Superman: For Tomorrow

[Picard]

Alright, finally the twelve issue arc is done. It can be sumed up in this sentence: Great art, horrible story!

What exactly happened in this story?

What was the purpous of the vanishing-machine?
Was it created by Jor-El?
If so, why?
If not, who the "#"% created it?

Did the "vanished" people end up in the phantomzone?
Was that world actually in the phantomzone?
Why was there a robotmodel of Clark Kent in there???
IS JOR-EL ALIVE??
Why was Zod in this "paradise"?
Who was the people that Orr worked for?
Did he betray them at the end?
Who exactly was Halcyon?
What were her agenda? Was it only to get Superman to leave Earth?

and so on.

Please, someone, shed some light on this story.

[Adam Chapman]

Okay, I thought the story made no sense and had bad characterization throughout, but let's see if I can puzzle out some of the answers.

The Vanishing machine was created by Superman to use the Phantom Zone and create a "paradise", or heaven.
It looks like it might have been built off of something built by Jor-El
It was improved by Superman twice- the initial time, and when he relearned what it was.
The world was in the Phantom Zone, and was tied to the existence of both Zod and Kal-El, and when they fought, they broke the world and the Phantom Zone became relatively formless again.
I don't know why those people in particular were selected to be "vanished"
The clark Kent robot was a mechanized protector of the area, to guard it and take care of it, like the Jor-El automaton.
JOR-EL is dead.
Zod was in the paradise, because it was built in the Negative Zone where he was trapped
No idea who Orr worked for, looks like he betrayed them

No idea who the hell Halycon really is or what her deal is. Her part in it all seemed superfluous.

[Picard]

Ok, thanks for the answers.

Did you get why Superman created the vanishingmachine then?
To me it looked like he didn't even know he had created it :)

Will Lee and Azzarello continue on Superman?
If not, who will take over?

[klwiggs]

Geez, talk about a confusing year for Superman. At least thats over and in Superman #216 we get to see Superman fight Shazam in the conclusion of Lighting Strikes.

[jonsnow]

Superman created the vanishing machine as a last ditch effort to save humanity should it ever become necesary, if say the earth was threatened like krypton, or something. Not fully explained, but thats as good as I can get it for you. Azz and Lee are not continuing on Superman. It is being handed to Mark Verheiden (writer for Smallville if I am not mistaken) and Ed Benes on art. Lee will be doing All-star Batman and Robin later this summer, and hopefully Azz will quietly go back to 100 bullets.

[Mark Blicharz]

Don't bother trying to figure it out, you're not gonna. It's not even worth trying to.

[Cardiac]

If I can be arsed I'm gonna read it again and see if I can fathom it as a job lot. As a story it's pretty sloppy, but there are little bits of dialogue that really hit a nerve with me. It still seemed like a rush job though.

[Jason Kanno]

I'm so mad at the last issue. I feel like I've been robbed of 12 months worth of comics. I thought I'd be pleasantly surprised at the end, but instead, I feel like it was the worst issue of the run. What was the point of the father turning into a cyborg? NONE. :#

[Cardiac]

I'm so mad at the last issue. I feel like I've been robbed of 12 months worth of comics. I thought I'd be pleasantly surprised at the end, but instead, I feel like it was the worst issue of the run. What was the point of the father turning into a cyborg? NONE. :#

I'm pretty sure the father was inducted into Spoilers Ahead!the OMAC Project.

[Blake Petit]

I seriously doubt that, Cardiac. That would imply Azzarello was actually attempting to link this story to the greater DC Universe, and he's just spent 12 issues doing the exact opposite.

[Mark Blicharz]

After reading this arc, and only having one good issue, it made me realize Azzarello doesn't have a clue about Superman's character. It seems as though he never read a Superman comic and if he wanted to write a Superman going through a difficult time, he should have read Superman For All Seasons or Death/Return of Superman.

[AmazingMattMan]

halcyon was there so we get the cool visuals of superman fighting the elementals. thats it. or least all i could get out of it. azz was like "man my story is dragging here, what can i do to spice it up a bit!" instead of making it like 3 issues like it should have been.

[Magnus2k]

After reading this arc, and only having one good issue, it made me realize Azzarello doesn't have a clue about Superman's character. It seems as though he never read a Superman comic and if he wanted to write a Superman going through a difficult time, he should have read Superman For All Seasons or Death/Return of Superman.

Funny how things turn out, as he was completely off base on his 6 issue run on Batman to. No clue what was going on there. Azz should have stayed with 100 bullets if it was so good.

[Blake Petit]

Personally, I don't care for 100 Bullets either. The best thing of Azz's I've ever read, ironically, is "Lex Luthor: Man of Steel."

[Downfall]

I'm pretty sure the father was inducted into Spoilers Ahead!the OMAC Project.

Actually, I re-read issue 6-10, hopefully to get something out of reading this convoluted mess. In issue #10, they said that the Father was indeed the fourth generation of OMAC, and Equus was the 3rd.

(Btw, EQUUS? That's Latin for horse. So, um, what the --?)

Anyway, whether this is the OMAC from Countdown remains to be seen. Perhaps Greg Rucka will clean up continuity a little and include Equus and Father Leone in his "Omac Project" miniseries. Though truthfully I hope not.

I have a question. Didn't Zod, the original, get put to death by Superman a long time ago?
So how would he be alive and well in the Phantom Zone?

[bugsypal86]

I think you are thinking of when Superman killed Zod and the other two super people (can't remember their names for the life of me) in the pocket universe Supergirl came from with their version of kryptonite.