Review: Wednesday's Haul

Just got Google-Alerted (look, I invented a verb!) to a new review of WHTTWOT by Scott Cederlund at the blog Wednesday's Haul. It's a long piece that reflects the interests and passions of its writer, as I think any good review should.

(A quick digression about that: some readers don't like it when reviewers reveal themselves in their reviews. I disagree. A review is one person's opinion; I like to know the person. What their experience is, what their prejudices are, where they're coming from. I get a lot more out of a review when I know what the reviewer took into it. For example, I enjoy reading Roger Ebert's movie reviews, even of films I have no intention of seeing, because I think he's a good writer and I like watching his mind work.)

Anyway, Scott wrote:

The marvelous thing about Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? is that through the century of war, of killing and of tragedy, Buddy never loses his wide-eyed innocence. He takes his father’s dream for him and makes it his dream. Buddy is us, the person who read comics, saw all the movies and is young enough to think that he too would one day walk in space and on the moon . . .

Through the tale of Buddy and Pop and through the tales of Cosmic Kid and Cap Crater, Fies reminds us of our dreams and how they failed us or maybe it’s how we failed them. He shows us the imagination and courage it took just to have the dreams but in the end, we fell short of achieving them in the 20th century. Fies does comfort us though, showing that even as the century is over and our hopes are unfufilled at this time, it doesn’t mean we are through dreaming or are done reaching for the stars. Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? reminds us how to dream by showing us what we were able to once accomplish. Buddy and Cosmic Kid may have grown up but that doesn’t mean that they’ve lost their hope for the future.

Much appreciated, thanks Scott.