Doctor Tomorrow #1
- WRITER
- Alejandro Arbona
- Artist
- Jim Towe
- Letterer
- Clayton Cowles
- Cover Artist
- Raul Allen, Kenneth Rocafort, Jim Towe, Stacey Lee, Diego Rodriguez, Doug Braithwaite
- Publisher
- Valiant Entertainment
- Price
- 3.99
- Release Date
- 2020-02-19
- Colorist
- Diego Rodriguez
Just because you don’t connect with a comic book doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad. Certain books are written and drawn with a specific audience in mind, which isn’t nefarious or some kind of rallying cry for gatekeeping. It’s just the way it is. However, when a comic book doesn’t seem to have a consistent tone or an original take on heavily-explored genre material (specifically, superhero stories in this case) it can leave a reader wondering “who is this for?” Doctor Tomorrow #1, the latest reintroduction to Valiant Entertainment’s firebrand pantheon, is one of these comics.
To be completely fair, Doctor Tomorrow #1 isn’t an entirely awful piece of visual storytelling. It has some charm and few clever tricks up its sleeve, but its overall execution is mundane at best…and embarrassingly rote at worst. Before we explore the latter, let’s touch on things that work well here. The meeting a future/alternate version of yourself setup is a familiar one, but it’s handled with a sly wink and nod that makes it feel fun, albeit somewhat stale. The broad characterizations are functional and a few even standout. From a visual standpoint, things are a bit of a mixed bag, but there are a few stunning action scenes and at least a few show-stopper splash panels.
The story follows Bart Simms, a troubled fifteen-year-old boy, who runs into a version of himself from an alternate future. The time-traveler in question is none other than our titular superhero. While Bart and his best friend, Gretchen, are confused as to why Doctor Tomorrow has arrived, the audience knows it’s because he’s trying to stop a powerful supervillain named Hadrian (who has a big “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” vibe) from conducting some nefarious plan.
To put it simply, Doctor Tomorrow #1 is…fine. And it doesn’t seem to have any aspirations to be anything more than that, which is a real bummer. Most of the recent output from Valiant Entertainment has been solid, if not absolutely stellar. Doctor Tomorrow #1 breaks that trend by giving us a comic that is filled with ham-fisted character backstory told through dreary exposition that doesn’t sound like anything that would come out of a teenager’s mouth (some of the dialogue between Bart, Gretchen and a group of rowdy teenage onlookers is downright cringe-worthy).
Writer Alejandro Arbona (who is mostly known for his work as an editor) tackles the material well enough, but he doesn’t do so with any sense of purpose or gusto. The plot structure if functional but it’s so predictable and pedestrian it can’t rise above its simplicity. We’re not asking for a Grant Morrison-style head-trip, but something with a little less technobabble and a little more heart would have been greatly appreciated.
Spider-Man/Deadpool artist Jim Towe’s work feels out of sorts in Doctor Tomorrow #1. There are transitions that are hard to follow and some of the facial expressions and character proportions are slightly off. Towe is an artist who's usually quite reliable and often dynamic, but his talents are somewhat wasted here. It’s hard to tell what sort of visual style he’s going for. His work in this comic vacillates between strong raucous panels flooded with detail to more exaggerated characterizations. The talent is there, but it isn’t being used to its fullest.
Doctor Tomorrow #1 is remarkably unremarkable, which is quite troubling considering the track record of some of the creators behind the wheel and the high quality Valiant Entertainment maintains across its various titles. It’s hard to recommend this comic because, ultimately, it’s hard to tell who would fall in love with it. Surely there are some readers out there who will, but this one most certainly did not.