Tomorrow Jones is a 14 year old girl and a second generation superhero but at school however, she has to pretend to be normal, as that is the expectation. Tomorrow Jones is a comic about parental expectation, written by Brian Daniel with artwork by Johan Manandin (check out his incredible pencils HERE), and is not your average superhero fare.
The natural comparison would be with Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, of which I’m a huge fan. However, Tomorrow wishes to dispense with doing things ‘the traditional way’ – aliases, revealing costumes and the like – in favour of fighting crime in a t-shirt and jeans, which is extremely refreshing. The potential consequences of Tomorrow’s actions create great possibilities – ideally I’d like to see these realised.
Perhaps most excitingly Tomorrow Jones moves away/rejects the sexism that is rife in comics today. From the lack of female creators (highlighted most recently at both Kapow! Comic Conventions where despite boasting over 40 guests, only a handful were women) and female superheroes with their own titles, to the way women are portrayed (see Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws) and the costumes they wear (see Ed Benes’ Wonder Woman or Greg Horn’s covers for the Emma Frost series). It’s often dependent on the creative team – Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang’s Wonder Woman has been depicted in a respectful manner and is perhaps the pick of DC’s New 52. I will be interested in seeing how Daniel continues with this in forthcoming issues (and for an idea he had in high school, I’m mightily impressed). Manandin’s art is appealing; fun and cartoony, in keeping with the character and script.
With a sparkling and thoughtful first issue priced at $1.99, available through Lulu, Graphicly and iPad/Kindle apps, there’s no excuse not to follow the adventures of Tomorrow Jones.
Mark Brassington 