Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?: Part 2 of 2

[lordultimus]

Comments

[alicemacher]

More tearjerker moments... Lana's understated heartbreak; Krypto's, Lana's and Jimmy's deaths defending the one they each love in their own way. I even felt bad for Lex; such a brilliant (albeit squandered) intellect, yet the last thing he ever gets to say as himself is a desperate plea for death.

Myxzptlk's characterization here is very dark. It makes sense, however, hailing as he does from a plane of existence that's far more alien to the usual DCU than Superman would ever be, that his motivations should be all the more alien. One could I suppose get into a philosophical debate as to whether you're truly good, or truly remorseful for having been evil, if you're good/remorseful merely to stave off boredom. But that would be missing the point in Myxzptlk's case.

On another note, some time ago when All-Star Superman was last posted here, I made the suggestion that the maxi-series was Morrison's response to Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Both works deal with the supposed last days of Superman. Both subvert this by not having him actually die at the end, but rather wrap up his career as we know it. Both pay tribute to the hero's Silver Age. The major difference is that in Morrison's Last Superman Story, no one (as far as I recall) actually dies -- not the good guys, not the villains, not even Luthor. Without taking sides on the ongoing Moore vs. Morrison feud, I feel like this was a deliberate choice on Grant's part, as though he were implicitly chastising Moore for "grimdarkness" so to speak.

[teresa_rollins]

Ive always felt like Lex was was appealing to his childhood relationship with Lana. It was a desperate plea to a rival that he knew since childhood. Whatever happened between them growing up fell away in that moment.

[locuatico]

I think even the subversion goes in different directions. Which I think comes down to the classic "Superman/Clark Kent" dichotomy and which of the two "dies"

With Alan Moore... Superman dies. "Clark Kent" remains, but Superman is no more and is never coming back.
With Morrison, Clark Kent "dies" in that he is no longer around his friends and loved ones and he remains Superman fixing the sun.
To put it another way, it comes down to which of the two remain at the end of the story.

I also think that Morrison, by not having Superman kill anyone, makes a conscious decision to have Superman end his career with a "spotless" record

[laughing_tree]

I believe Morrison said one of his goals was to write a story that would please Superman himself if he were real.

[beyondthefringe]

Seriously, if the deaths of Lana and Jimmy and Krypto don't hit you in the feels, there's something wrong with you. Even for an imaginary story, the way they go out just feels so -real-...

That in the end, after all of this, after the death and destruction and tragedy, that Clark can still find a way to carry on and live happily ever after, really speaks to the humanity at his core.

Mind you, I read this when it came out back in '86, and I was 12, so yeah, it stuck with me in a big way, even before I truly understood who Alan Moore was or what he brought to the industry.

[mazway_75]

The Swan/Perez teaming is so good, especially the subtle bit of how Lois' husband looks just different enough to make it all work and that wink at the end was beautiful.

[tcampbell1000]

Not Perez here, though I misremembered who it was in an earlier comment. Kurt Schaffenberger. Like Swan, he was a classic artist who'd been associated with Superman for ages and largely retired after this story.

[bradygirl_12]

Swan and Schaffenberger are the classic Superman artists, like H.G. Peter is for Wonder Woman.

I like that little scene with Jonathan squeezing the coal into a diamond. If his parents don't know about his powers already, are they gonna get a shock when they see that sparkler! ;)

[gnarll]

This comic showed me what a terrifying thing an out-of-control Krypto could be.