Review: Superman- The Men of Tomorrow

Quick Summary

Pros: The entire story is a refreshing return to form for Superman as a character. One of the main characters is extremely interesting and kicks off a great storyline. This collection’s final story is a beautiful take on Superman.

Cons: Some of the reasoning Ulysses uses at the story’s conclusion seems a bit illogical. The visuals can look rather odd in some places.

Overall: This is the Superman book that turns this series around. Here readers will dive into the intricacies of Superman’s character through an interesting and exciting story. Superman is grounded, wholesome, and hopeful in a way that anyone can appreciate. Overall, this is a story for readers who have been dissatisfied with the Superman series or for new readers looking for an introduction to the Man of Steel.

Story

Superman: The Men of Tomorrow could almost be considered a reboot for the Superman series in how it dispels everything that came before it and roots itself firmly Superman’s history. Large pieces of the New 52 era Superman, from personality to current storylines, are cast away and in its place is a more “classic” version of the Man of Steel. This would be great on its own, but writer Geoff Johns also manages to pair it with a uniquely interesting story to boot. The end result is a book that brings readers closer to Superman than ever before by cutting straight to the core of his character and digging up his best and brightest qualities.

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The collection starts by telling the origin of its star, Ulysses. Ulysses was sent from Earth, as a child, to a new world where he grew up and developed superpowers. For obvious reasons, he ends up becoming good friends with Superman and the two connect right from the start. Eventually, Ulysses discovers that his parents are still alive on Earth and that he has even more in common with his homeworld than he initially thought.

Eventually, Ulysses discovers how cruel and harsh Earth, and the humans who inhabit it, can be. He questions Superman about this and ponders the nature of humanity and Superman’s role in it. His questions mirror concepts and ideals Superman comics have been working at for decades: Why doesn’t Superman save everyone? Why doesn’t Superman stop all wars? Is humanity even worth saving? Johns is clearly bringing these questions up to reintroduce them to this era of Superman’s life and, thus, also reintroduce them to this era of readers. For new readers, these ideas and concepts will be novel and interesting to see, while old readers will be familiar with and appreciate their return.

Up until this point the comic has been highly conceptual, the enemies have been secondary and mostly designed to bring up conversation points rather than elicit genuine interest or excitement. This changes when Ulysses offers to teleport six million people to his utopian homeworld. Now the real crisis of the story begins as Ulysses’ true motives are revealed. He plans on killing the six million people he is bringing to his home in order to sustain his planet, in a manner similar to the “To Serve Man” episode of The Twilight Zone. It is a great twist that leads to a really epic conclusion to the saga.

I call Ulysses the star here because he ends up being the most interesting aspect of this story. He is a unique reflection of Superman who’s almost childlike journey to heroism is incredibly wholesome. This then makes his ultimate betrayal of both Superman and Earth even more significant and shocking. The only place where his character falters is at the book’s conclusion, where he blames Superman for events which were clearly not his fault. With this being such a small part of the book though, it is easy to overlook this in the face of Ulysses’ many other positives.

The conclusion of the Ulysses story leaves Superman powerless for a day, as a result of a new ability he has gained. This allows Johns to write a fantastic, and unique, issue where Clark Kent has to spend a day without his superpowers. It is an amazing issue that really gets to the core of Superman, showing that he is more than just a man with powers. The scene where he confronts a man who is pointing a gun at him (something which could actually hurt him in his unpowered state) was particularly impactful and ended up being one of my favorite Superman moments in recent history.

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Art

The quality of the artwork throughout this collection is rather split, as is often the case with John Romita Jr.’s work. Sharp lines give backgrounds, scenery, and energy just a bit more weight and also help make everything pop. Depictions of Metropolis and worlds outside of Earth are the highlights here and bring beauty and imagination straight to the forefront of the comic. All of this is then enhanced by Laura Martin’s colors, which help the artwork better reflect the overall tone of the moment.

However, when it comes to depicting individual people, especially faces, this book is severely lacking. Those same sharp lines that made inanimate objects look so nice, cause facial features to jut out in unnatural ways. Negatives like these affect about half of the book, leaving this collection as a real mixed bag when it comes to art.

Continuity

Superman: The Men of Tomorrow occurs some time after the events of Superman: Doomed. However, this story is written in a way that references very little of what happened previously in the Superman series. New readers can feel free to jump into this story with very little knowledge of what is going on in this Superman series.

The story here continues in Superman Vol. 1: Before Truth.

This volume also references and continues the stories from many other comic books, detailed below:

• Jimmy Olsen’s parents left him the money he has now back in Superman Vol. 4: Psi-War (Review).
• Clark Kent’s current separation from the Daily Planet started when he quit his job there at the beginning of Superman Vol. 3: Fury At World’s End (Review).
• References are made to Lex Luthor saving the world. This happened in Forever Evil (Review).

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