Superman's Lee/Azzarello run

[SpartanX]

I just tried to read Azarello/Lee SUperman and i cant understand it, can someone explain it to me?

[TheWolfOfAsgard]

I just tried to read Azarello/Lee SUperman and i cant understand it, can someone explain it to me?

Not too many can.

To me I think it was that Superman tried to create a device that would protect the population of the world but it misfired or something and got sent to the Phantom Zone where Zod got his hands on it and used it to 'port 1 million people from Earth to the Phantom Zone. That was the MIssing. A year later Superman decides he needs to fire the device again and that's when Wonder Woman shows up to stop him but he does it anyway and ends up in the Phantom Zone where robot replacement of his parents arehelping some of the people acclimate to the Zone while others are siding with Zod who is planning to attack the settlement. Big fight. The priest that was helping Superman gets tricked into becoming a cyborg killer and ends up the Zone as well where he is who eventually defeats Zod his 'pet' and everyone is returned to Earth.


See that was simple right? Right?

[Lubichev]

I'm still like, "Wha?"

Too long, too confusing. Too much wasted paper.

Looked good, though. And even that didn't do a whole lot for me.

Sorry I can't help you.

[megladon8]

One of my very favorite Superman stories...and this is the first time I have ever heard anyone call it confusing. That baffles me.

But anyways...the following is a basic overview of the entire "For Tomorrow" stoy arc. I may have missed little irrelevant details because I haven't read it in a while, but this gives the jist of it. Don't read it if you don't want it spoiled...

Basically, Superman created a device to protect humanity, but it malfunctioned and caused an event which they refer to as "The Vanishing". Millions of people worldwide just suddenly vanished without a trace, one of them being Lois Lane. Superman is, obviously, racked with guilt over this.

Skip forward a year. A priest and friend of Superman is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He pleads with Superman to save him. Superman is torn between his vow to never interfere with human history (ie curing cancer - which he could do easily) or trying to find the people that vanished and save them if possible. Government agents and others are after the mechanism that caused The Vanishing, and Superman must decide what to do. So he uses the device on himself, only to find that all the people were actually sent to The Phantom Zone, the alternate reality prison that his father created before.

Once in the Phantom Zone, Superman must fight his long-lost enemy, General Zod, while simultaneously trying to send all the people back to Earth. This is of course quite an epic battle, as Zod has spent all this time training and building up his hatred towards Superman/Kal-El/The Son of Jor-El. Long story short, Superman wins, people get sent back to Earth.

When he gets back, the government agents that were after the device have kidnapped the priest he had confided in throughout the story arc, and have turned him into a horrible monster man/machine war creature thingy.

Also, in a huge fight with Wonder Woman, Superman destroyed his own Fortress of Solitude, so he rebuilt it in a jungle.

[Sean Whitmore]

To me I think it was that Superman tried to create a device that would protect the population of the world but it misfired or something and got sent to the Phantom Zone

It seemed to me like Superman's plan WAS to ship the population of Earth into the Phantom Zone, should Earth every face destruction like Krypton did. The Phantom Zone projector apparently existed both on Earth and in the Zone. Zod found the paet of the projector that was accessible from the Zone and used it to zap some of Earth's population ahead of schedule.


SEAN

[megladon8]

It seemed to me like Superman's plan WAS to ship the population of Earth into the Phantom Zone, should Earth every face destruction like Krypton did. The Phantom Zone projector apparently existed both on Earth and in the Zone. Zod found the paet of the projector that was accessible from the Zone and used it to zap some of Earth's population ahead of schedule.


SEAN

Indeed. However, what I got from it was that, yes, Zod zpped them ahead of time, but I thought Superman didn't know where it went. he was still perfecting it, and wasn't sure as to where it would take the people.

Hense why it took him so long to save them.

[Viking Bastard]

I prefer the It's All In His Head And The Priest Is Really Max Lord theory myself.

[megladon8]

I prefer the (#1)It's All In His Head And (#2)The Priest Is Really Max Lord theory myself.

#1 - so you mean, like, Superman is going nutso?

#2 - don't really see the resemblance.


Both are interesting theories. Never really thought of either of those myself...always just took the story pretty straightforward.

[The Shadow]

I'm still like, "Wha?"

Too long, too confusing. Too much wasted paper.

Looked good, though. And even that didn't do a whole lot for me.

Sorry I can't help you.

Same here on all points.

Art wasn't as good as Lee can be, story was... mind-boggling (but in a bad way) and though the last issue kicked butt in the fight department... the first 11 sucked and sucked hard.

[PatrickG]

Assuming this is all in continuity after IC, I would like to see an arc of SUPERMAN CLASSIFIED (if it happens) recapping Superman's complete career and working through the contradictions.

It could be very valuable in helping readers follow some of the difficult stories like this.

And if told from a novel perspective, it could weave the history together while telling a new story of its own, all the while clarifying all the things that confuse people and nailing down the basic history of Superman for those that haven't followed every retcon.

[Sean Whitmore]

#1 - so you mean, like, Superman is going nutso?

#2 - don't really see the resemblance.

I think the theory is that the priest was actually a mental illusion created by Max. A way to see exactly how much Max could influence Supes, in preperation for the full takeover later in "Sacrifice".

Which, now that I think about it, wouldn't explain the scene between Orr and his mysterious employers which happened while Superman was in the Zone.


SEAN

[Viking Bastard]

Sshhs! Don't ruin it for me, Sean.

It just makes the story that much better.

[jerrymcl89]

I liked the story from a characterization standpoint. But I think that the plot had some pretty large logical failures, like why (and how) Superman would/could erase his own memories. And DC probably should have not even maintained any pretense that it was in continuity, since such a massive event would have to effect the other Superman books, and in fact the whole DCU. I don't think it's really that hard to understand if you read it carefully, though. On the whole, it's an interesting story, despite being a bit of a mess.

[Sean Whitmore]

And DC probably should have not even maintained any pretense that it was in continuity, since such a massive event would have to effect the other Superman books, and in fact the whole DCU.

I prefer to think that at the end of For Tomorrow, all of the "Vanished" people were brought back to Earth at the same time they left, with no memory of the event. Only Superman and his smashed-up Fortress remembers what happened.

I have no evidence one way or the other to support this idea, I just like to believe it. :)

But comics do these huge epics contained to one title all the time. JLA's "World War III" and JSA's "Stealing Thunder" leap straight to mind. Both were world-ranging crises that involved most of the DCU, and the events were never mentioned once in any other comic.


SEAN

[Viking Bastard]

Or the Kang storyline in Busiek's Avengers. Every Authority arc. :p