know where Rachel disappeared to, John decided to visit her roommate.
An officer named Dennis Lewis phoned General Washington and informed him that John Jones was looking into Rachel Munro's disappearance. As John drove down the I-49 in his '87 Chevy Impala, a BMW convertible knocked him off of a cliff. He escaped the car before it exploded and caught fire. Then, he saw a vision of Rachel in the fire asking him to stop them. As the Martian Manhunter, John caught up to the men in the BMW and forced them off of the highway before learning from their memories that at least one police officer was involved. John attempted to warn Karen, who was already outside of the boyfriend David Henman's apartment.
David allowed Karen inside of his apartment and the woman threatened him for information while the Martian Manhunter approached her roommate, disguised as an old woman. Martian Manhunter learned from her memories that Rachel was going camping with her boyfriend with "survivalist weirdos." He attempted to phone Karen, who was tied up by two men and General Washington.
John visited Sharpie's Bar and asked about the New Revolution before Dennis Lewis approached him from behind and drove him to their headquarters, where he met General Washington and saw that they had tortured Karen. General Washington asked John what he knew about Rachel Munro and the former revealed that David killed her for being a "class traitor", wanting to involve the authorities in the operation. Then, the general claimed that they were an army fighting the criminal elite and revealed that they planned to attack Washington, D.C.
John broke free from his restraints and transformed into Martian Manhunter and General Washington, who believed that the Justice League were tools of the new world order, pulled out a flamethrower and shot the Martian. General Washington ordered David to use the flamethrower, but as he did, he saw a vision of the Martian's late wife and child, which frightened him and caused him to burn himself. The flames quickly disappeared and Martian Manhunter read the general's memories before single-handedly neutralizing the entire army.
He returned to Karen, who had the general, Lewis, and David restrained and offered to remove her memories of the past minutes. As she attempted to light a cigarette, the flame on her lighter turned into a vision of the Martian's family, as well as that of Rachel, who claimed that he saved the country and that she could rest. The Martian held the hand of the fiery vision of his wife before she disappeared.
Appearing in "Heart's Afire"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- K'hym (Flashback only)
- Karen Smith
Antagonists:
- New Revolution
- David Henmen
- Dennis Lewis
- General Washington
- Leon
Other Characters:
- Rachel Munro (Flashback only)
- Segarini
- Sharpie
- Bill Clinton (In a vision)
- George H.W. Bush (Mentioned only)
- Ronald Reagan (Mentioned only)
- FBI (Mentioned only)
- George Washington (Mentioned only)
- Justice League of America (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- United States of America
- Colorado
- Denver
- Sharpie's Bar
- Smith and Jones Investigations
- Denver
- Waco (Mentioned only)
- Washington, D.C. (Mentioned only)
- Colorado
- Taiwan (Mentioned only)
- Siberia (Mentioned only)
- Vietnam (Mentioned only)
- Mars (Mentioned only)
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Despite the fact that this issue is an Annual, it is actually the first issue of the series. The Martian Manhunter appears next in Martian Manhunter (Volume 2) #0.
- This issue is part of the "Ghosts" arc of theme issues that ran through most of DC Comics' 1998 Annuals.
- Karen Smith appears next in Martian Manhunter (Volume 2) #3.
- Lt. Segarini appears next in Martian Manhunter (Volume 2) #1.
Trivia
- The tagline for this issue is, "For Love and Country".
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Martian Manhunter Recommended Reading
- Detective Comics (Volume 1): Detective Comics #225– #326
- House of Mystery (Volume 1): House of Mystery #143– #173
- Martian Manhunter (Volume 1)
- Martian Manhunter (Volume 2)
- Martian Manhunter (Volume 3)
- Martian Manhunter (Volume 4)
- Martian Manhunter (Volume 5)
- Martian Manhunter: American Secrets (Volume 1)
- Martian Manhunter Special #1