Superman: Man of Tomorrow Digital First Thread

[Vordan]

Figured we should just make a full discussion thread since it’s going to be a while before the next Superman issues come out, even with DC trying to get up and running. Issues 1 and 2 are now out:

First issue was a fun little story about the Parasite. A straightforward Superman story where he’s up against one of his Rogues which I enjoyed.


Second one looks to be about a villainous gambler which sounds intriguing and reminds me of an idea for a Superman story I had of my own. If Venditti is going where I think he is with this, this will be entertaining. Either way the writing so far has been solid and the art has been great, if you guys are bored of reading back issues or your backlog is all cleared out, I’d recommend giving this a read. It’s a solid way to get your Superman fix for right now.

[DragonPiece]

Do we know how many issues there will be for this book? I am enjoying this a lot more than I figured I would. The plots aren't huge end of the world scenarios, but that's part of the appeal. It's nice seeing Clark just dealing with crime in the city again, with Lois and Jimmy as backup. I also like that he and Lois are married, really feels like the early 2000's era in a sense.

[WallyWestFlash]

Loving these classic Superman stories. Has humor, heart, action. Venditti really gets Superman and writes him well. The art is also great. Reminds me of the Traingle years a bit. So.much better than Bendis. I gotta track down these in print from the Supman Giants.

[MRP]

Do we know how many issues there will be for this book? I am enjoying this a lot more than I figured I would. The plots aren't huge end of the world scenarios, but that's part of the appeal. It's nice seeing Clark just dealing with crime in the city again, with Lois and Jimmy as backup. I also like that he and Lois are married, really feels like the early 2000's era in a sense.

These are reprints of the lead new story appearing in the Superman Giant books. The first 2 issues of that were out before these digital issues were released. I am not sure if the rest will come out in digital before the Giants now, or whether they will wait for the Giants to be released first.

-M

[Lvenger]

I enjoyed the first issue of Man of Tomorrow, it was an enjoyable start to the series. An old fashioned villain of the week one and done issue with enough action, humour and heart to satisfy my cravings in a Superman story. Superman, Lois, Jimmy and Perry felt on point in their characterisations and Venditti highlighted Superman's ability to inspire others as well as his use of his intellect to defeat Parasite well. Pelletier's art was solid as well, I'm a fan of his work on Aquaman and Incredible Hulk. My major gripes were the basic plot structure and very cheesy dialogue in the Superman vs Parasite fight. Still, this was a refreshing back to basics Superman comic that I've been missing with Bendis in charge at the moment.

[superduperman]

An idea came to me yesterday that I want to float by some people here. Should DC convert their regular books to the stand alone story format like these books? They seem to be selling pretty well and they are going on Ebay for three or four times their cover price within days of coming out. And they are more new reader friendly than the mainstream books. The continuity is loose enough that you don't need to follow anything that came before. This seems like a much better model than we have now. It's kind of going backward in some ways but given the market today, it's not the worst idea.

[Sacred Knight]

It'd be nice to get an issue that's a pre-Crisis status quo, but since status quos barely come into play into self-contained stories like these its not that a big deal anyway. Super marriage is not a deal breaker, just not a preference. My only deal-breaker didn't exist in this story and that was more than refreshing enough. I very much hope that continues so I have something to enjoy.

An idea came to me yesterday that I want to float by some people here. Should DC convert their regular books to the stand alone story format like these books? They seem to be selling pretty well and they are going on Ebay for three or four times their cover price within days of coming out. And they are more new reader friendly than the mainstream books. The continuity is loose enough that you don't need to follow anything that came before. This seems like a much better model than we have now. It's kind of going backward in some ways but given the market today, it's not the worst idea.

Personally, I'd love it. After 3 decades I've grown weary with strong continuity. But that's me. I question how the DC audience by and large would take it. My initial belief is that it would not be taken well. Whether staunch love for tight continuity or just a sense of security because its what they know, its what they're most familiar with, either way lack of continuity tends to get push back. Hell when I was younger I had a hard time dealing with it when the triangle era stopped and not all four Sueprman titles were happening sequentially anymore. Aside from just being mostly bad ideas, DCYou touted less stringent continuity and fans raged. It wasn't even true, the continuity was still there, it was just a meaningless tagline and they still got mad about it. So I'm not sure it'd work overall. Maybe I'm overestimating how upset the larger fanbase would be, I dunno. If the model was tried though I'd certainly be in.

[Ascended]

An idea came to me yesterday that I want to float by some people here. Should DC convert their regular books to the stand alone story format like these books? They seem to be selling pretty well and they are going on Ebay for three or four times their cover price within days of coming out. And they are more new reader friendly than the mainstream books. The continuity is loose enough that you don't need to follow anything that came before. This seems like a much better model than we have now. It's kind of going backward in some ways but given the market today, it's not the worst idea.

I think for general consumption it's a very viable strategy. This kind of stand-alone, continuity-free content will appeal to non-fans and new readers a lot more than the ongoing continuity we have in the direct market. So it's a great option for bookstores, digital, Scholastic, large scale retailers like Wal-Mart (which is where this came from right?) etc. I want to see more stuff like this and Smashes the Klan and Breaking Glass and Harleen; stuff you can read without having to dedicate your life to understanding the continuity and history.

As far as the direct market goes, I always welcome stuff like this but I don't know if switching to this kind of narrative structure over the serialized format would provide any worthwhile benefit. Most of us who are in the direct market want the ongoing, serialized story and know the history/continuity already. We'll happily grab other stuff as complimentary/supplementary material, or as a temporary replacement if the current ongoing books don't satisfy, but I don't think we'd see any real change in sales or units sold if DC switched to this kind of approach over the serialized narrative.

I think sales would be a lot more elastic and unpredictable. One issue of Superman might sell like crazy while the next doesn't, depending on the creators and hook for the story. That's got some good points as well as bad, and it'd likely make pushing C-listers easier (at least in some ways), but I dunno if it'd be worth doing for the direct market.

Besides, the ongoing continuity is why we have stuff like Wally West as Flash, Dick as Nightwing, Conner Kent and John Irons and Jon Kent, etc. Stand alone stuff is great, but can't advance the overall character narrative or mythology. No, I think it's best to have the ongoing continuity as well as the self-contained stuff. There's room for both, and I think fans can enjoy both, the only real hurdle is finding the right market/s for the right approach and making sure potential fans become actual paying customers.

[Vordan]

Do we know how many issues there will be for this book? I am enjoying this a lot more than I figured I would. The plots aren't huge end of the world scenarios, but that's part of the appeal. It's nice seeing Clark just dealing with crime in the city again, with Lois and Jimmy as backup. I also like that he and Lois are married, really feels like the early 2000's era in a sense.

12 issues I think, same as King’s Up in the Sky.