The Martian Manhunter is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

, a superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 that appears in publication

Publication

To publish is to make content available to the public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any medium, including paper or electronic publishing forms such as websites, e-books, Compact Discs and MP3s...

s published by DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

. Created by writer Joseph Samachson

Joseph Samachson

Dr. Joseph "Joe" Samachson was a scientist and author, primarily of science fiction and comic books.-Biochemist:Joseph Samachson was born to David and Anna Samachson on October 13, 1906 in Trenton, New Jersey. A graduate of Rutgers University, he earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yale at the age of...

 and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in Detective Comics

Detective Comics

Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...

#225 (Nov. 1955). The character is known for being one of the core members of the Justice League

Justice League

The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics....

.

The character of J'onn J'onzz has featured in other DC Comics-endorsed products such as video games, television series, animated films, and merchandise such as action figure

Action figure

An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...

s and trading card

Trading card

A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...

s.
The Martian Manhunter debuted in the back-up story "The Strange Experiment of Dr.