Tomorrowland is the brainchild of Paul Jenkins, Titan Comics, and an actual music festival that corresponds to the one that provides the backdrop for most of the book. Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike are real-life brothers who perform together as DJs at the real-life “Tomorrowland” music festival. They also happen to be the fictionalized main characters of this book. In the comic, their performance comes under attack by demonic forces, indicating that the duo has been chosen to be the “guardians of Tomorrowland,” the only humans who can defend the creative power of humankind against the dark forces that want to destroy it. Past guardians, including William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and a mysterious elfin woman, attempt to shepherd the duo to success, but will an evil entity use the promise of fame and wealth to turn the brothers against one another?
The comic comes across strongly as an advertisement for the music festival, as well as a heavy promotion of the real-life Dimitri and Mike. An actual advertisement – maybe a one-page spread in a music interest magazine, drawn in a comic art style – might have been more appealing. Unfortunately, Tomorrowland eschews much character and plot development, instead making a big deal of the abilities of the artists and the cosmic importance of the Tomorrowland music festival. The result is a cookie-cutter comic book story about superpowered good vs. superpowered evil, plus an odd fan fiction element involving real people and a real event. The plot is vague in many places – for example, the exact reason that there were “guardians of Tomorrowland” for so long before the event started.
The art is fairly good overall, and the panels make sense in relation to one another. Characters representative of real people, including Dimitri, Mike, and Shakespeare, are all consistently recognizable and easily distinguished. The visual effect of the energy is neat and the representation of Tomorrowland itself is interesting enough to arouse curiosity about the actual event. (Details provided after the story’s conclusion help with this, too, since they include photographs of the main stage.)
Fans of the Tomorrowland event may find this an interesting adjunct to the 2013 experience, especially if they follow Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike. The scenery in the comic somewhat duplicates the actual concert stage, and throwing some mythic magic into the already fantasy-themed event might heighten the experience for some concertgoers. But even here, the book will quickly date itself; once the hype of Tomorrowland 2013 fades completely, expect this book to go too. Music lovers may want to look into it while the experience is still fresh.
Tomorrowland
by Paul Jenkins
Art by Alti Firmansyah, Beny Maulana, Y2Laud, Rhoald Marcellius, Agri Karuniawan
ISBN: 9781782760207
Titan Comics, 2014
Publisher Age Rating: (T)
