It’s my 2,000th post! Not the 2,000th review… there are several outliers like Random Thoughts, various awards and unfortunately some eulogies… but still, it’s worth celebrating.
So I thought it would make sense to take the opportunity to review a story set in the year 2000…
Superman #300 (1976)
written by Cary Bates & Elliot S. Maggin
pencils and cover by Curt Swan
…but since I couldn’t find one worth talking about, I’ll settle for 2001.
The premise of the story is that, if Krypton had exploded in 1976, its last survivor would have grown into Superman 25 years later in 2001.
Which sounds too young for Superman, honestly, but it’s an alternate timeline so who cares.
This also makes it appropriate for a 2026 review, because if we follow this logic and Superman landed on Earth in 2001… he would become Superman NOW.
It’s a shame that what is possibly the best rendition of the destruction of Krypton provided by Curt Swan is in this forgettable story.
Setting the arrival in 1976 changes things faster than you’d expect, because in this version both the US and the USSR discover the rocket.
And they are both SO eager to take the rocket that they blow up each other!
And by sheer coincidence, the American who actually takes the rocket is named Clark.
Why would you IMMEDIATELY shoot the baby with a laser???
Too bad that the ship didn’t teach him to say “stop shooting me in the face”.
Or actual French, because “Je suis faim” means “I am hunger”.
The US Army creates a costume for the baby (from the materials in the rocket, as per his pre-Crisis extended origin).
They also teach him to speak American.
The idea that the Superman symbol originated on Krypton is not part of comics yet, so the symbol doesn’t come from the ship.
It’s just a coincidence that Skyboy starts with an S.
We next jump to the distant year of 1990, where the comic attempts some predictions.
And, well…
A) the world’s tallest skyscraper will be the Sears Tower
B) it won’t be a mile tall, but slightly more than 0.27 miles
C) sea-ports were not a thing
D) the White House would not be encased in a dome
Wrong predictions: 4
Correct predictions: 0
This comic also imagines that America would elect someone with the last name Wiener…
…who would, ironically, be a woman.
But there wouldn’t be a female President, or a Soviet Union, so…
Wrong predictions: 6
Correct predictions: 0
1990 is way too early to seriously consider China a superpower…
…and those guys don’t look Chinese anyway.
Wrong predictions: 8
Correct predictions: 0
Because of this mysterious third country, both America and Russia fire nukes.
This looks like a job for Skyboy!
Also there would be no Moon base or space lasers in 1990, so…
Wrong predictions: 10
Correct predictions: 0
Also there were no biological weapons ready to wipe out humanity.citation needed
Wrong predictions: 11
Correct predictions: 0
Since the catalyst for this near holocaust was Skyboy, he decides to go into hiding.
Anything to avoid Final Crisis, I guess.
Video calls were not a thing in 1990, but START I was signed in 1991… and since this is just setting up an upcoming treaty, I’m considering the idea of a nuclear disarmament conference a correct prediction.
Wrong predictions: 12
Correct predictions: 1
Unfortunately the man who raised Skyboy survived the near-WWIII only to die of the dreaded Mentor Figure Disease.
And BY AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE, Skyboy ends up taking the name Clark Kent.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Is there going to be any 2001 in this Superman 2001 story?
An era where there would be no 3D screens and no hover-chairs.
Wrong predictions: 14
Correct predictions: 1
In this continuity Metropolis is not a pre-existing city but the merging of a huge metropolitan area.
Fascinating that they went this way, as I don’t recall DC handling its fictional cities like this in ANY other incarnation, but since this didn’t happen…
Wrong predictions: 15
Correct predictions: 1
The world didn’t really need Skyboy until the arrival of its first supervillain… Moka.
Who is just an android built by the mysterious third country.
Meaning that their plan was:
1) trick the USA and URSS to start WWIII
2) kill Skyboy
3) build an android to pose as Skyboy
4) wait 11 years
5) hope that nobody will actually test the android’s powers
6) world domination!!!
Clark might just be on a regular platform or an escalator with a weird perspective, so I’m not counting architecture here.
But Mr. Hyde capes were not the fashion of 2001, while they seem ubiquitous here.
Wrong predictions: 17
Correct predictions: 1
I was expecting this to be the moment when Skyboy becomes Skyman… but no, he’s just Superman.
What was even the point of coming up with the name Skyboy???
Wait, Moka actually DOES have powers?
Believe it or not, that makes the plan even dumber!!!
1) trick the USA and URSS to start WWIII
2) kill Skyboy
3) build a super-android powerful enough to take over the world
4) wait 11 years doing nothing despite having a super-android powerful enough to take over the world
5) world domination!!!
The actual reason you came back is jealousy, isn’t it?
And it’s a trend for his 70s stories, Superman gives the argument that the world doesn’t need Superman.
He has “shown us what we can be if we try”, like stopping nuclear missiles.
Wait, what?
No, seriously, there are TONS of Superman stories from the 70s where the moral of the story is that the world would be better off without Superman.
Historical significance: 0 / 2001
Mercifully forgotten.
Silver Age-ness: 1990 / 2001
The amount of AMAZING COINCIDENCES qualifies.
Does it stand the test of time? 0 / 2001
As I have mentioned, my least favorite kind of “Imaginary Story” is bending over backwards to re-establish the regular status quo.
This one is even WORSE because it makes Superman ultimately pointless: this would literally have been better off he didn’t land on Earth!
The title is also misleading, as the story spends WAY more time in 1990 than in 2001.
It’s not a good Superman story and it’s not a good future story, as the world of 2001 feels quite generic.
Its only redeeming quality is the amazing Curt Swan artwork, ESPECIALLY the flashback with the destruction of Krypton, but even that is not enough to save this one.
Wrong predictions: 17
Correct predictions: 1