How can you tell if you've been reading comic books far too long?
If you can remember when SOMETHING LIKE THIS didn't look the least bit strange!
The STORY TITLE, that is, not the weird alien children!
And, bonus points if, when reading a title like this, it REALLY DID sound like a far off journey through time!
It certainly must have sounded like a distant future when this story was originally published in 1959, because it STILL WAS when I read it as a reprint in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 179 (DC Comics, Cover Date: October, 1976)!
Back then of course, the 24 years it would take to get from 1976 to the year 2000 (much less BEYOND that year) seemed like A LOT MORE TIME than it does now!
Let alone the 41 years it would have taken originally, for Supergirl to travel from 1959!
"A hundred years ahead, into the 21st Century", eh?
That would mean her destination was 2059, in the original...
...And, um, er... 2076 in the reprint?
Say, now that I think about it, 2076 is STILL really far off! I know *I* won't live to see it, unless normal lifespans have exceeded 120 by then!
OKAY, THEN... At least SOMETHING GOOD has come from all this...
...Even if it's just the relief that comes with realizing that I *HAVE NOT* been reading comic books too long!
...In fact, I think I'll go read some more of them right now!
And, readers of the REPRINT in SUPERMAN FAMILY # 179...
...Will probably be wondering until 2076 (should they live so long) why Supergirl left 1976 for a hundred-year time-trek, AND IS RETURNING TO 1959!
I mean sure... she'll miss Disco, Watergate, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, an' all-kinds-o'-stuff-like-that-there...
...But she'll also miss the opening of Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat!
I wonder if COOL CAT was there?
Eeeh... COULD BE!
11 comments:
This post prompts me to ask about something I've never understood, as the only Supergirl story I've ever read was her team-up with the Scooby gang. Why is Supergirl called "The Woman of Tomorrow"?
That’s actually an easy one, Sergio!
“The Man of Tomorrow” was just one of Superman’s many (for lack of a better word) nicknames.
Others include: “The Man of Steel”, “The Last Son of Krypton”, “The Action Ace”, and doubtless others not coming to mind at the moment.
There was even a comic book series titled “Superman: The Man of Tomorrow” as seen HERE!
“The Woman of Tomorrow” is simply the female side of “The Man of Tomorrow”!
However, in the story referenced here, Supergirl actually IS “The Woman of Tomorrow” in the literal sense, as well.
I see. That makes sense. But now I'm wondering why Superman is called "The Man of Tomorrow." :)
Heh! It’s just one great big endless cycle, isn’t it, Sergio?
"The Man of Tomorrow" is just one of those hyperbolic phrases that tended to attach themselves to superhero characters, especially in the earlier days of the genre.
My guess is that "The Man of Tomorrow" sprang from, as the George Reeves TV show used to say, “with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men” which, especially when we humans were in a period of “positive evolution” (…rather than the “negative or backward evolution” humans in general – and Americans in particular – have been undergoing for most of the 21st Century… forgive the editorializing) that such a super-evolved man would be viewed as a " Man of Tomorrow".
Oddly enough, moving in an alternate genre direction, Mickey Mouse’s strange little friend from the year 2447, Eega Beeva, was also dubbed "The Man of Tomorrow"… and most likely for the same reasons.
And, while the phrase "The Man of Tomorrow" may have predated the Superman TV show, that’s my view as to its origins. While we’re at it, I sometimes wonder if Superman would ever have been referred to as “The Action Ace” had he not debuted in the first issue of ACTION COMICS!
…The “cycle” continues… as it must!
Even more unusual: upon his first appearance in Italy, Eega Beeva was dubbed not "The Man of Tomorrow," but "The Man of 2000." That's right... rather than traveling through some kind of time warp from 2447, Eega was now interpreted as coming from a future era only several decades hence, which makes his extremely evolved (devolved?) state even more perplexing—if not to say unnerving!
David:
Well… THAT would probably explain some of the strange people I’ve met since the year 2000!
Superman's nickname of "The Man of Tomorrow" goes back to Siegel and Shuster. I saw it first in reprints of the first Sunday newspaper strips. It's older than calling him "The Man of Steel," actually. It's based on the original conception of Krytonians as the presumed evolution of man into supermen.
Then there was the brief, abortive Superman of 1934, who actually did come from the future.
"The Man of Tomorrow" goes back to Siegel and Shuster. I distinctly remember it being used a lot in the comic strip in the forties (my school had the collection of the first Sundays). It's based on Krypton's highly advanced evolution which produced a race of supermen. Similar to Eega Beeva in the Mickey Mouse comic strip.
Welcome to Our Humble Blog, Solomon! Hope you enjoy what we do here!
I can’t say I’d actually done a year-by-year comparison (…disclaimer for the benefit of some “wiggle-room”), but I’d agree with you that "The Man of Tomorrow" predates "The Man of Steel", even if it were far surpassed by the latter as time progressed and the character of Superman was more fully fleshed-out by subsequent creative influences.
And, just when ya think ya know it all, I must ask about “ the brief, abortive Superman of 1934, who actually did come from the future”. I don’t believe I ever heard of this version!
Proving that you learn something new every day… or, every yesterday, if you will.
After their first Superman in 1933 fell through, Siegel decided he needed to find a professional cartoonist. After some inquiries, he heard back from Russel Keaton, who had just left the Buck Rogers Sunday strip to write and draw Skyroads. In the Siegel-Keaton strip, it is the imminent destruction of the earth from old age that prompts the desperate scientist to send his infant son back to 1935.
https://thoughtsandramblingsofhardwickebenthow.wordpress.com/man-of-tomorrow-siegel-and-keatons-superman/
Ah, no wonder I never heard of this version. VERY interesting story, and thanks for sharing it!
HERE is Solomon’s link. You’ll find it fascinating!
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