Reponse to Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?

(apologies! I was crossposting my blog posts from reading reactions from a Google doc that I kept for word count/reference and this in class assignment was made in a different Google doc so I had missed it. This should take place after the Watchmen blog post!)

What is your reaction to the text you just read?

While I have had experience reading all of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and other “dark” comics, I was quite unprepared for Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow. It was a take on Superman that I hadn’t really seen and was very different from Superman For All Seasons, which is the only other Superman related comic I have ever read. That comic chose to try depicting a more human and relatable side to Superman, while Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow to me was more successful in making readers feel for him. It was very depressing, honestly, and I don’t mean that as a bad thing. It was just very different from other variations of Superman I had seen, and coming from Alan Moore I’m not surprised with his successful take on bringing in another view of Superman’s story and the characters involved in it. Lana and Jimmy were characters that I found to be the most upset by. They have been continually pushed to the side or put in entertaining sidekick roles in narratives and seeing their love for Superman and their desire to help (and eventually fail) was heartbreaking. The story offered their perspectives and allowed them to become more than static characters that they had appeared to be in other stories. 

I was continually shocked at various points in the comic relating to the villains, such as the Brainiac’s possession of Lex Luthor and the actions of Bizarro. Things that happened were ones that I expected of the modern Batman’s edgy stories, not what would show in one of Superman's who is very much considered the goody two-shoes of superheroes and lives in this world where he can prosper and villains aren’t that much of a dire threat. Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow changed this and it was a very compelling take. 

Throughout the battle, I was wondering who was Superman’s real greatest foe. I knew that Brainiac had to be a red herring and that he wouldn’t be the true villain. It was sort of an eye opening realization that Superman’s greatest foe is himself. I really liked that touch and I found it almost relatable with how the greatest hindrance to people can be ourselves. Overall, the story was very touching and depressing, yet had hopeful and bittersweet moments. There were elements that I would consider shock value but they had all happened for a reasonable reason rather than existing to shock and horrify audiences… which is something that I think is a problem comic universes today face and hinder their stories. The Batman Who Laughs character for example is…. Someone so edgy and seems to only exist for shock value and I find that he makes little sense as a character and I have so many criticisms about him and the other evil Dark Knights.

What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to connect?

I saw a lot of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns in this text. It placed Superman in a world that, to me, was the opposite of what many people criticized. The villains were dangerous threats who killed people and Superman wasn’t portrayed as an invincible god-like figure. A large part of Superman’s character is how human he is, but I think it’s rare for media to display him as a character with great empathy and humanity as… well, not a boy scout. Criticisms of Superman as a character is that he’s boring or is perfect, and I feel that this comic confronts those criticisms by displaying how intricate Superman has the possibility to be. His fears for his future and friends, as well as how he isn't as godlike as his critics like to say he is. He's very much a human-like mind in a powerful body, but he's not a god and he isn't indestructible.

What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I actually don’t know if there is another way to successfully adapt this story. Being an Alan Moore work, it’s very difficult to adapt his story into things like film (Watchmen’s disastrous movie is an example of this). Like Watchmen, I believe that Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow addresses criticisms that have been applied by the general comic audience. While the ending was an almost bittersweet one (because of the idea that Superman simply… doesn’t exist anymore) I think it would frustrate those unfamiliar with the comics scene or are movie-only fans or casual ones. I feel that they would care and be angered that Superman doesn’t exist anymore rather than all of the death and destruction caused by the villains. I can only think to adapt it into a more modern graphic novel to relate it to the present world and the current criticisms against Superman.

If I had to make it into another medium, I would prefer it be animated. Simply because it’s a personal preference, I feel like Young Justice, Teen Titans, the Justice League animated series (the early 2000s one), and earlier Superman and Batman series were the greatest cartoons relating to DC’s superheroes and are more successful and impactful than the recent live action movies. While the story is Superman focused, I would have liked to see more insight into how the other heroes of DC’s universe felt towards Superman’s “final” battle and if at least a handful of them knew what had happened to him, or that he was at least in touch with them and let them know he was okay. A strange request, I know, but I don’t feel like Superman would have left those he considered his friends in the dark and let them believe he was dead. There would have been a comfort to them in knowing that although Superman as the superhero was gone, the person still remained. 

The story requires a rather extensive knowledge of Superman lore, and while I knew a majority of the characters, ones such as Metallo and Mxyzptlk were ones that I had little to no knowledge of. I was actually pretty confused when Mxyzptlk first appeared. I had to look him up after finishing the work, and it took me scrolling through his whole Wikipedia page to see how he was depicted in the Superman animated series to get an “oooohhh that’s who he is” moment. I recognized his appearance but remembered nothing about his character to be able to conceive why it was so surprising to see him as the last villain. I’m unsure of how it would have fit in storyline but having a bit of a backstory of some villains or even changing some of them to ones more recognizable to today’s audience would help. Overall, I believe that this was a very successful and impactful Superman story and I don’t think that I would change much aside from what I had already mentioned