Wow, this was surprisingly touching. I thought it was great, one of the best Superman stories I've read.

We discuss favorite Superman stories in a special episode of the All the Books Show Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-31-all-the-books-v-superman

I like Alan Moore, so I gave this a shot. It was not as good as his more mature work, and after a Batman comic binge, Superman seems far less interesting, even under Moore's pen.

FIrst off, this is short, and written by Alan Moore, so read it. At first I didn't know if I would like it because the style of artwork is a little bit older, now that I have read it I know not to underestimate older graphic novels. Although a short read, I think there is more emotion and thought packed into each of the three vignettes than many other graphic novels. People often claim superman is boring because he is too powerful, this puts all of those arguments to rest, as Superman must deal with his own mortality and of those close to him. I highly recommend reading it.

What a great way to end Superman's story. Chock full of references and call backs and cleverly written as usual for Moore.

This is the deluxe version of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Which means it contains not only the "final" Superman story from the Silver Age (prior to the 1980s reboot), but it also contain all of Alan Moore's other Superman stories, one involving the Swamp Thing, the other involving the villain Mongol and the worst birthday present ever, a plant that seeps into your body and makes you live out your greatest fantasy.

I don't want to review each story individually, but I will say as a group, they're a strange and satisfying read. More and more, I find myself picking up Superman stories that are fascinated with death, and two are included here--though both have happy outcomes. Yet there's a strain of melancholy to both, in that Superman assumes he will die alone, either because his identity is a secret or because he's brought mayhem on his closest friends and family because of a loss of his secret identity. And the final story includes gaining back his dead home planet. Only to lose it again by issue's end.

Moore is a fantastic writer when it comes to stakes. In his work on Superman, nothing more or less is at stake than Superman's mind, heart, nobility and very existence as a hero. The art by Curt Swan gives us a heroic but also human superhero, one who wants to give justice the upper hand, but finds that hard to do when being blasted at his weakest moments or in his most private thoughts. All of these tales have the tone of fables, and that is probably why they are so effective. By watching the world's strongest man grapple with life and death issues over and over again, we can think about how we might do the same. And, as these stories remind us, everyone has to do the same eventually, alone or not.

Superman is unlike most heroes simply because he is the pinnacle of all superheroes. He has no faults, he always wins, he is noble, and he is all that is good in the world. But that can be a cause of burden, one that plenty of superman comics have shown in the past, but to celebrate the end of the "Silver Age" of comics, Alan Moore has avoided that and instead has given us one long heroic farewell to the greatest hero of them all. There is no flaw to him in this, it's all how the public view him and how he managed to save the world once again.

It's in all honestly surprisingly touching, seeing everyone unite together in their love of Superman, and how even when things are at their darkest, they are still there for him, showing he has made a difference in the end. Curt Swan has done beautiful work with the Man of Steel, but this is probably his Magnum Opus, as Superman seems more like a god in human form, but still emotional. I dare any fan of Superman to make it through the last few pages without shredding a tear or two.

It's not very de-constructive unlike Moore's other work, but instead it seems to be viewed through the eyes of a child, with nothing but love for the Man of Tomorrow, which is a welcome change from the man, because he still is second to none when it comes to writing comics. Heck, even the other two stories that come with "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" Don't take anything away from the main story, as they are all seemingly unrelated to each other except for the fact they are all written by Moore, but the highlight is the Swamp Thing story, which is a little more like Moore's other work.

It's only a small collection and is well worth owning, as it's a glorious telling of why the Man of Tomorrow deserves to be called Superman.

I don't often read DC comics and even less frequently Superman but this is a famous tale and it was in the library and I fancied a change.

The main two parter by Alan Moore really is quite a special story. Designed to bring a close to the silver age Superman before rebooting everything after Crisis on Infinite Earths, Moore found a way to wrap everything up with a touching, bittersweet and surprisingly emotional tale for the ages.

So we have Superman near the end of the era, a resurgence of his old foes and a realisation that all might not end well. It's familiar and well told, perfectly paced and uses the supporting cast perfectly. The scene of Supes crying is impressive and the quiet narration by Lois, touching. Even more impressive, it has quite a satisfying ending. Undeniably a classic even for casual fans and great clean pencils by Curt Swan.

As an aside, I have to (childishly) admit to giggling at the scene where the other heroes are trying to break in and help. The text and characters are divided into 'friends, rivals and lovers' with a few characters at each stage delineating who is who. It appears not only is Wonder Woman a 'lover' but also so to are Batman and Robin. Ha ha.

This volume also collects the Swamp Thing / Superman crossover which was ok and the highly entertaining, 'Man who has everything story'. In this we get an amusing Jason Todd/Robin who is seemingly brand new at the hero lark and some wonderfully camp interplay between Bats, Robin and Diana. There's a lot of unintentional humour here and it's a fun story. Batman seems truly useless here.

So, a really great two parter and some fun. Great writing, great period art. Worth it for any comic fan.

I wasn't aware that this was three separate stories so when the first story ended it came of as too short and rather abrupt. But I did like all three stories. I haven't read a lot of Superman so I'm not sure how different these stories are from the normal stuff so I can't really judge them against other Superman Stories.

They were fun and it was cool that it was kind of a "what-if" story that allowed something huge to happen in the DC Universe without really effecting anything.