The year is 2020 / And in the club, Love4OneAnother*

Say, practiced pop culture professionals, what's the common factor between


Cover of COPS #1 (August 1988), pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Dennis Janke
and


and


and


?

No? Any takers? You, the guy in the third row? No? Well, here's another clue for you all:


YES FOR PETE'S SAKE PEOPLE, especially you the guy in the third row: these all take place in the Year 2020! And, coincidentally enough, so do we!

2020! As I hinted earlier today, it's not only a good lens prescription, it's also a futuristic year of excitement, adventure, and most of all, contentment and world peace! I'm sure you walked down the streets today and experience this kind of Utopia:


Panels from Iron Man 2020 one-shot (June 1994); co-plot and script by Walt Simonson; co-plot, pencils, and inks by Bob Wiacek; colors by Christie Scheele; letters by John Costanza
Mind you, finding pop culture references to 2020 is hard. Why, nothing even happens this year in Star Trek! I'm certain you remember a couple years ago when they made sleeper ships obsolete, but we are certainly not on our way to a world where there are republican terrorists and the US government will throw thousands of homeless and indigent persons into inhumane internment camps. That's just crazy science fiction talk!


But I'm sure you have recognized our own year in comic books, which give us the up-to-date lingo we now currently speak and the products we use daily!


Panels from Machine Man (1984 miniseries) #1 (October 1984); script by Tom DeFalco; breakdowns by Herb Trimpe; finishes, inks, and colors by Barry Windsor-Smith; letters by Michael Higgins
Yes, I know what you're thinking...Why don't they build the entire plane out of the black box Are we going to see an appearance by the World's Greatest Hero of the Future Today, the costumed character that embodies the true spirit of 2020? And I say thee...YEA!


Page from Machine Man #2 (November 1984); script by Tom DeFalco; breakdowns by Herb Trimpe; finishes, inks, and colors by Barry Windsor-Smith; letters by Diana Albers
No! (Sorry, fans of guys named "Arno.") We're gonna look at this futuristic pulled-from-today's-headlines dude!:


Inset on the cover of Superman (1939 series) #354 (December 1980), pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Dick Giordano
Yes, Superman 2020! Faster than a speeding laser blast! More powerful than a Tesla underground electric car! Able to leap tall geodesic domes at a single bound! It's a SpaceX! It's a drone! He's the hero of all the cognoscenti / His name again is Superman 2020!

So, tune into the next installment so we can cast an (unusually green-tinged but I'm certain it'll be okay) spotlight on Supes '20. Who says this isn't the Mighty Bully Age of a big build-up to something I promise for tomorrow?

Oh, and if you're looking for


...we'll all meet here in one year.

*Play us off, Prince of 1999 2020!