Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The All-Tommy Tomorrow Thread!

If ever there was another "other time" property related to the Superman franchise in a way the Legion is, it would be Tommy Tomorrow. Mainly for three reasons:

(1) Tommy was the longtime back-up feature for Superman in Action Comics during the 1950's Atomic Age, and then continued on as the back-up in World's Finest during the early Silver Age.

(2) Supergirl actually met a young Tommy Tomorrow tomorrow in one of the first ever DC cameo / guest-appearance / crossovers that didn't involve Batman and Superman.

(3) Supergirl and Superman's powers and the "spirit of their features" easily allows them to travel time to meet Tommy.

So, I think Tommy Tomorrow is a pretty groovy character with a great history. And I want DC to establish a romance between Supergirl and young Tommy, and friendship between Superman and adult Tommy Tomorrow (and Brent Wood). *And* I want there to be a Legion connection too! After all, if the Legion went back in time to get the greatest hero of the 21st Century, they should get the greatest hero of the 22nd!

PS - I'm also quite glad that (A) Tommy's mid-Silver Age Showcase Revival and (B) the connection to Kamandi have long been dismissed from the minds of fans. Ew.

I sorta had a crush on Tommy Tomorrow when I was a wee lad. I think it was the purple shorts

Popping Planeteers! I don't think I've ever actually read any Tommy Tomorrow stories, except the Supergirl crossover!

Er... and some issues of Kamandi!

Here's the Cobalt Kid breakdown. My reading isn't extensive, but I've read different things from all eras:

(1) The late Golden Age/early Atomic Age Real Fact Comics stories - the original Tommy Tomorrow stories, from what I understand they are very good and cutting edge science-fiction just when the sci-fi genre was returning to comic books.

(2) The longtime Action Comics back-up by Otto Binder - these are all excellent. They are Binder at his best. Basically anything Binder, Hamilton, Broome or even Francis Herron did in the 1950's is awesome. I wish I'd read more than I probably sound like. But Binder's stories in Strange Adventurs, Mystery in Space, Jimmy Olsen, Superboy and here in Tommy Tomorrow are so damn cool.

(3) The World's Finest back-up - when Tommy got bumped out of Action by Supergirl, he went to World's Finest, but Binder didn't go with him. Instead different writers came on. I've only read a handful of these but they aren't quite as good as Binder's. Still fun though. And easier to come by.

(4) The Showcase mini-revival of the Mid-Silver Age. Perhaps the first re-imaginging in comics. While Flash and GL had long been dormant, Tommy had only been gone about two years so it probably stung for fans that they changed so much. It didn't do well and ultimately didn't spin into any ongoing feature when basically everything in Showcase and B&B was.

(5) Er, there is no 5, but I had to mention that the idea of connecting Tommy Tomorrow to Kamandi is pretty damn sucky! Glad that is officially erased!

Tommy should be connected to Professor T.O. Morrow.

There's a Tom Tomorrow who does the comic strip "This Modern World". I wonder if he took the name from the comic character.

A darker view of Tommy Tomorrow, from Twilight, by Howard Chaykin and José Luis Garcia Lopéz.

Great space! That looks like a horrible take on Kam... I mean... Tommy Tomorrow!

I've never read Twilight and from what I've read of the summaries, I don't think I ever want to. It might be good quality stuff, but man, yet another dark revision of DC's heroes in the late 80's/early 90's? Was no stone left unturned?

I actually remembering reading a summary of it one time and thinking "Hey! This sounds really cool!" up to a certain point, and then I realized.... no, this doesn't sound cool at all.

It's pretty cynical. Great artwork. A good talking cat character. But it's a bit like Brat Pack, and darker than I like.

Is there somewhere where the Tommy / Supergirl story can be read online? I've only ever read it once.

I'm hoping a connection between the two is restored like Supergirl's Legion connection is!

Didn't Tommy Tomorrow turn into something of a d@uc#e?

You knoww... with Paul telling Legion flashback stories in Adventure Comics, this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce a meeting between the Legion and young Tommy Tomorrow!

Not in continuity.

Oh.

Well, I understand Tommy Tomorrow II is destined to become a Starman.

Yeah, evil-Tommy was in the Twilight mini mentioned earlier in this thread. Like another Elseworlds Evil-Heroes type future but this one for the space sci-fi heroes.

It's been ignored pretty much ever since. Many have said its actually good but its too much of a product of its time and like the 10th of those in a row (heroes much darker than you originally though type series).

Apparently Tommy Tomorrow is currently appearing in Magog.

Bah. No one reads that--we'll never know what happened.

No doubt a desperate attempt to improve sales by drawing in Tommy Tomorrow fans!

Obviously, since you, me and FC didn't buy it, it didn't work!

You'll note the way I worded my request for the Supergirl/Tommy story was a not so subtle hint for someone to repost it here on LW.

I noticed that!

Tommy's classic first appearance:

That's such a groovy origin story! I've never read it before!

You can just feel the excitement towards space travel. I can't think of *anything* in comics today that can garner that type of enthusiasm for the future. The "information age"? Bore-fest!

The idea of Tommy having to go into space to weld the ship back together while traveling to Mars is so simple and yet exciting. It's those type of little problems the hero has to overcome that really showcased how intelligent and talented they were--it's something many writers just don't do anymore (one who does is actually Paul Levitz).

In 4 pages, there is enough story that lesser creators of the modern era take 22 pages to tell. I say lesser because 'drawing things out' and 'letting it breath' is akin to "being lazy" IMO.

I really want Tommy Tomorrow back in the DCU and part of the Superman/Legion corner of it.