History ComicBook / WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: And possibly {{Foreshadowing}}, too. This was the first time Superman openly admitted IJustWantToBeNormal. John Byrne's Superman depicted as the character being Clark Kent, who has a secret identity of Superman, instead of the other way around.

Just as this story was [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] Superman's "epilogue" following ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', a similar story has come in the wake of ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', Franchise/{{Batman}}'s ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'' The two stories are similar in presence, but while "Tomorrow" was a tribute to the Silver Age Superman (whose tenure is debated to last all the way to UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks; the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Superman, Kal-L would later return in ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''), "Caped Crusader", which followed in the death of Bruce Wayne in ''Final Crisis'', is a tribute/epilogue to '''all''' versions of the Bruce Wayne Batman, as told by the various versions of his allies and enemies. Both storylines, however, maintain a theme of renewal: "Tomorrow" sees the future of Superman passed onto the next generation, and "Caped Crusader" sees Batman reborn to continue his crusade against injustice.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It's set at least ten years into the future and the furniture looks futuristic.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: The rare male variant, Pete Ross.

[[FramingDevice Daily Planet reporter Tim Crane]] comes to interview Lois Elliot (nee [[ComicBook/LoisLane Lane]]) on the anniversary of the death of Superman. [[FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator Lois tells the story]] in a WholeEpisodeFlashback.

* PuppeteerParasite: Brainiac resorts to taking over Luthor's body. Also deconstructed, because while it works fine while Luthor's alive, when Lana kills him, eventually [[RealityEnsues rigor mortis sets in]] and Brainiac shuts down after ejecting from Luthor's body.
* RealityEnsues: A bit meta, but what else would you call it when an immortal [[RealityWarper all-powerful]] extra-dimensional being like Mxyzptlk is killed as a direct response to him bragging about how he's going to spend a few thousand years being unapologetically evil?

Franchise/{{Superman}} really hit his stride in UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, which introduced things like multi-colored Kryptonite, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, SelfDemonstrating/{{Bizarro}}, and the Fortress of Solitude. Even today, much of what the average person knows about Supes (not counting his death) comes from that period.

* AlasPoorVillain: Most of them, in fact.

* AlmightyJanitor: In something of a literal sense.
* AndIMustScream: Luthor... until he musters enough willpower to [[ICannotSelfTerminate beg Lana Lang to kill him]]. [[MercyKill She complies.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: Since it was the swan song of UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|Of Comic Books}} Superman, Alan Moore was given a free hand on who would die.

* BerserkButton: You shouldn't have killed Lana, Lightning Lord...

* KilledOffScreen: Lois mentions the Parasite and Terra-Man killed each other in a fight. Talk about a [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome story that could have been told from]] ''[[CrackPairing that]]'' [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome fight!]]

** Obviously, ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheCapedCrusader'' by Creator/NeilGaiman is one, albeit one that has a different style. It was the closure to the Batman before the New 52 ContinuityReboot and essentially Gaiman's attempt to define and celebrate Batman in all his iterations.

** Bizarro, strangely enough, has never been more [[NotSoHarmlessVillain terrifying]] ''or'' more pitiable than he is here. In his desperate quest to become Superman's "perfect imperfect duplicate," Bizarro destroys his own planet on purpose (because Krypton was destroyed by accident), comes to Earth as an adult (because Superman came as a baby), kills lots and lots of people (because Superman ''never'' kills) and finally, because [[InsaneTrollLogic Superman is]] ''[[InsaneTrollLogic alive]]'', kills himself with blue kryptonite. His last words are [[TearJerker "Hello, Superman, hello."]]

** And by the fact that not only has he named his son after his adoptive father, he's renamed himself in tribute to Kryptonian father: JORdan ELliot.

** "The Last Adventure" a short comic published in Issue 16 of Creator/AlanMoore and Kevin O'Neill's "Cinema Purgatorio" series which retells the life of Creator/GeorgeReeves who played Superman on TV, features a lot of call-backs and references to this story. Such as one panel describing Reeves' roles in Pre-Superman movies as "Imaginary Stories" that may or may not happen, and the penultimate panel showing a giant Superman impression alludes to the opening image of this comic with the giant Superman statue.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Sillier villains like Bizarre, Toyman and The Prankster killing people twigs Superman into realising that something strange is going on.

** "To Have and to Hold", Creator/MattFraction's tribute to the Pre-OMD ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' status quo and especially his marriage is also one. That was written with the foreknowledge of a continuity reboot/retcon[[note]]Marvel officially didn't call it a reboot even if for all practical concerns it is[[/note]] and it was in the writer's mind a tribute and a goodbye to the Spider-Man that he and known, filled with references to major moments while also giving the OfficialCouple an affirmative coda, similar to Creator/AlanMoore who jumped at the chance for writing this "Imaginary Story" which in his mind, and that of many other fans of the Pre-Crisis Superman is the GrandFinale and closure to Superman every comics fans lives to see and expects to read one day; the "last story" of a character an entire generation had grown to love and care for.

** I never saw ''Superman'' again.[[note]]Because Superman now goes by Jordan Elliot, and doesn't have powers any more, so he isn't "Superman" any more.[[/note]]

* FakingTheDead: Superman's greatest trick is his own death.

* AsideGlance: This being one of the very last Superman stories from UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|Of Comic Books}} , it naturally ends with Supes' signature closing trope.

* AnyoneCanDie: Since it was the swan song of UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} Superman, Alan Moore was given a free hand on who would die.

* AsideGlance: This being one of the very last Superman stories from UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} , it naturally ends with Supes' signature closing trope.

* AsideGlance: this being one of the very last Superman stories from UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} , it naturally ends with Supes' signature closing trope.