A concept for a new Superman born of another reality fails to live up to its novel premise. Many of DC‘s best Elseworlds tales involve alternate takes on the Man of Steel. However, the new Father of Tomorrow miniseries by Kenny Porter and Danny Earls falters in sticking too closely to the classic origin.
Superman: Father of Tomorrow is based around a simple idea; what if Jor-El came to Earth instead of his son? In this timeline, Jor-El’s wife and son are killed before he can get them onto the rocket he built to escape Krypton. This leaves him as the Last Son of Krypton discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent.
Adopted as Jonathan’s brother, Jordan, Jor-El lays low for several years. He uses advanced technology to help the Kent farm thrive, but fears doing more. Not because he might be detected, but because of a Kryptonian edict against interfering with other worlds’ development. However, his attitude changes at the same time that Superman: Father of Tomorrow begins to go off the rails.
How Father of Tomorrow fails its intriguing new Superman premise
Shortly after a local fair, Jonathan Kent has a fatal heart attack. As in some Superman stories (like the 1978 movie) this has a major effect on the Last Son of Krypton. The key difference here, however, is that Jor-El is inspired to action rather than taught a lesson about his limits. He decides to start using his powers, technology, and genius to benefit humanity.
The new Superman makes his debut at a failed test for an alien-hunting robot dubbed Metallo. This robot was the pet project of General Sam Lane and funded by LexCorp. However, it is Lionel Luthor rather than Lex who set up this dirty deal. However, there are a number of story beats taken directly from the Superman movie. Chief among these are Jor-El’s advice to a young Lois Lane regarding robotics and his answering General Lane’s query as to who he is with “a friend.”
There is nothing particularly bad about this opening chapter of Superman: Man of Tomorrow. However, there’s a strong sense that we’ve seen all this before. It’s possible that future chapters will take this unique concept in new directions. However, the first chapter seems incredibly uninspired.
Superman: Father of Tomorrow #1 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
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