Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow- The Deluxe Edition, by Curt Swan and Alan Moore

Everyone knows about Superman, but how does the story of the Man of Steel end? This book shows what happened to Superman in his final days, and the end of his story as protector of Earth.

A reporter arrives at the home of Lois Lane, now Lois Elliott, to interview her for the Superman anniversary, and she tells the story of the last days of Superman- of how Bizarro came to Earth after destroying his home planet, caused carnage on Earth, and killed himself with Blue Kryptonite. How the Toyman and the Prankster created dolls that shot lasers out of their faces, exposed Superman for who he really was, and revealed that they'd killed Pete Ross to get their information.

At that point, he dropped the pretense of being Clark Kent for good, but things got worse when Luthor went looking for Brainiac's brain, all that remained of him. Brainiac took over Luthor's body and rebuilt his ship. Meanwhile, Metallos tried to take over the Daily Planet, trashing it in the process. Superman gathered up his friends and former co-workers and took them to his Fortress of Solitude.

Back in Metropolis, Kryptonite Man arrived, looking for Superman, but he was taken by Luthor and Brainiac. Meanwhile, allies also began arriving- Krypto the Superdog and The Legion of Superheroes, along with Supergirl- who was already dead in the time Superman came from. The Legion knew his end was coming, and was there to give him a statuette, but the sight of Supergirl made Superman cry, especially as he couldn't tell his cousin that she was already dead.

The next day, he melted the key to the Fortress. Luthor/Brainiac and Kryptonite Man showed up, and surrounded the Fortress of Solitude with a forcefield. Other heroes had arrived, but were blocked from intervening by the forcefield. Inside the Fortress, Superman bared his heart to Perry White while Lana Lang and Jimmy Olsen took the battle to the enemy, regaining powers they'd had in the past from souvenirs from the Fortress. But even as they took out the Forcefield generator, Lana killed Luthor as his own request, only to be killed in turn by Lightning Lord, one of the Legion of Supervillains from the Future, and Jimmy was also killed, by Brainiac, who still controlled Luthor's body. Meanwhile, Kryptonite Man went after Superman and was killed by Krypto, who then died of Kryptonite poisoning.

When Superman learned of Lana's death, he became enraged, nearly killing the Legion of Supervillains. Brainiac, too, died when the effects of Luthor's death caught up with him. But all the villains are convinced that Superman will die fighting his greatest foe. Who is that, and how will Superman finally die?

Two other stories of Superman in peril round out the volume. The first has Superman being infected with spores containing a virus from his home planet which cause delirium and, eventually, death. As his powers cut in and out, he can no longer risk flying, and driven by his hallucinations, drives a car south, eventually ending up at the swamp where Alec Holland, better known as the Swamp Thing, resides. But can the Swamp Thing save the Man of Steel?

Then, it is Superman's birthday, and Batman, the new Robin known as Jason Todd, and Wonder Woman have arrived at the Fortress of Solitude to give him their gifts. but when they get there, something has happened. Superman is standing stock still with a giant flowering plant growing into his chest. It looks like it was disguised as a gift from an alien civilization. But who could have brought such a thing?

Inside, we see that Superman is living a life where Krypton was never destroyed, his fondest dream. But when things begin to go wrong in the dream, can Superman throw off the influence of the strange flower and help fight the alien, Mongul, who brought it to him and is even now trying to destroy his friends?

I remember reading the original story many years ago, and I found it sad back then. It's still sad, and holds up to repeated reading as a powerful, sad story. The identity of "Superman's greatest foe" is incredibly surprising, as is the way the comic kills him off- again, not in the way you would suspect- which only goes to show Alan Moore's writing Chops, and his way of thinking out of the box- way out of the box.

Each of his stories is surprising in different ways, and each brings peril to Superman in a different way. And each is resolved in a way which is thematically appropriate, making each story a satisfying reading experience, if not always happy-endinged. Each stretches your mind in a way that might be a bit uncomfortable, but in the end makes the story even more satisfying. Reading these shows Alan Moore landing blows to characters at angles that they, and the reader, might not expect, but help them stand out in your mind.

I would definitely recommend this book as an antidote to straight up superhero-supervillain battles. Yes, there are battles, but the conflict is driven in ways that are quite surprising and shows the range of what can be done. Recommended.