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Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives #1
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow Archives, Vol. 1
The first Silver Age Superman Archive, reprinting ACTION COMICS #241-247 and SUPERMAN #122-126 (1958-1959)! This volume, with an introduction by Mark Waid, features the debuts of the Fortress of Solitude, Brainiac, Kandor, the Super-Pets, and much more!
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Jerry Coleman
76 books1 followerJerry Coleman (birth/death dates unknown) wrote nearly 100 stories for DC Comics, beginning with Mystery in Space #3. By the mid-1950s he regularly scripted for Weisenger's Superman titles. Among Coleman's best-loved Super-tales: "Superboy's Last Day in Smallville" (Superman #97) and "The girl in Superman's Past" (Showcase #9).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 18, 2017
Big fun, if, like me, you like the corny Mort Weisinger-edited era of Superman comics. They are rather square. Covers by Curt Swan are often better than the stories in the magazines, though I love the art of Wayne Boring and (he's grown on me) Al Plastino and (one story here) Dick Sprang.
My favorites are the stories drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, featuring his impeccably drawn Lois Lane. The last story in this volume, from Superman #126 (January, 1959), "The Two Faces of Superman," features Superman teaching Lois a lesson by proposing marriage to her with the face of ("What, me worry?" kid, by this time in Mad magazine from EC, not yet a brother publication to DC) Alfred E. Neuman. Goofy.
My favorites are the stories drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger, featuring his impeccably drawn Lois Lane. The last story in this volume, from Superman #126 (January, 1959), "The Two Faces of Superman," features Superman teaching Lois a lesson by proposing marriage to her with the face of ("What, me worry?" kid, by this time in Mad magazine from EC, not yet a brother publication to DC) Alfred E. Neuman. Goofy.
August 7, 2015
Really, how can you not like 50s Superman? A Superman who exclaims "omigosh" every five seconds, constantly resigns himself to death or exile, dodges the determined advances of Lois Lane, gets tricked by various villains but invents some miraculous way of defeat at the last moment. A Superman who seems to do more charity work and entertainment jobs than actual crime-fighting.
My absolute favorite is when Batman and Superman interact. They are far different than modern day Batman and Superman, and I can definitely appreciate both versions.
My absolute favorite is when Batman and Superman interact. They are far different than modern day Batman and Superman, and I can definitely appreciate both versions.
April 18, 2017
This book is a lot of fun, but the stories are so outlandish it's very hard as an adult to guess the outcome because they require imagination that incorporates the impossible and an affinity for pseudoscience, such as Superman curing his amnesia by capturing light waves leaving the earth to see past events.
Superman, although numerous references are made in this volume to Superbaby, clearly came to Earth as a little boy--he not only looks like a little boy in flashbacks, but he has memories of going to zoos and so forth on Krypton that an infant would not have. And while Superman can build an operate a submarine made out of lead with his scientific knowledge, in the same story he falls for con artists pretending to be his parents, who claim that they want to take a piece of kryptonite back in time with them to look for a cure after they've just told him that they can't bring anything back in time.
Superman succumbs to mystical control numerous times throughout this volume. The opening story is a friendly battle of wits with Batman, and we get the only appearance of Super-Girl, a magical girlfriend Jimmy wishes for Superman because Superman has nixed marriage to Lois for her own safety. In this sad story, she sacrifices her life to save Superman from kryptonite when she realizes that she can't command her powers in a way that is helpful. It's almost as moving as the death of the Supergirl who is Superman's cousin many years later. Jimmy's wishing stick story takes up the entirety of Superman #125, and his third wish is for Superman to meet his parents on Krypton, whom he never met (with Jerry Coleman, Otto Binder, and Unknown among the writers there are some inconsistencies like this). Jimmy does it on a typewriter but makes a typographical error for Superman to "mate" his parents, which sounds kind of filthy now but amounts to him playing Cupid (which is how Superman himself frames it).
Lots of attempts by Lois to determine Superman's secret identity, and she has a funny dream in which she thinks she receives Superman's blood in a transfusion and later has to help Clark the same way, who makes an extremely incompetent metahuman in Lois's mind. I wonder if Stan Lee had been reading any DC stories when he came of with She-Hulk, who got her powers from a blood transfusion form Bruce Banner.
The title page shows "Superman's New Power"--it would be a spoiler to say what it is (and the cover art from which the title page derives is not accurate to the interior), because I know of no superhero who has such a power, although Green Lantern could probably do it if he wanted to. Superman shows his arrogant side in this story because the power makes him feel like he's not doing anything, but he loses his old power, so he doesn't really have a choice. Hal Jordan is still months away from becoming Green Lantern, and one wonders if Superman doens't think he's a "real" superhero.
Superman, although numerous references are made in this volume to Superbaby, clearly came to Earth as a little boy--he not only looks like a little boy in flashbacks, but he has memories of going to zoos and so forth on Krypton that an infant would not have. And while Superman can build an operate a submarine made out of lead with his scientific knowledge, in the same story he falls for con artists pretending to be his parents, who claim that they want to take a piece of kryptonite back in time with them to look for a cure after they've just told him that they can't bring anything back in time.
Superman succumbs to mystical control numerous times throughout this volume. The opening story is a friendly battle of wits with Batman, and we get the only appearance of Super-Girl, a magical girlfriend Jimmy wishes for Superman because Superman has nixed marriage to Lois for her own safety. In this sad story, she sacrifices her life to save Superman from kryptonite when she realizes that she can't command her powers in a way that is helpful. It's almost as moving as the death of the Supergirl who is Superman's cousin many years later. Jimmy's wishing stick story takes up the entirety of Superman #125, and his third wish is for Superman to meet his parents on Krypton, whom he never met (with Jerry Coleman, Otto Binder, and Unknown among the writers there are some inconsistencies like this). Jimmy does it on a typewriter but makes a typographical error for Superman to "mate" his parents, which sounds kind of filthy now but amounts to him playing Cupid (which is how Superman himself frames it).
Lots of attempts by Lois to determine Superman's secret identity, and she has a funny dream in which she thinks she receives Superman's blood in a transfusion and later has to help Clark the same way, who makes an extremely incompetent metahuman in Lois's mind. I wonder if Stan Lee had been reading any DC stories when he came of with She-Hulk, who got her powers from a blood transfusion form Bruce Banner.
The title page shows "Superman's New Power"--it would be a spoiler to say what it is (and the cover art from which the title page derives is not accurate to the interior), because I know of no superhero who has such a power, although Green Lantern could probably do it if he wanted to. Superman shows his arrogant side in this story because the power makes him feel like he's not doing anything, but he loses his old power, so he doesn't really have a choice. Hal Jordan is still months away from becoming Green Lantern, and one wonders if Superman doens't think he's a "real" superhero.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews