"For Tomorrow"'s place in continuity

[daredevil1]

When is this story supposed to take place? It involves the missing year where Lois and a million people have vanished, but when it came out in 2004, Adventures and Action just carried on as usual with Lois and never mentioned it. The Peruvian Fortress was clearly used in the comics before Infinite Crisis, but this wasn't a case of "One Year Later" where the missing year was addressed; Superman was still appearing regularly in JLA the whole time, so there's not really any good point where it could have taken place. Has a writer ever addressed this?

[Vordan]

That was like 2 continuity reboots ago, at this point nobody at DC cares especially since it’s unlikely FT is even canon itself anymore. It wasn’t mentioned simply because Azz was going to tell his story and the other books weren’t interested in retooling their stories to acknowledge what he was doing.

[manofsteel1979]

That whole era was really weird to say the least, and only Greg Rucka's Adventures of Superman run was worth the time at the time ultimately. I sort of consigned For Tomorrow, The Azzarello Luthor book and The Question mini series all to its own separate continuity while ACTION and AOS were continuing somewhat from the Kelly/Loeb era.

I will say that FOR TOMORROW works a lot better in trade/hardcover than as a monthly floppy. It was gorgeous to look at but a boring chore to read month to month. As a trade it is still somewhat dull and pretentious at times but had it's moments and the art is still great stuff. That first issue in particular was visually stunning.

[exile001]

It wasn’t mentioned simply because Azz was going to tell his story and the other books weren’t interested in retooling their stories to acknowledge what he was doing.

I think that was the point, that it was its own separate jumping on point and a self-contained story. DC were doing a similar thing with Batman and JLA at the time with teams telling their own stories. The initiative didn't last long.

[DochaDocha]

Has a writer ever addressed this?

I think the short answer to this is no, no one really addressed it. It kind of just came and went. The Azz/Lee run was a bit of a showcase event (#1 was the best selling comic for all of 2004), bringing Lee into the title when Lee was at peak popularity, so I think Azz was given some free reign to do whatever he wanted and it was up to editorial and the other writers to put the pieces into the right places; they didn't.

[daredevil1]

That whole era was really weird to say the least, and only Greg Rucka's Adventures of Superman run was worth the time at the time ultimately. I sort of consigned For Tomorrow, The Azzarello Luthor book and The Question mini series all to its own separate continuity while ACTION and AOS were continuing somewhat from the Kelly/Loeb era.

I will say that FOR TOMORROW works a lot better in trade/hardcover than as a monthly floppy. It was gorgeous to look at but a boring chore to read month to month. As a trade it is still somewhat dull and pretentious at times but had it's moments and the art is still great stuff. That first issue in particular was visually stunning.

I think the short answer to this is no, no one really addressed it. It kind of just came and went. The Azz/Lee run was a bit of a showcase event (#1 was the best selling comic for all of 2004), bringing Lee into the title when Lee was at peak popularity, so I think Azz was given some free reign to do whatever he wanted and it was up to editorial and the other writers to put the pieces into the right places; they didn't.

For sure, I read it in floppies at the time. But does anyone have a guess when it took place in pre-Flashpoint DCU history? It doesn't really fit anywhere exceptt before Rucka and Austen's runs, but those kind of seem to immediately follow Superman 'missing' during Godfall, not "hey does everyone remember when half the world was blipped for a whole year? Crazy times, huh?" Perhaps I phrased it the wrong way by if a writer addressed it's place in the timeline, but maybe editorial or Didio were cornered about it, etc.

[Timothy Hunter]

For sure, I read it in floppies at the time. But does anyone have a guess when it took place in pre-Flashpoint DCU history? It doesn't really fit anywhere exceptt before Rucka and Austen's runs, but those kind of seem to immediately follow Superman 'missing' during Godfall, not "hey does everyone remember when half the world was blipped for a whole year? Crazy times, huh?" Perhaps I phrased it the wrong way by if a writer addressed it's place in the timeline, but maybe editorial or Didio were cornered about it, etc.

Some retconning might have to be done for the story to make sense in the chronology of the Post Crisis DC Universe. Change the blip happening from 1 year to 1 to 2 months due to the nature of the sliding timeline.

[Stanlos]

When is this story supposed to take place? It involves the missing year where Lois and a million people have vanished, but when it came out in 2004, Adventures and Action just carried on as usual with Lois and never mentioned it. The Peruvian Fortress was clearly used in the comics before Infinite Crisis, but this wasn't a case of "One Year Later" where the missing year was addressed; Superman was still appearing regularly in JLA the whole time, so there's not really any good point where it could have taken place. Has a writer ever addressed this?

It is part of the lead up to INFINITE CRISIS and has ties to OMAC

[manofsteel1979]

For sure, I read it in floppies at the time. But does anyone have a guess when it took place in pre-Flashpoint DCU history? It doesn't really fit anywhere exceptt before Rucka and Austen's runs, but those kind of seem to immediately follow Superman 'missing' during Godfall, not "hey does everyone remember when half the world was blipped for a whole year? Crazy times, huh?" Perhaps I phrased it the wrong way by if a writer addressed it's place in the timeline, but maybe editorial or Didio were cornered about it, etc.

Yeah they never really directly mentioned it again other than the south American Fortress of Solitude was shown at the end of For Tomorrow and that stuck around for the next year-ish in the books leading up to Infinite Crisis. I think the only thread picked up was the Mr. Orr character popping up in Azzarello's LUTHOR mini series that eventually was reformatted as a stand alone hardcover alongside his later JOKER hardcover. The Question miniseries that was out at the time sort of obliquely tied into the Luthor series so i kind of lump those three series together. I don't recall either Action or Adventures of Superman or the Superman book itself ever mentioning anything from that story ever again.

I don't think it was ever meant to really be something that was rooted in the ongoing continuity. It always felt like DC's attempt at having a stand alone story to be something aimed at the bookstores that could stand apart from enough from continuity that it wouldn't be dated. Think All Star Superman and Superman Earth One before they were a thing.

[daredevil1]

Yeah they never really directly mentioned it again other than the south American Fortress of Solitude was shown at the end of For Tomorrow and that stuck around for the next year-ish in the books leading up to Infinite Crisis. I think the only thread picked up was the Mr. Orr character popping up in Azzarello's LUTHOR mini series that eventually was reformatted as a stand alone hardcover alongside his later JOKER hardcover. The Question miniseries that was out at the time sort of obliquely tied into the Luthor series so i kind of lump those three series together. I don't recall either Action or Adventures of Superman or the Superman book itself ever mentioning anything from that story ever again.

I don't think it was ever meant to really be something that was rooted in the ongoing continuity. It always felt like DC's attempt at having a stand alone story to be something aimed at the bookstores that could stand apart from enough from continuity that it wouldn't be dated. Think All Star Superman and Superman Earth One before they were a thing.

You're right, which was further complicated by Lex never really running Lexcorp again after he was defamed and ousted as president in Superman/Batman. But since Orr is mentioned in the Luthor mini it had to take place after that, so none of them really fit at all... Too bad they didn't just get a better writer who did the "Hush" version of Superman's rogues gallery, it could've raised his profile more at a time when he sorely needed a win.

[manofsteel1979]

You're right, which was further complicated by Lex never really running Lexcorp again after he was defamed and ousted as president in Superman/Batman. But since Orr is mentioned in the Luthor mini it had to take place after that, so none of them really fit at all... Too bad they didn't just get a better writer who did the "Hush" version of Superman's rogues gallery, it could've raised his profile more at a time when he sorely needed a win.

I remember how everyone was hyping For Tomorrow as Superman's Hush prior to it being launched. It quickly became clear that wasn't the case, but even with its delays towards the end it was best a main Superman book had sold since the Death and Return era and I don't think its sold anywhere in those numbers on a month to month basis since. The closest was probably the first couple issues of ACTION when the New 52 launched, and maybe the launch of SUPERMAN UNCHAINED but definitely not as big as that was. It definitely was a moment in time.

Now, imagine, like you said , if it was a story more akin to HUSH for Superman? Not necessarily copy that story, but something that sort of touched upon the whole picture of the Superman mythos as it existed at the time. HUSH created a lot of momentum for the entire Batman line that lasted years and Superman definitely needed something similar. FOR TOMORROW certainly wasn't that sadly.