| Tommy Tomorrow | |
|---|---|
 Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers, art by Lee Elias. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Real Fact Comics #6 (January 1947) |
| Created by | Jack Schiff (writer) George Kashdan (writer) Bernie Breslauer (writer) Virgil Finlay (artist) Howard Sherman (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Kamandi Blank |
| Team affiliations | Planeteers Justice League |
| Abilities | Trained law enforcement officer |
Tommy Tomorrow is a science fiction hero published byDC Comics in several of their titles from 1947 to 1963. He first appeared inReal Fact Comics #6 (January 1947).[1] He was created byJack Schiff,George Kashdan, Bernie Breslauer,Virgil Finlay, and Howard Sherman. The comic was originally intended to feature non-fiction tales in the style ofRipley's Believe It or Not; Tommy Tomorrow's trip toMars was presented as a future vision of space travel.[2] The strip was a back-up feature inAction Comics from issue #127 (Dec 1948) to #147 (Aug 1950).[3]
Tommy Tomorrow graduated from Space Port "West Point" in 1988.[4] He is now a Colonel in the Planeteers, a police force in the 21st century.[5]Gotham is the capital city of not only the Earth but of theSolar System. Every planet, every moon, and even many asteroids in the Solar System seemed to have some weird alien life form or sentient race in this series, with even a life-giving ocean onVenus.
His first assignment from the Science Bureau was to get some alien fish for the new Interplanetary Aquarium. He meets Joan Gordy of the Interplanetary Radio News, who helps him in this assignment. At the end of the story, he is given the Planeteer Medal for getting the fish.
The character was meant to be a sort of "future everyman", but he slowly changed into a policeman, and moved to other titles.[6] In these stories, Tommy, later assisted by Captain Brent Wood, flew the space lanes in their patrol craft "Space Ace" donning purple uniforms with yellow trim. WithAction #149, Tommy Tomorrow's adventures were now set in the year 2050, as it was realized by the creators that 1990 was optimistically too soon for such technology as the stories boasted. Most of his stories were written byOtto Binder and drawn byJim Mooney. Tommy had a kid brother called Tim. Soon after it is revealed that Brent Wood is really the son of notorious space pirate Mart Black and that he was adopted by Captain Wood, who killed him.[7]
After a short hiatus, Tommy was retooled and then presented again inShowcase #41 (1962), but did not get another series. Captain Wood was dropped, giving Tommy an alien from Venus as a partner. WriterArnold Drake and artistLee Elias were the creative team for this version.
In 1990, an alternate Tommy Tomorrow was a major character inHoward Chaykin's mini-seriesTwilight, which tried to bring in all of DC future science/space characters into one series (despite the fact that many occurred in different time periods). Because Tomorrow did not know who his parents were, he was unbalanced, and he ran the Planeteers very autocratically, using them against his enemies, such as their rivals, theKnights of the Galaxy.
According toStarmanOne Million, one of the historically significant bearers of the Starman name was Tommy Tomorrow II.
In the aftermath of theCrisis on Infinite Earths, it was shown that theGreat Disaster that createdKamandi's world did not happen, and the boy who would have grown up to be Kamandi instead grew up to become Tommy Tomorrow.
A Captain Tomorrow appears inStar Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes.
InJust Imagine! Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe, a teenager who grew up withRobin and a servant of Reverend Darrk was named Tommy Tomorrow.
A strange alien force seemingly colonizing the town of Demetri, Kansas makes reference to a "Major Tomorrow" of a group called the Planeteers in 2010'sMagog #7. It was alluded by various sources at the time that Tommy Tomorrow was going to be a new villain in the series.
Tomorrow also appears as "T'omas T'morra" in DC's 2013Threshold comic byKeith Giffen.
He first appeared in short "stories" inReal Fact Comics #6, 8, 13, 16 (1947–48). He then appeared inAction Comics #127–251 (1948–59), then moved toWorld's Finest Comics #102–124 (1959–62), and finallyShowcase #41, 42, 44, 46, 47 (1962–63).
Tommy Tomorrow makes non-speaking cameo appearances inHarley Quinn. This version received akey to the city fromGotham City's mayor for his role in saving the city alongside theJustice League.