Tomorrow Stories Special #2 [series finale]

[laughing_tree]

So I decided to do two or three things with that initial idea of the "Fighting American." Yes, he's a patriotic character, he's satirical, but it's going to be at least as much the satire of Harvey Kurtzman as it was of Simon and Kirby. Because, actually, Kurtzman's satire was sharper and funnier. So combining those elements, and also bringing it up to date so that it's not turned against the Red paranoia of the '50s, but against contemporary phenomena, like The Jerry Springer Show, reality television, etc. -- Alan Moore

America's Best in "The Lethal Luck of the Magister Ludi!" -























The First American in "How Come Nobody Likes the First American These Days?" -













So concludes Tomorrow Stories. So... any thoughts on the series as a whole?

Comments

Worse crimes than painful rhymes.

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

"Doppelgang-us"? Oy...

Edit: I originally scrolled through the second comic to make the above comment. I should've stayed with that plan. #flakyislamophobiawillbe_sponsored

Rather stale, at that

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

And still taking potshots at the Japanese. #postracial

[lordultimus]

Why make fake names for the celebrities instead of just using the names? I'm pretty sure parody clauses covers stuff like this.

[tcampbell1000]

"Yeah, but she makes her points so humorously that I'm prepared to accept them without examination" is a REALLY good line that bears a LOT of thinking about.

On the whole, this anthology series was a lot of fun, even if some of the gags are naturally dated now. Harvey Kurtzman's style of broad parody still works really well in FA, Splash Brannigan, and my favorite of the bunch, Jack B. Quick, and the Will Eisner riffs in Greyshirt were so good I half believed they were from Eisner or his studio themselves.

Cobweb was a harder sell for me, if only because the title character didn't seem to have much of an emotional range beyond "supremely confident bisexuality" and "ugh, how beastly." The stories worked best when Moore introduced an interesting presence for Cobweb to play against: Eurydice Tollemand, Greyshirt, the Weasel. Likewise, though some of Melinda Gebbie's work was quite beautiful, she seemed to struggle in the more artistically straightforward stories... or maybe her work just wasn't to my taste.

[laughing_tree]

Cobweb was definitely the most variable in quality because Moore was trying to do such different things with each episode. Personally, I felt it was least successful whenever it was in standard superhero adventure mode (the first episode, the Money Spider one, the one with the haunted counterpane, even the Greyshirt crossover to an extent).