Kingdom Come Reviewed

Lately I have been expanding my comic horizons. Since my interest in comics really began about five years ago I've found my niche to be mostly in non-superhero and non-traditional superhero stories. The big exception to this is Marvel's Ultimate Spiderman run by Brian Michael Bendis of which I own all the available trades. But by and large the classic DC Justice League materials really haven't been a draw for me, nor have Marvel's staples like the X-Men.

Recently I found myself with growing curiosity and interest in the Green Lantern, which I've started reading. Along with that I decided to pick up DC's Kingdom Come. I have heard many good things concerning this title and I felt it was time to give it a read.

As a relative newcomer to the JLA, Kingdom Come was an interesting story to jump into and somewhat overwhelming. With little comic knowledge of the actual history of the major players (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Batman, etc.) in many ways I felt as though I were jumping in mid-stream even though it is a stand alone story. However, a working knowledge really isn't requisite because the themes of the story are easily accessible. All you need to understand (and most people do I have a feeling) is that Superman and the rest of the Justice League have superhuman powers that they use for the cause of peace and justice on Earth. Or at least they used to before they stepped away from their roles.

Kingdom Come is a story that examines what their role really is, what their responsibilities are and how their actions ultimately impacts the course of human affairs. What we learn early on in the story is that many years prior Superman decided to walk away from his role as a protector of the innocent and champion of peace after a series of incidents soured public perceptions of his role. Due to his position of leadership in the JLA, the rest of the league followed suit, awaiting the day they would return to action.

In the interim, meta-humans rose up to take the place of the absent heroes. This new breed of "supers", led by a character names Magog, started out with the best of intentions but soon lost their way turning their focus on fighting amongst themselves leaving a path of destruction and suffering in their wake. The rest of humanity was powerless to stop them. Desperation reaches it peak when an incident in Kansas results in the complete desolation of the Great Plains and food production center of the United States. Is there anything or anyone that can persuade Superman to return to his duties as protector of humanity?

The heart of Kingdom Come is story of Superman, Wonder Woman, et al's decision to return and try to convince (or force) everyone to live in peace and pursue the cause of justice. With the Justice League returned, in some form or another, Superman and company wage an epic struggle to corral the renegade meta-human population while fighting their own personal demons. The central question: What is the cost of their noble pursuits?

In their telling of this story, Mark Waid and Alex Ross draw heavily on biblical references, specifically that of Revelations. It is therefore fitting that we experience the story through the eyes of a character who is a preacher and struggling with his own fears and doubts about humanity and it's uncertain future. The scope of this story was epic! Everything from the over-arching themes to the conflicts to the characters themselves was presented through beautiful illustration (Alex Ross) and on a grand scale making for an immersing read. While very much its own story, Kingdom Come drew many similarities to two other classic super hero tales with its subject matter, namely to Alan Moore's Watchmen (the examination of the role of the superhero) and Mark Millar's Superman: Red Son (Superman's personal struggle with tyrannical control in forcing peace on Earth).

I won't go about spoiling the ending for potential readers who haven't paged through this story. I will, however, highly recommend it. While I didn't like this story quite as much as either Watchmen or Red Son it is certainly worthy of the praise it has garnered since its publication. One of the aspects I really appreciated was its more serious and thoughtful approach to super heroes that it took. That is not to suggest that all other super hero runs are simply silly and poorly thought out. Hardly. But Kingdom Come certainly did present itself a cut or two above the norm.