Kingdom Come - Mark Waid, Alex Ross

...new.

With Kingdom Come they quite literally have thought outside the box with this idea. Let me explain…. DC ran a series of annuals and graphic novels called Elseworlds which Kingdom Come is part of. This was where the characters of the DC Universe were taken out of there normal surroundings and placed into new and untried situations. For example what if Superman came to Earth and was followed by the Kryptonian survivors as well. ...
...with some angles presented in Kingdom Come has proved that this can be absorbed into the regular storylines.

--- The Story---

Kingdom Come asks a similar question… What if Superheroes became untrustworthy? The story shows how the main heroes have survived through countless scenarios involving the death of loved ones and of other Heroes, but this is really only a sub plot as the main plot of the book involves a new breed ... more

Every year without fail, DC have an event that is titles "an event to change the course of characters lives for ever!" Whether this is the Infinite Crisis or such rebooting of time like Zero Hour something happens. This is mainly to advance sales and also to clear out any under performing characters in the DC universe that aren't needed anymore and so housekeeping is performed to remove the old and bring in new.

With Kingdom Come they quite literally have thought outside the box with this idea. Let me explain…. DC ran a series of annuals and graphic novels called Elseworlds which Kingdom Come is part of. This was where the characters of the DC Universe were taken out of there normal surroundings and placed into new and untried situations. For example what if Superman came to Earth and was followed by the Kryptonian survivors as well. What would happen? Would they take over the Earth? Also what if the title of The Batman had been handed down through generations of the Wayne Family or if the Justice League were a band of outlaws. The possibilities are endless to say the least as time and location played a very important part in these very enjoyable stories. Bottom line this was an attempt to see what could be changed in the regular publications, and so with some angles presented in Kingdom Come has proved that this can be absorbed into the regular storylines.

--- The Story---

Kingdom Come asks a similar question… What if Superheroes became untrustworthy? The story shows how the main heroes have survived through countless scenarios involving the death of loved ones and of other Heroes, but this is really only a sub plot as the main plot of the book involves a new breed of heroes, or meta as they are refereed to taking over and using the cities and using them as effectively an exercising yard without any care of what is happening to the non-metas. As you can imagine the level of trust for all metas as a whole falls and this causes further problems that are explored throughout the story leading to a climax between two of DC's most powerful characters.

The story is set approximately 30 years in the future, as everyone has aged accordingly with the exception of Superman and Wonder Woman who don't really look that much different than before.

The artist who has managed to put what can only be described as a fan's dream together is called Alex Ross. Within the comic world he is a very well known artist renowned for his realism aspect in everything he depicts. Most recently he has been involved with movie concepts for Spiderman 2, in which his art is seen on the opening titles, and Unbreakable with Bruce Willis. He still does a lot of work with DC and Marvel; he is currently involved with the Justice series of publications. Wallpapers from his website are attached at the bottom of this review to peruse just what I mean later on in the review.

The writer Mark Waid has had a monumental struggle to cram all this in to a graphic novel to tell this story, with the artwork it tells the story, and tells it very well.

---Artwork---

Superman is depicted as more George Reeves than Brandon Routh in build, has grey hair and also the ponytail that he came back from the dead with. But this is lost by the end of the book. Due to circumstances that are explained Superman has placed himself in exile.

Due to the amount of excessive battle damage that Batman has amassed over the years he is permanently wearing an exoskeleton suit, this has also been incorporated into his costume, so it is very different from that as we know. He still keeps up his Bruce Wayne identity as is still a well known business man.

Wonder Woman although looking slightly more mature still fights like a warrior, but with the circumstances that Superman has been through has also rekindled her relationship with Clark/ Superman.

Overall the artwork is absolutely mind blowing to say the least, not only is every page depicted in such a level of clarity of an oil painting, the colour and detail presented in the books are absolutely outstanding, it also manages to raise a level of tension that something on this big a scale usually fails to do. The appearance of the heroes are instantly recognizable as to who is who, they are all there but with minor alterations, for example the Flash runs in a scarlet blur, and the sons and daughters of some heroes are accounted for such as Black Canary III and Green Arrow II. Even if you aren't sure as to whom they are, an annotated diagram is given with each book as the cover is made of the entire ensemble of characters involved in the three book story.

The story also contains appearances by the villains involved as well; Lex Luthor although older is still very much involved and teams up with others. This not only assists the story along but also adds a good bit of nostalgia to the events unfolding. As I said earlier this includes almost every character that has ever been in the DC Universe whether through flashback or real time. For me this was something I found fascinating as there are characters that are there that were used by DC about 40 years ago.

---Presentation---

Ina similar fashion to what has happened with DVD where they keep getting released in different version with additional extras to the stage we have the 'Ultimate Mega Super Great Edition', the same has happened here but in this case it not a negative thing as the Absolute Edition is good value for money.

When originally released the story was issued in three highly collectable graphic novels, all with wrap around picture covers of the characters. There was also a hard back Leather bound edition which was the collated version of the three books, also an Absolute edition where you have additional Alex Ross art, this retails at about £70.

I have not only collected the three individual books but also the Leather Bound edition which cost me £40. To give some scope on how much these books are valued, the Leather bound copy was sold on eBay for nearly £200 alone.

The individual editions will cost about £7 - 10 each as they becoming extremely rare to find. There is also a dedication to Christopher Reeve in the foreword as well which I found to be quite moving. Like DVD's this also has extras as well. In the back there are a number of high quality test sketches that have been printed. This shows not only how much a fan of the genre Alex Ross is but also how much thinking and planning has gone into what can only be described as a monumental piece of art.

FACT 1: Alex Ross got friends and family to pose for sketches. And in some cases the characters are unchanged so that they resemble his relations.

FACT 2: The original concept for Batman was a likeness of Gregory Peck. This can be seen on Alex Ross's website.

---Overall---

For me this is the pinnacle of story telling within the DC Universe and something that will never be able to be captured as a film due to the sheer size of the story and the number of characters involved.

I can safely say without a doubt that I enjoyed reading this and think it's safe to say that as it has been re-printed a number of times; the audience is still out there to read this. But be warned once you pick this up you need to read it in one sitting in a well lit room. Not only to read the book but to look at the amazing graphical depictions that have been placed together to tell the story, I have now read it a few times and still see a number of things that I appeared to have missed on earlier readings. That is the extent of the effort made.

Basically if you collect comics or as they are now called mature entertainment fantasy literature, then this is one story that you should not be without. If you don't this will be a good starting platform to begin with because as a one off this is truly unique.

Until next time… Take care. Tim
 

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