{"id":2390,"date":"2011-05-03T18:51:54","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T18:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2018\/12\/08\/1968-revision-v1\/"},"modified":"2019-07-11T12:32:45","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T12:32:45","slug":"whatever-happened-to-the-man-of-tomorrow-br-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/05\/03\/whatever-happened-to-the-man-of-tomorrow-br-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? (BR)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editorial notes<\/strong>:
\nThis Book Review was found as a ‘draft’ entry in Everything2.<\/sub> It was last updated on 03\/05\/2011.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky… but no: it’s only a bird, only a plane. Superman died ten years ago. This is an imaginary story.\u00a0<\/em>Aren’t they all?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow<\/em> was intended to be, in real-life terms, a what-if: what if\u00a0D.C. Comics<\/a>\u00a0were to end their money-spewing\u00a0Superman<\/a>\u00a0comic franchise? Or more to the point, if they were to end the Superman mythos, how would they do it? What would Superman’s last story be?<\/p>\n

Alan Moore<\/a>, the guy best known for\u00a0rubbing grit<\/a>\u00a0all over comic books, was given the reigns, and the results were published in XXXXXXXXX.<\/p>\n

The story and spoilers:<\/h3>\n

The adventure is told through a frame story; Lois Lane is being interviewed as part of the\u00a0Daily Planet<\/em>‘s 10 year memorial for the man of steel…<\/a><\/p>\n

It starts with a spate of attacks by enemies Superman and Metropolis had thought long gone, starting with a crazy\u00a0Bizzaro<\/a>\u00a0who tries to become an opposite-Superman, culminating in a blue-kryptonite suicide.\u00a0Othe<\/a>r vil<\/a>lains<\/a>\u00a0make their show, and Kent’s true identity is revealed. Fearing that something terrible is about to happen, Superman takes his friends to his\u00a0Fortress of Solitude<\/a>, and awaits the coming seige.<\/p>\n

Lex Luthor<\/a>\u00a0meanwhile stalks an icy landscape, searching for the remains of another of Superman’s foes: the andoid\u00a0Brainiac<\/a>. Luthor finds Brainiac’s skull, which he wears and is possessed by, \u00e0 la\u00a0The Mask<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luthor-Brainiac (ostensibly) set up a force field around The Fortress, trapping Superman and friends inside. The\u00a0Legion of Super-Heroes<\/a>\u00a0from the 30th century – a band with which\u00a0Superman as a boy<\/a>\u00a0had adventures – visit, giving Superman\u00a0Checkov’s gun<\/a>\u00a0in the form of a small statuette. The battle continues, Superman mourns that he could never love Lois, a couple of\u00a0pe<\/a>op<\/a>le<\/a>\u00a0die, and then finally, Luthor-Brainiac is defeated.<\/p>\n

But it seems that someone else was behind the whole things:\u00a0Mxyzptlk<\/a>, a being from the 5th dimension with\u00a0magical<\/a>\u00a0powers. Superman thinks, then realises that the statuette holds a\u00a0phantom zone projector<\/a>[1]<\/sup><\/a>. As the unpronounceable foe attempts to flee, Superman uses the projector, splitting\u00a0Mxyzptlk between dimensions and killing him.<\/p>\n

Having broken his vow to never kill[2]<\/sup><\/a>, Superman seeks out gold-kryptonite, which irreversibly strips his powers, and walks out alone into the arctic.<\/p>\n

Thoughts and reflections:<\/h3>\n

It’s difficult to know how to evaluate this; by contemporary standards, it’s not very good.<\/p>\n

The story is not very substantial: essentially a checklist of Superman motifs, awaiting a final reveal as to\u00a0who<\/em>\u00a0is responsible. Emotional salience is achieved merely by\u00a0that which is not done<\/em>\u00a0in comic books, namely, killing off any of the favourites.\u00a0But<\/em>, in 1986 this was shocking, and the mere\u00a0idea<\/em>\u00a0of Superman dying in a last blaze of glory was considered sufficiently unthinkable so as to justify the story’s narrative.<\/p>\n

With all that said, the notion of what could be done as the last Superman story is tantalizing. Here are some ideas of my own:<\/p>\n

Take a leaf out of Shakespeare’s\u00a0Julius Ceaser<\/a>\u00a0and focus on what happens\u00a0after<\/em>\u00a0Superman dies.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> Why does Superman have a phantom zone projector at hand? Because the Fortress (as originally conceived) is a place where Superman keeps memorials from all his past battles. It’s like his\u00a0pool room<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> I’m not sure when, or even if, Superman ever explicitly made this promise. In the\u00a0golden age<\/a>, Superman’s actions occasionally resulted in the death of others. Presumably, this oath was more of an understanding<\/em>, perpetuated throughout the\u00a0silver age<\/a>, and for which this storyline is ultimately intended to be an elegy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial notes: This Book Review was found as a ‘draft’ entry in Everything2. It was last updated on 03\/05\/2011. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky… but no: it’s only a bird, only a plane. Superman died ten years ago. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,198,267,204,97],"tags":[],"metadata":[158],"class_list":["post-2390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-book-review","category-comics","category-everything2","category-superman","metadata-shai_footnotes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1772,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/03\/13\/golden-age-superman\/","url_meta":{"origin":2390,"position":0},"title":"Golden Age Superman","author":"Pala","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Shai was always fascinated with cartoon characters and, at least as his written coverage is concerned, mostly with Superman. Between March 2011 and December 2014, Shai writes\u00a0nine articles dedicated to this superhero and in November 2014 he starts a blog dedicated to reviewing Superman novels. Superman\u00a0came first, anyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/21\/heart-of-stone\/","url_meta":{"origin":2390,"position":1},"title":"Heart of Stone","author":"pastfarpoint","date":"November 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As I write this, I am also experimenting with possibilities: what will I write, what will it mean, what is its purpose? If the tone of these questions sounds excessively ponderous, then that is only a side-effect of what I wonder, here and more generally. I am noticing that although\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2926,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/20\/superman-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2390,"position":2},"title":"Superman #2","author":"Pala","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This will\u00a0start from Action Comics Annual #1, then overlap with the Millennium event. Superman Annual\u00a0#1\u00a0Tears for Titano. (Dr Moyers [cf. S#7], also Mrs Wallers and Mr Steel). An experiment that escapes, and keeps growing until Moyers kills it. Action Comics Annual\u00a0#1.\u00a0Superman helps Batman out in a small town with an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2919,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/15\/superman-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":2390,"position":3},"title":"Superman #1","author":"Pala","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Having dedicated two earlier entries in 2011 to Superman, in November 2015 Shai\u00a0returns to writing\u00a0about superheroes. In a month of flurried activity between mid-November and mid-December 2014, Shai writes 13 posts, dedicated to reviewing Superman, Hawkman, Aquaman and Flash. The post below is one of a number of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2934,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/18\/comics-reading-index\/","url_meta":{"origin":2390,"position":4},"title":"Comics Reading Index","author":"Pala","date":"November 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Superman: Superman The Man of Steel volumes #1-2, incl. LEGENDS.;\u00a0Superman The Man of Steel volume #3-5. Equiv. Superman The Man of Steel volume #6, overlap. MILLENIUM; incl.\u00a0World of Metropolis;\u00a0Supergirl Saga; overlap.\u00a0INVASION!. Exile, Eradication! Krisis, Time and Time, Panic; incl. Luthor Unauthorized; incl. ARMAGEDDON2001. Death and Return of Superman Justice League:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":557,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/11\/20\/legends\/","url_meta":{"origin":2390,"position":5},"title":"Legends","author":"pastfarpoint","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: In November 2014, Shai opens his sixth\u00a0blog\u00a0dedicated to Superman. While only two posts ever got written in this blog, and only one published, Shai writes extensively about this and other superheroes, altogether dedicating\u00a015 essays\u00a0and articles to these comic book characters. This post was found in 'Draft' mode in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-Cy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2390"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=2390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}