Customer Reviews

Superman: For Tomorrow, Vol. 1

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Collecting the first half of the year long run by all star artist Jim Lee and 100 Bullets writer Brian Azzarello, For Tomorrow is definitely worth checking out for Lee's art alone. That said though, those who aren't very familiar with the previous storyline to take place on Superman before both took over will be incredibly confused by Azzarello's story. An event called the Vanishing has taken place on Earth, causing millions of people to disappear, including Lois Lane. Beginning with a conversation between Supes and a cancer stricken priest, the reader is introduced to various conspirators, including the mysterious Mr. Orr who may hold the key to it all. Despite a slow moving story, Lee's art is at his awe-inspiring best. While he offered a few glimpses of his dominating looking Superman in his acclaimed Hush run on Batman with Jeph Loeb, the look he gives him here is the best and most intimidating look the classic super hero has ever had. Not to mention that his rendition of the JLA is simply eye popping (maybe he'll do a run on JLA with Grant Morrison next, now that would really be something), and his art alone saves For Tomorrow from being a comic bottom feeder. All in all, if you've missed the single issues, For Tommor is worth a look for Jim Lee's art alone, but you may want to wait for the eventual softcover to come out before laying down your hard earned cash for this overly expensive hardcover.

When For Tomorrow first started hitting the comic book store shelves in single issue form, it was met with a decidedly mixed reaction from readers. Some felt it to be utterly confusing and intirely boring, while others saw it as a deep, introspective graphic novel (mistakenly) published in serial form. A story that would best be enjoyed when read in a single sitting. Now with For Tomorrow finally printed as two trade paperbacks, we can finally have that experience.


So, the question is, is it really that deep, introspective graphic novel? Does reading it in one sitting make it any better? If, I had to give you a definitive answer, it would be yes, For Tomorrow's purpose and point is much more clear when digested over an afternoon than it ever was over the 12 months when I first read it as a monthly.

That said, it isn't perfect. And it isn't a story that plays out like your standard comic. The narrative is non-linear. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, that means the story's timeline jumps to and fro from past and present. And maybe even future. Think Gulliver's Travels. Or maybe even the first half of Batman Begins.

This non-linear story is obviously what confused readers originally - god knows, it confused me. The opening chapters raise many questions that are never fully answered until the story's closing pages. This, I won't lie, is a failling. Probably the biggest failing of the book. In my opinion, at least. The plot is so oddly told and unfolded, that the actual story seems not to matter. As if it's only a secondary concern next to the main purpose of the book; philosophy, faith, Superman, and everything in between.

This is where the book shines. The story doesn't matter. The plot is unimportant. What you're getting here is - in my mind, at least - a first class look - no, journey - into Superman's mind, and soul. We examine his faith. His belief in both humanity and himself. And see that even someone as "perfect" as Superman can make a mistake. Maybe that's cliche, maybe some of the more macho readers out there will complain about an overly emotional Superman, but for me - and hopefully you - it gave me a look into the character that I had honestly not seen before.

Aside from the introspective on Superman, there's also pretty prominent philosophical wonderings on faith, religion, and how Superman relates to those two things. I won't try to give any interpretations of those wonderings myself, but for those who love subtext, and a little remarks that can leave you pondering them well after you've finished reading the book, For Tomorrow will certainly be very welcomed.

While it's not as prominent point as other things in the book, I also found the expression of Superman's love for Lois to be very wonderfully done as well. From describing her heartbeat as "his rhythem" to live, to his passionate reunion with her later in the book, it's romantic, but not overpowering, and never distracting.

And, of course, to top all of that off, we have a knockdown, drag out fight with one of Superman's most powerful and sinister villains; Zod. While I think the effectiveness of the fight is diminished slightly by the rather confusing events leading up to it, I must admit, it makes for a really fun read - thanks largely to Jim Lee's fantastic art.

Which brings us to possibly the best thing about the book; the art. Jim Lee is - to me and manly - simply one of the best there is. He's the superstar artist in the comics industry at the moment, and while that may overrate him a bit, I still believe him to be one of the absolute best.

So, in closing, For Tomorrow is a mixed bag. It can very well be overly confusing and seemingly pointless. And it can also be very deep and beautifully introspective. I won't try to predict whether or not you personally will like the book, all I can say is I certainly consider myself all the better for having read it.

[Please note, this review is for both Vol. 1 and 2 of For Tomorrow]

I like Superman. Who doesn't like Superman? But, let's be honest. Superman is by nature a little boring. He's too powerful. He's virtually unbeatable, and that takes a great deal of tension out of most Superman storylines. I've always felt the best way to write Superman is to explore that aspect of him that makes him no more powerful than anyone-his humanity. In fact, because of Superman's strong moral character, his intrinsic sense of right and wrong, he's actually more at risk of exploitation than most heroes. But, most of Superman's writers have chosen to go the alien invasion, giant monkey route with him.

Having said that, it was with trepidation when a friend loaned me Superman: For Tomorrow (Volume I) to read. I immediately thumbed through it and realized that this book demanded ownership for its art alone. The artists? None other than the unconquerable Jim Lee and Scott Williams. Truly a delight to behold.

However, within the first few pages, I realized that writer Brian Azzarello knew how to deliver a charismatic Superman story. I've heard the Superman purists out there panning Azzarello's Superman, but I thought it was an edgy, fresh take on the Man of Steel. This Superman is heroic, iconic, powerful, and more than a little intimidating. This Superman has a chip on his shoulder related to the storyline (which I won't spoil), and it's nice to see him struggling with that part of him that makes him (more or less) human.

Sure, it's not the typical Superman, and that's why I loved it.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

I couldn't imagine how I wouldn't love this trade. Sadly, then I read it. The story was hard to focus on with it jumping around and the crisis not making sense. Lee's art was of course fantastic, he is Jim Lee. Unfortunately, the plot was hit and miss, but mostly miss. Overall, a huge letdown.

The writing, with regard to both the actual story and the writing style, is awful. The story seems interesting at first glance, but it gets boring and confusing quickly. The style is very disjointed and poorly edited. Some examples of both are:

* The long conversations with Father Leone. And his entire sub plot. As in all of it. Snore.

* Whiny Superman. Whine Whine Whine. I'm done seeing his "sensitive" side. Let him be SuperMAN again. Let him grow some balls and get stuff done. And another thing--Superman is not some closed in, idiot liberal. He knows that the problem with humanity is not guns . . . so why would he think everyone would hug once he took them all away?

* The tiring comparisons of Superman to Jesus. Over and over and over and over. Yes, I get it, you can draw parallels between them. Can we drop it now? I don't want Superman to be Jesus. I want Jesus to be Jesus and Superman to be Superman.

* Question: how many times can you destroy the Fortress of Solitude? It's like every other story I read, someone's destroying it. This is as tired as a Superman plot device as more lost Kryptonians showing up every other week. Come up with something new, please.

* Batman being there. That's a personal peeve though--Batman, as I see it, has no place in the JLA, or in a world where Superman exists. I won't ding points for that, but I wanted to complain about it all the same.

* So the JLA gets peeved with Supes because he imposed himself on an internal national struggle somewhere, so now they all want to kill him? What did I miss? Why is he all up in Aquaman's face? And why does Aquaman go all jerk back to him? Why does Wonder Woman want to help that witch stab Superman?

* What the heck is with the alternate world that Superman created? THIS is a major problem with a lot of Superman stories--they assume that since it's a story about an alien in our world who can fly and melt steel with his eyes, then it's equally plausible that he can "create" a world to where it is possible that millions of people can be sent by weaponizing an orb he somehow built. There's no precedent for that, and to assume it is weak storytelling. And no, creating a living utopia is not the same as creating the Phantom Zone.

* The dialogue is horrible. The characters are constantly interrupting each other, and often the conversations take odd turns or abrupt changes at the turn of a page, and I lose track of what they're talking about. This happens with scenes and action, too. Many times I had to double and triple check that I didn't skip a page because things altered so quickly that I had no idea what was going on. One time I DID skip 2-3 pages accidentally and didn't catch the error for a few frames because I'd become so used to the story not making coherent sense.

* I don't want to search through it to find them all, but there were many times some kind of plot element was mentioned (one had to do with the witch or Wonder Woman giving Superman some clay?), and then they either never come up again or their explanation or usage make no sense.

* Lastly, the art. Okay, Jim Lee is flat-out incredible. I've not followed comic books seriously for nearly 20 years now, but I knew BACK THEN that you couldn't top Lee. It's like he IS comic book art and everyone else is a cover band. But I noticed something that I didn't like in this series . . . all the women looked the same. Lois. Wonder Woman. That witch lady. Look at them again. Lois's eyes are slightly different; other than that they all look identical. You know what? I'm thinking back to "Batman: Hush," now . . . and Selena Kyle looked the same as these three. Sigh. Not cool.

This might sound hypocritical after reading my review for (the much more light-hearted) Showcase Presents: Superman, but I thought For Tomorrow was awesome. I liked it better than Broken City, and I loved Broken City.

Was it too cynical? I didn't think Superman was too dark and mopey. He did something that he thought would benefit people and it wound up biting him in the ass. Hasn't there always been Superman stories like that? Isn't that how (pre-crisis) Lex lost his hair for cying out loud? I thought the story did a great job of exploring his role on Earth as a savior, an alien, a man, and a husband. Sure there's some self doubt, but the story is epic enough and fascinating enough and entertaining enough that the doubt doesn't bring the story down at all.

And I definetly didn't think that Superman acted anything like some cocky jerk from 100 Bullets.

Great action, great art, cool villains, really neat idea for a story, as well as FANTASTIC dialogue (albeit the kind of dialogue that has never really been used in a Superman book before, and might throw some readers off). Why is it getting such bad reviews everywhere?

Apart from Jim Lee & Scott Williams predictably gorgeous art this is a mess. The tone is all wrong and the plot is lumpy and unruly, it simply doesn't gel. There's a couple of good punch ups here and there and some nice sub plots but it hardly justifies this prestige format or the hype. Great Lee art rotten Azzarello script.

Superman: For Tomorrow, Volume 1 is great! This Superman story is written by Brian Azarello and is drawn by master illustrator, Jim Lee! This DC book collects Superman issues #204 to 209! This book is great because the artwork is superb! Jim Lee is at his best in this series! Jim Lee draws a very dark tale that involves the Man of Steel, Superman! I like the artwork in these issues! I highly Recommended it! A+

Jim Lee's art shines, and it's a shame. Azzarello's writing does not lend itself to the action scenes that Lee's art is best for, instead focusing on talking heads most of the time.

Unfortunately, it's only on a rare occassion that you actually know what the heads are actually talking about. Azzarello's idea of deep, meaningful writing is "lots of cryptic dialogue and unfinished sentences." The story plods along at a snail's pace to a conclusion (in the next volume) that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense, which is unfortunately par for the course for this story. Throw in the now all-too-common brooding, doubtful Superman, a bunch of new, unexplained villains and other characters, and a terrible mishandling of Lois and Clark's relationship (including a sex scene! Guess that answers the "man of steel, woman of kleenex" questions), add yet another version of General Zod, and you have a recipe for a story that never came even close to living up to its hype.

I currently own the full run of this storyline and I found that the only highlight of Superman: For Tomorrow was Jim Lee.
His rendition of Superman and the Justice League were top notch. I'd like to see him draw the Flash title. Although as the series came to it's conclusion messy inking made his artwork suffer greatly.
Brian Azzarello's writing turned me off as I kept scratching my head thinking Huh?!.