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Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?
Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, the long-awaited follow-up to Mom's Cancer, is a unique graphic novel that tells the story of a young boy and his relationship with his father. Spanning the period from the 1939 New York World's Fair to the last Apollo space mission in 1975, it is told through the eyes of a boy as he grows up in an era that was optimistic and ambitious, fueled by industry, engines, electricity, rockets, and the atom bomb. An insightful look at relationships and the promise of the future, award-winning author Brian Fies presents his story in a way that only comics and graphic novels can. Interspersed with the comic book adventures of Commander Cap Crater (created by Fies to mirror the styles of the comics and the time periods he is depicting), and mixing art and historical photographs, this groundbreaking graphic novel is a lively trip through a half century of technological evolution. It is also a perceptive look at the changing moods of our nation-and the enduring promise of the future.
"A hopelessly optimistic moon-age daydream"—The Village Voice
"Whatever Happened To The World Of Tomorrow is a very special book that will speak to you on so many levels. And at the end of it, when you sit there and think on what you’ve just read, it may even make you, like it did me, realise that Fies’ vision of our past and his hope for the future is something we can all share in. Quite brilliant."—Richard Bruton, forbiddenplanet.co.uk
F&P level: Y
"A hopelessly optimistic moon-age daydream"—The Village Voice
"Whatever Happened To The World Of Tomorrow is a very special book that will speak to you on so many levels. And at the end of it, when you sit there and think on what you’ve just read, it may even make you, like it did me, realise that Fies’ vision of our past and his hope for the future is something we can all share in. Quite brilliant."—Richard Bruton, forbiddenplanet.co.uk
F&P level: Y
208 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2009
11 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
About the author
Brian Fies
6 books64 followersBrian Fies is a science writer, illustrator, and cartoonist whose widely acclaimed first graphic novel, Mom's Cancer, won the 2005 Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic (the first web comic to win the award and inaugurate this new category), the Lulu Blooker Prize for Best Comic, the Harvey Award for Best New Talent, and the German Youth Literature Prize, among other awards and recognition. He lives in northern California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
September 13, 2018
This comic was very futuristic and discussed lots of inventions throughout the 20th century. There were sections of an old sci-Fi comic that generally had the same make and feel as reading an old comic. I did like the illustration and the bond between father and son.
July 26, 2009
Fies writes a story of a boy and his father from the dawn to dusk of the space age (from 1939's World's Fair in New York to the end of the Apollo moon missions in 1975). Nevermind that the boy ages about 12 or 14 years in this time; it's comix time, as Fies explains in an intro.
The text exits in three narrative planes: an essay about the nature of collective imagination, the dialogue between the boy and his dad, and a few complete comic books in context, but also stand-alone adventure stories featuring "Captian Crater and the Cosmic Kid," inventions of Fies.
Fies plays tremendous attention to historical detail, including maps and snapshots from the World's Fair, WWII propaganda photos, amazing graphics from a space series from Collier's magazine, and most impressively, from spacewalks themselves. The comic books, too, show progress in their halftone screen process, as Fies draws them from different decades. It's a graphically gorgeous work.
Missing dimension, however, is the philosophical essay. Fies is a little idealistic in asserting the value of the initial vision--put forth by General Motors!--of how highways and the architectural dreams of LeCorbusier and others could benefit society. Ric Burns' excellent documentary on New York puts the lie to how GM's City of Tomorrow (and its execution by Robert Moses and the interstate highway system instituted by Eisenhower) actually had the opposite effect--one under which we continue to suffer today. The space program, too, was mainly driven by war profiteers and nationalistic ambitions... again, hardly progressive notions (see the conflicts in the Middle East SINCE 1979 as Exhibit A).
Nevertheless, perhaps the idealism of Fies is what we need: he talks about the value of story, of imagination, of individual effort and belief in a future. Although I'd prefer a more critically examined past, I can't argue with those things.
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: Originally I was searching for work by Richard McGuire in our local bookstores. I learned a few things, mostly that Elliott Bay Book Company has, by far, the best Graphic Novel section. This book (by Fies) was in Bailey-Coy, and first caught my eye, it including a section about the World's Fair (1939/NYC edition). The cover was torn, however, so I looked elsewhere. Same thing! at University Bookstore, but a nice edition was available at Elliott Bay. I never did find McGuire, though.
The text exits in three narrative planes: an essay about the nature of collective imagination, the dialogue between the boy and his dad, and a few complete comic books in context, but also stand-alone adventure stories featuring "Captian Crater and the Cosmic Kid," inventions of Fies.
Fies plays tremendous attention to historical detail, including maps and snapshots from the World's Fair, WWII propaganda photos, amazing graphics from a space series from Collier's magazine, and most impressively, from spacewalks themselves. The comic books, too, show progress in their halftone screen process, as Fies draws them from different decades. It's a graphically gorgeous work.
Missing dimension, however, is the philosophical essay. Fies is a little idealistic in asserting the value of the initial vision--put forth by General Motors!--of how highways and the architectural dreams of LeCorbusier and others could benefit society. Ric Burns' excellent documentary on New York puts the lie to how GM's City of Tomorrow (and its execution by Robert Moses and the interstate highway system instituted by Eisenhower) actually had the opposite effect--one under which we continue to suffer today. The space program, too, was mainly driven by war profiteers and nationalistic ambitions... again, hardly progressive notions (see the conflicts in the Middle East SINCE 1979 as Exhibit A).
Nevertheless, perhaps the idealism of Fies is what we need: he talks about the value of story, of imagination, of individual effort and belief in a future. Although I'd prefer a more critically examined past, I can't argue with those things.
WHY I READ THIS BOOK: Originally I was searching for work by Richard McGuire in our local bookstores. I learned a few things, mostly that Elliott Bay Book Company has, by far, the best Graphic Novel section. This book (by Fies) was in Bailey-Coy, and first caught my eye, it including a section about the World's Fair (1939/NYC edition). The cover was torn, however, so I looked elsewhere. Same thing! at University Bookstore, but a nice edition was available at Elliott Bay. I never did find McGuire, though.
September 25, 2020
Dry and uninteresting graphic novel about a father and son travel in time from the World of Tomorrow through the space program. There a space comic featuring the boy and father.
February 10, 2019
This is a nice look at the future, as predicted from 1939 on, and as it actually then happened. It has six parts, about one a decade through the 1970s and then skipping to now or slightly in the future. The main characters are a boy and his father, who both age a couple of years per decade, which works okay. The same boy and father are also Cap Crater and the Cosmic Kid in a futuristic comic book that also changes each decade. The first part is about visiting the 1939 World's Fair, and how that included all kinds of visions of the future. It was a great start. The rest of the book was good too, but not so compelling.
(The treatment of women in the comic book sections, and how it changes, is hilarious; in the 1939 version, the policewoman offers an easy common-sense solution to a problem, and her chief says,"No time for your women's intuition.")
The book focuses a lot on space exploration, and how the future as seen in the 1930s-60s was going to include a lot of it, and how that fizzled. It touches on various technologies that developed. Modern technology (including all miniaturization beyond transistors) is in the last section. The last section also gives a bit of a rosy view of our future. I hope it works out that well.
(The treatment of women in the comic book sections, and how it changes, is hilarious; in the 1939 version, the policewoman offers an easy common-sense solution to a problem, and her chief says,"No time for your women's intuition.")
The book focuses a lot on space exploration, and how the future as seen in the 1930s-60s was going to include a lot of it, and how that fizzled. It touches on various technologies that developed. Modern technology (including all miniaturization beyond transistors) is in the last section. The last section also gives a bit of a rosy view of our future. I hope it works out that well.
February 18, 2018
Pleasant enough story of a child growing up, seeing the "World of Tomorrow" at the 1939 World's fair, anticipating the great fantastic future that it promised, and then being disappointed that it didn't come to be. We never did get our jet-packs and the American public lost interest in space exploration after we had proved we could beat the soviets to the moon. Yet, ends on a positive note by reminding us how futuristic the world around us now would look to someone in 1939. Not the same as we expected, but wonderful in its own way.
The main story is told on glossy pages, but in 4 sections it switches to rough, yellowing paper to mimic the feel of old comic books. Those comics vary in style as time passes to mimic the styles of artists from different periods.
The main story is told on glossy pages, but in 4 sections it switches to rough, yellowing paper to mimic the feel of old comic books. Those comics vary in style as time passes to mimic the styles of artists from different periods.
December 24, 2012
A reasonable question: what happened to the World of Tomorrow? Including all of our (enlightenment-based, modernist) optimism, hope for the future? A father-son story in three basic phases, the High Tech modernist phase, through the Moon Landing, maybe, Fies seems to say, then the disillusionment of the sixties (maybe the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Great Depression, etc, also had parts to play, eh?... ) Then becoming a father and reigniting that hope for the future... But it all still feels a little too optimistic to me, as the polar ice cap melts and animal species die out on a daily basis, at an alarming rate... we're in a world depression, essentially... I do have kids and being a father to them is a commitment but I am not in that broader sense hopeful... this book felt to me more naive than realistic about the World of Tomorrow (in a technological sense, for sure)...
January 26, 2015
Nicely done story that follows the promise of the 1939 World's Fair through to the end of the Apollo program, with some glimpses of what may come. The story is framed via the device of a young boy visiting the Fair with his father, and told via snapshots at various times throughout the decades. There are also pastiches of the comic books of the various eras. This book is about the romance and wonder of science and technology, as well as the differences between speculation about the future and the actual future. It's very nicely done, with much attention to detail. I especially liked that, for the various comic book episodes, they went to the trouble of printing them on different paper stock and tinted everything yellow to simulate an old comic book. Comics fans will recognize homages to various artists, but it's not necessary to spot these to enjoy the story. Good stuff!
September 14, 2016
3.5 stars for this graphic novel that shows all the many changes in our world through the 1930s to today and beyond through the eyes of a father and son and their changing roles as the son grows up (even to the point where the son is now a father himself). There is lots to absorb, lots to see, lots to appreciate, and a great deal to remember about our changing scientific adventures.
Notable scenes include the gold stars in windows during World War II, bomb shelters, photos of the moon landing. This book is a way to revisit those iconic (and not-so-iconic) moments of the last seventy plus years for those who have experienced some, most, or all of them, and it's also a way to learn about the past events for those who didn't. While not generally a great fan of graphic novels, this was one to read and savor...especially the comics within the text.
Notable scenes include the gold stars in windows during World War II, bomb shelters, photos of the moon landing. This book is a way to revisit those iconic (and not-so-iconic) moments of the last seventy plus years for those who have experienced some, most, or all of them, and it's also a way to learn about the past events for those who didn't. While not generally a great fan of graphic novels, this was one to read and savor...especially the comics within the text.
July 21, 2019
A good history and science lesson starting with the World's Fair of 1939, with some touches of poignancy re: WWII, generational relations, and how the future people dreamed of has not been what they expected...but there's still hope.
The crisp, clean art style is lovely.
The crisp, clean art style is lovely.
July 19, 2010
A wonderful book detailing the relationship between a father and son as it parallels the relationship between America and its search for a technological future.
May 4, 2019
I first saw this book portrayed in near-ash form in Brian Fies story about losing his home in one of the Northern California wildfires in 2017. I encourage everyone to find that work A Fire Story in one or more of the finished products: initial sketchbook web comic, animated short of the web comic, fleshed out book (including stories from others).
Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is an award-winning, detail-packed, creative marvel. The book includes inserted floppy comic books as interim chapters of the narrative. When these comic issues fall into the book, they transition from the prior page with a panel showing a character reading the book to the inserted book. And in the inserted comic issue, the actual paper changes to represent cheaper pulpy paper. The pages show ink smudges and print quality changes, representing the pixelated quality of the comic book printing with at least one of the four color layers not quite aligned. It is also helpful to keep an eye on the message from the comic book villain and the police-woman, as their ideas and messages should have more weight or consideration. In essence, Fies uses these characters to wink directly at us--the future readers. One final shout-out to the translation of the comic book ad for toy soldiers, translated from the little green army men to blue space defenders.
There once was a dream of the world of tomorrow. Some great moments came from the race to make that dream possible, but the race started to supersede the actual dream. We don't need to find a fictional time when things were great and recreate the flaws and failings of that past. It's time to dream about a new world of tomorrow...remembering our past and present failures and honoring our past achievements.
Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is an award-winning, detail-packed, creative marvel. The book includes inserted floppy comic books as interim chapters of the narrative. When these comic issues fall into the book, they transition from the prior page with a panel showing a character reading the book to the inserted book. And in the inserted comic issue, the actual paper changes to represent cheaper pulpy paper. The pages show ink smudges and print quality changes, representing the pixelated quality of the comic book printing with at least one of the four color layers not quite aligned. It is also helpful to keep an eye on the message from the comic book villain and the police-woman, as their ideas and messages should have more weight or consideration. In essence, Fies uses these characters to wink directly at us--the future readers. One final shout-out to the translation of the comic book ad for toy soldiers, translated from the little green army men to blue space defenders.
There once was a dream of the world of tomorrow. Some great moments came from the race to make that dream possible, but the race started to supersede the actual dream. We don't need to find a fictional time when things were great and recreate the flaws and failings of that past. It's time to dream about a new world of tomorrow...remembering our past and present failures and honoring our past achievements.
April 15, 2019
Real rating: 3.5 stars. An autobiographical graphic novel with fictionalized elements (the book includes several "issues" of an old comic book featuring stories about a lantern-jawed hero and his kid sidekick as they square off against concerns typical of various time periods since the WWII era), this book contrasts the once-utopian view of what "the future" would look like with the more problematic eras that actually unfolded over the latter half of the 20th century. The focus is author Fies and his father as they age together, starting with the World's Fair in New York City and then extending into the post-war era, and then into the Cold War and the early space age. The book is a breezy meditation on the feelings of all these eras, including the author's discovery that his father felt genuine fear after all (at one point he's making a cinderblock wall in their basement which turns out to be a fallout shelter). Of course father and son grow apart to a certain extent, with the distance between them mirroring the distance between the old idea of what the future would be like and the eventual reality.
June 12, 2019
The World's Fair in NY in 1939, where leading companies and countries exhibited a future filled with robots and flying cars and fantastic gadgets...space age fueled by the war industry...the end of the space age in the 70s by lack of public enthusiasm and other sociopolitical shifts. Brian Fies covers the futuristic aspirations of whole nations through the lens of a father and son, the different generations having a different take on developments at times, but both enamored with the World of Tomorrow promised by tech giants and presidents. In the end, space and the depths of oceans remain rather out of reach even at the beginning of the 21st century, but Fies insists that imagination and determination can and will take humans beyond our reach eventually. He's probably overly optimistic, because it is usually not our ability that's limited, but our unwillingness/inability to be united. Surely, such projects we multi-national achievements, and that small statement says it all.
The art and the level of detail is fantastic. The real images blend well with the drawings and the old comics are spot on. Recommended for those who like concrete blocks, space walks, and portable radios.
The art and the level of detail is fantastic. The real images blend well with the drawings and the old comics are spot on. Recommended for those who like concrete blocks, space walks, and portable radios.
April 28, 2019
O otimismo tecnológico do século XX, revisitado numa narrativa algo naif centrada na curiosidade de um rapaz que cresce no dealbar da era espacial. Começa num foco lendário de retrofuturismo, a feira World of Tomorrow que, nos anos 40, fez a américa sonhar com o futuro. A nostalgia pelos futuros prometidos é intensa, temperada com a desilusão pelo quase abandono dos sonhos espaciais após as missões Apollo e pela violência política e social de um mundo que nunca se compadeceu muito com os sonhos de progresso científico. Termina numa nota otimista, mostrando-nos que se não construímos o futuro de bases em órbita e colonização espacial, construímos um outro futuro de alta tecnologia digital. Não resolvemos os males do mundo, mas o progresso continuou na sua habitual forma não linear. O traço é leve, muito na simplicidade do cartoon estilizado, muito apropriado para uma obra com um cariz muito pessoal, percebe-se que é a inocência e sonhos do autor enquanto jovem que nos estão a ser apresentados no desenrolar da narrativa.
May 9, 2020
Worth reading just for a lone metaphor - vacuum tubes were the traffic cops of electric current. Deeply connects our past aspirations about future to the present state of mind. Loved the theme! Two parallel narratives - one, with the evolving relationship between the author and his honorable dad and two, a space age comic book hero and his young side-kick in an alternate universe make the book poignant and even gut-wrenching on certain frames. It is the best of tech, it is the worst of tech. It is the best of relationship, it is the worst of relationship. After a few Apollo missions were telecast live we got tired of it interrupting regular TV. Our dreams narrowed from cosmic scale to the safe confines of our living room. The father figure we all unquestioningly admire and follow early on - similarly and sadly - becomes an out of sync irritating bore. This book touched the bottom of a deep hollow inside I did not know existed.
September 30, 2018
I’m not sure what to say about this one. It was a surprisingly layered story. A father and son grow up together. A meta-story about war and technology interrupts them (using old-style comics and different paper, which was a lovely touch). But there seemed to be something almost made explicit, and then... not quite. The hopefulness of the ending felt forced, to me. The cynicism of the son’s teen years was smoothed over. The reflection on how the world of tomorrow became part of the military-industrial complex was the part that rang most true. But in the end, the answer is just to make another child and leave the future up to them. Is that all we’ve got?
December 7, 2018
Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is a wonderful and poignant story of the future that never was. It starts in 1939 with the New York World's Fair (themed "Dawn of a New Day") and progresses through WWII, the Red Scare and nuclear fears of the 1950s, the space program of the 1960s and 1970s, and into the future, all told through the interactions of one father and son. It expresses the regret people feel about the future we thought would come, but didn't, and some awe at what we do have and could have instead.
May 26, 2019
This is such a beautiful love letter to hope and the future. If you've seen the movie Tomorrowland, this comic is essentially what they were trying (and sadly failing) to deliver. I've always had a weird fascination with the 1939 World's Fair, because it was such a uniquely hopeful and positive event in the history of humanity. International, collaborative, forward-thinking, and utterly alive, I wonder how different the world might be if the second World War hadn't stolen everyone's optimism. Regardless, author Brian Fies gives us a beautiful little rumination on the joy and pain that comes with hope, and it's worth everyone's time to check out.
October 6, 2019
Fantastic book! Boy and his dad are featured as they grow up from 1939 through 1975 and beyond, focusing on science, science fiction, fantasy and comic books. Very good read.
I noticed that the boy and dad don’t age as they should as the story progresses, but that can be attributed to comic license.
I appreciated how the sample comics included had some very familiar defects in the printings.
Highly recommended!
I noticed that the boy and dad don’t age as they should as the story progresses, but that can be attributed to comic license.
I appreciated how the sample comics included had some very familiar defects in the printings.
Highly recommended!
September 29, 2024
Die Zeichnungen waren mir zu glatt. Mich irritierte, dass der kleine Junge über die Jahrzehnte sich nicht altersgemäß entwickelte und offenbar für die Story immer zehn Jahre hinterherhing (schlechtes Lektorat). Die Story selbst, die Geschichte des Weltraumflugs verbunden mit Zukunftsvisionen, lebte vor allem von den Unterbrechungen in Comicheft-Form. Insofern aus medientheoretischer Sicht interessant.
June 19, 2020
3.5 stars I really like the historical details and the actual photographs of historical events in this book. It added a lot to the story. I liked the concept of the comics in between the main story, but I just didn’t really enjoy them. Fun, unique read.
July 2, 2019
Great book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 14, 2020
Erikoinen mutta toimiva ja mielenkiintoinen teos suhtautumisesta tulevaisuuteen ja avaruustutkimukseen. Optimismistaan huolimatta hieman kaihomielinen.
April 9, 2021
Fries' book is marvelous, not just nostalgic or plaintive, but a good interrogation of how ideas of promise and progress became commercialized and corrupted.
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April 21, 2022a little history lesson with a family tie-in
April 17, 2023
This book was a wonderful journey through the relationship between father and sun.
November 2, 2023
A nostalgic look at what was hoped for and how it changed. I shared many of the author’s experiences and feelings.
One question: Why doesn’t the main character try to attend college until he’s 30?
One question: Why doesn’t the main character try to attend college until he’s 30?
February 13, 2024
This book felt far more optimistic in it's intent than I feel is warranted.
August 18, 2019
Very enjoyable, except for keeping the kid looking exactly the same in every Era, which made it hard to shift to each new time period
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews