Superman: Was wurde aus dem Mann von Morgen?

The last great Silver Age Superman story, period.

Printed in 1986 but drawn and written like a comic book from the 50's, a somewhat corny and superficial story from master of the dark and substantive Alan Moore, and the final issue for Silver Age Superman putting a bow on his story line after the confusing retcon effort Crisis on Infinite Earths, it should come as no surprise that Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is weird.

Though weird and written/drawn in a style I generally do not like, I enjoyed Alan Moore's effort quite a bit. The storyline is pretty basic, I mean, as basic as you can get when the broken corpose of Braniac merges with Lex Luthor to start an assault on the Fortress of Solitude with the help of villains from the future. Lots of Silver Age characters meet their end in this book, as Lois Lane in the future recounts the events leading up to Silver Age Superman vanishing forever.

Because this book is meant to be the capstone of Silver Age Superman, it fails to be really independent, even though it's collected together as a single bound book. Lots of references to characters I didn't know and events with which I was unfamiliar, including two colors of Kryptonite I had never heard of. As a result, I don't think I can recommend it for casual fans such as myself, at least not without Wikipedia handy.

It's a light-hearted and fun read, but it fails to deal with the magnitude of the events it portrays. Like Death of Superman and All-Star Superman, the subject is the demise of the Man of Steel. But unlike All-Star Superman, we are treated to almost none of Kal-el's thoughts as his approaches his own end. It's worth a read, but it requires research, and it's nowhere near the best Superman book I've read. Moore seems to feel more at home dealing with darker material like V for Vendetta and Watchmen, so this particular book always feels like something of a shallow knock-off at best or a toothless parody at worst.

I should probably rate this book 5 stars simply because Moore managed to write a superman story that I actually want to rate above 2 stars.

Anyone with any affection for the pre-Crisis (that is, pre-John Byrne) Superman will get a lot out of this story, which was intended as the "final issue" under the old continuity. For others, I'd recommend tackling the trade paperbacks that cover the decades first, because in it's proper context, "Whatever Happened..." is a four star tale in the old style.