SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW PART 12 (Superman #215)

I’m not going to spoil who the “big bad” is at the end of all this, but I love these two panels from the final issue because they end up where all superhero stories end up; and yet, at the same time, the big final battle is kind of a disappointment—in the sense that after all the soul searching and mystery, all that is left to do is destroy.  Very similar to what the rebels told Superman themselves, back in part 2: In order to rebuild and heal, some must die.

And that’s it!  What should I do next?

SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW PART 11 (Superman #214)

 

Superman realizes that creating Eden was not enough for mankind.  He now believes that nobody can—or should—create paradise.  Or is this just a retroactive justification for refusing to cure Father Leone’s cancer?

SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW PART 10 (Superman #213)

Lois and the vanished one million are not happy living in Superman’s utopia.  Again, the parallel is to Adam and Eve wanting more than God gave them in the Garden of Eden.

SUPERMAN: FOR TOMORROW PART 1 (Superman #204)

Having wrapped Frank Miller’s Batman, I thought I’d launch another DC review.  I don’t like most DC books enough to want to buy all the back issues and wade through them, so I’m not doing a series-wide retrospective.  Last time, I focused on a creator’s work—this time: A single story.

And it may be my favorite Superman story of all time.  So I’m doing a panel from every issue.  By necessity, there will be a few spoilers here—but I won’t reveal all the big plot turns and story beats.  And the beauty of this book is how the story is told, much more than the story itself, so even knowing what will happen (if you haven’t read it yet) shouldn’t ruin the whole thing for you.  Still, you should try to go snag it off Amazon before reading this.

Superman: For Tomorrow was written by Brian Azzarello with art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams.  It was published in 2004 over the course of year (issues #204-215).  In terms of continuity, you need to know that, before this story starts, one million people vanished from the face of the Earth—including Lois Lane, who was married to Superman at the time.  (I never could keep it straight whether or when they were married.)

One thing that makes this book so great (there are many) is that as soon as it starts, Superman is frustrated and powerless.  His wife has been taken, he has no idea where, and he is losing faith in himself as a result.

But the entry point for the story is a clergyman who is losing faith because he is dying of cancer.  In this panel, from the first issue, Superman comes to visit Father Daniel Leone, who kneels before Superman.

Superman tells him not to, but this is the first glimpse of Superman-as-God.  It will be important to the book later, when Superman is revealed to have essentially created a Garden of Eden.