Alan Moore Tortures Superman
In "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow," Alan Moore puts Superman through the wringer, breaking the Man of Steel down to a sobbing wreck when he has a moment to himself in the mysterious Fortress of Solitude, which is perhaps the first time readers ever saw Superman have an honest, snot coming out of the nose, cry. But he does it in order to remind us all of just how strong, not just physically but mentally and emotionally, Superman is.
And, to get Superman to that point, Moore digs deep into Superman's legacy. All too often, writers who want to bring Superman to his knees will go with the most obvious move: kill Lois Lane. After all, she's the woman he loves, and surely that would break him. But Moore knows that Superman is more than that. He doesn't just love Lois, he loves everyone. So how does he break the Last Son of Krypton?
He starts by having Bizarro end his own life because, as the twisted creature points out, if he is the "perfect imperfect duplicate" of Superman and Superman is alive, then Bizarro must be dead. From there, Superman's secret identity is revealed to the world, ensuring he can never truly be a part of humanity ever again. And, for an added bonus, Toyman and Prankster, who are responsible for revealing Superman's identity, also kill Pete Ross, Superman's oldest friend.
Related
Alan Moore quit comics, but he didn't stop writing; and he hasn't lost his acid tongue, either, as he takes down another famous comic book author.
All of this leads to Superman having to leave Metropolis and move permanently into the Fortress of Solitude so that his foes will leave Lois and the Daily Planet staff, some of the most important people in Superman's life, alone. And there he sees Supergirl who, at that moment, is dead. But this version of her is from the future, a time when she was training with the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Legion itself is there to give Superman a small statue to thank him for all he has done. What the Legion knows is that these are the last days of Superman. And now Superman knows it as well.
And so... alone and facing the end, Superman cries.
Because Alan Moore Loves Superman
These days, Alan Moore is vocal about his dislike of superheroes. Heck, even in 1986 when he was writing "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?," he and Dave Gibbons were crafting their masterpiece: Watchmen. But Moore didn't fall into superhero comics by accident. He, like most creatives who end up in comics, grew up loving superheroes, with Superman holding a special place in his heart.
And while the story is overflowing with painful, tortuous moments for Superman, the love that Moore feels for the Metropolis Marvel, his rogues, and his pals, all but pours out of the pages. Yes, Moore spends the entirety of the first part of the story emotionally crushing Superman. But like any good writer, it is all so that the hero can rise back up. More tragedies befall Superman and his family, including the deaths of Lana Lang, Jimmy Olsen, and Krypto, and all of it leads to the hardest moment for the reader.
Superman, seeing his friends and foes dying around him, comes to realize that there is only one way to end the violence: he must destroy himself. And there, on the last day of the Man of Steel, Superman walks into a room that holds gold kryptonite, forever taking away his own powers.
But all is not sad, for we see what really happened to the Man of Tomorrow. Now a mere mortal, Superman married Lois Lane, and together they had a son. A son who crushes coal into diamond. Superman gets his happily ever after, and readers know that there will always be a Superman. Telling what was to be the last story of the classic Superman, Alan Moore imbued the hero with the grim and gritty style that was already starting to become the norm in superhero tales of the time, but showed that, no matter how dark things get, no matter what writers do to change him, Superman is always going to be Superman. And that is why we love him.
English (US) ·