Superman: For Tomorrow.......dubya tee eff?!

[Sean Walsh]

I bought and read For Tomorrow over the weekend.

And I'm still trying to understand what that was.

If I understand correctly, Superman created a paradise world in the Phantom Zone to avoid Earth dying horribly like Krypton did? WHY WOULD HE HAVE THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA?!?!?!?!

Ok, granted - the idea is actually kinda interesting. And Zod's inclusion was interesting. Although did Superman apparently forget he created this paradise? I don't get that part (and many others).

But frankly, the execution of this whole story was just...........awful. Even the stuff that was cool and made sense seemed so drawn out and dealt with in a way that made me care less about it. I can't imagine how people sat thru this from month to month.

Though it was nice to see the OMACs brought up in such a bizarre way - can't say I liked it, but it was kinda neat while reading it post Infinite Crisis - and so shortly before the DCU took the concept and ran with it as part of a Crisis.

[Sean Whitmore]

Ok, granted - the idea is actually kinda interesting. And Zod's inclusion was interesting. Although did Superman apparently forget he created this paradise? I don't get that part (and many others).


Wasn't there dialogue to the effect that he use some kind of self-hypnosis on himself to keep him from remembering, or something?

Either way, just because people starts disappearing isn't enough information for Superman to deduce that they were sent to the Phantom Zone. Not in the DCU, anyway. :)


SEAN

[Dinogrrl]

Oh man, I'm sorry you actually spent money on that thing. I picked it up in Borders and read it, or at least as much as I could before my brain screamed in pain and I put it back on the shelf and walked away.

It's a terrible mess of a story and sadly proves that writing is not one of Azzarellos' strong points.

[Jkid099]

The story concept itself is pretty good.

Superman is, like his father, and wants to save his homeworld. He feels his father should have done more, and to not make the same mistakes, decides to secretly make a safe escape for the whole human race. He does a post-hypnotic suggestion thing, creates the device as a gateway to the Phantom Zone in the event of imminent destruction of Earth, and sends the device there.

Ironically, in the post-Birthright era, there's a General Zod imprisoned there thanks to Superman's father. Zod gets ahold of the device, and sets it off, etc. etc. etc. and we have the story.

Pretty good as a concept. The execution was horrible. It made things confusing, and really, it took a few readings for anyone to really make heads or tails of it.

The OMAC thing was actually there for the sake of a "build in" to Infinite Crisis (you see Max Lord in the background and everything).

[Sean Walsh]

Oh man, I'm sorry you actually spent money on that thing. I picked it up in Borders and read it, or at least as much as I could before my brain screamed in pain and I put it back on the shelf and walked away.

Only reason I bought it was that it was all 50% off.

My friends who read it agonized for its entirety.....I guess I had to see it for myself...

[chriskenny]

The story concept itself is pretty good.

Superman is, like his father, and wants to save his homeworld. He feels his father should have done more, and to not make the same mistakes, decides to secretly make a safe escape for the whole human race. He does a post-hypnotic suggestion thing, creates the device as a gateway to the Phantom Zone in the event of imminent destruction of Earth, and sends the device there.

Ironically, in the post-Birthright era, there's a General Zod imprisoned there thanks to Superman's father. Zod gets ahold of the device, and sets it off, etc. etc. etc. and we have the story.

Pretty good as a concept. The execution was horrible. It made things confusing, and really, it took a few readings for anyone to really make heads or tails of it.

The OMAC thing was actually there for the sake of a "build in" to Infinite Crisis (you see Max Lord in the background and everything).

I agree. The concept was brilliant. Trying to find a way to save the populace of Earth if the planet was to be destroyed was a great idea. Having it be in th Phantom Zone and running into Zod was another great idea. But the dialogue, pacing, and general execution was terrible. Ugh. Great story idea, though.

[Indefatigable]

the dialogue, pacing, and general execution was terrible.Agreed also. I read it in a bookstore. My eyes kept glazing over but I wanted to see it through until the end.

[algertman]

It's like if Bendis wrote Superman

[chriskenny]

Bendis is much better at dialogue than Azzarello, who makes character sound like they are reading high school angst poetry... the characterization would be more interesting and colorful, as well, whereas Superman and everyone else acted so damned inscrutable and "mysterious" in Azzarello's book. Bendis would infuse peopel with a sense of humor, at least. And even when his characterization wasn't on point, at least it would be interesting.

But I concede your point in terms of decompression... Bendis's would have been twice as long! :D

[J. Robb]

Yeah, the concept was fine, but like a lot of Superman stories, they seemed to lose focus and fall apart. "For Tomorrow" turned into a guilty pleasure for me, the dialogue was so bad I found some of it hilarious. And the addition of the OMAC stuff seemed completely random and ridiculous.

I imagine they probably changed my favourite line for the collections, though. It was something about Superman being able to "cross the galaxy at the speed of sound." Wow, would that take a long time! :p

[SuperSince92]

For Tomorrow was a wasted opportunity for DC to supplant Superman back in the Top 5-10 where the greatest comic book character of all-time belongs. The inclusion of Zod made me cringe given he was the 3rd version of him shoved down readers throats over the past couple years. I still am not entirely sure what happened in the story after having read it.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

You'll notice that For Tomorrow has never been referenced again in any other comic. Even the destruction of Arctic Fortress was kept extremely vague in the "History of the DCU" thingy in 52.

It seems even DC knows this thing was a turkey....

[J. Robb]

You'll notice that For Tomorrow has never been referenced again in any other comic. Even the destruction of Arctic Fortress was kept extremely vague in the "History of the DCU" thingy in 52.

It seems even DC knows this thing was a turkey....
Good thing, too, or Superman would have had two "one year jump ahead"s recently.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Good thing, too, or Superman would have had two "one year jump ahead"s recently.

Yeah, in the first issue after "For Tomorrow" concluded, people even mentioned that it was Superman who had disappeared for a time, not Lois & a million other people.

Shortly afterwards, it was explained that Max Lord had been mucking with Superman's mind for quite some time so continuity cops had an explanation for the whole shebang...

[Kilgore Trout]

The inclusion of Zod made me cringe given he was the 3rd version of him shoved down readers throats over the past couple years.

Not to worry...

Johns and Donner are coming out with yet ANOTHER Zod soon in the pages of ACTION comics!

This time it'll be better...

No really, they promised... :eek:

FOR TOMORROW was the posion pill that I needed to eat to make me stop reading Superman comics...

It worked!

[pennywisdom]

Writing is not one of Azzarellos' strong points.
What an awkward situation for a writer to be in. Perhaps he should have stuck with furniture refurbishment?

No one should ever judge anyone's writing ability by a single project.

Bendis is much better at dialogue than Azzarello, who makes character sound like they are reading high school angst poetry...
In Ultimate Spider-Man, the characters are literally reading high school angst poetry.

[bannermanonemillion]

What an awkward situation for a writer to be in. Perhaps he should have stuck with furniture refurbishment?

No one should ever judge anyone's writing ability by a single project.


In Ultimate Spider-Man, the characters are literally reading high school angst poetry.

here is my main problem with FT. Azzarello writes the characters the same way a really bad impressionist does celebrity voices:

(monotone on)

THIS IS MY CLINT EASTWOOD: DO YOU FEEL LUCKY?
THIS IS MY JIMMY CAGNEY: YOU DIRTY RAT
THIS IS MY DE NIRO: ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?

On paper you're supposed to be reading Superman, Lois, and others but it seems as if the writer is barely concealing the fact that all the voices are coming from the same source.

Take all the cryptic-speak from the Matrix trilogy (from the Oracle to Morpheus to the Architect) and shoehorn it into every major Superman character's mouth and you have some idea why it was such a plodding mess to read through.

And on top of all of that we get yet another version of Zod that fails to resonate in any conceivable way.

Heck, maybe third time's the charm, right?