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One of the best comics i have ever read!!!! The story line is instense and has the graphics to make it amazing. Definitely one for your collection. So much depth and intensity that leap from these pages.
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KINGDOMCOME is a visually stunning and well writen graphic novel. I liked many sections of this book including the final battle where Superman thinks every body is dead when there were still few alive but still some. I recomend the KINGDOME ACTION FIGURE OF DEADMAN or BATMAN. Till next time...
SPOILER ALERT:SHAZAM IS EVIL!!!!
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At the heart of this story, the question above rings true over and over again. Superman retires because of a legal judgement against another "hero", and after ten years of seclusion, the world has changed. Is it better or worse? Did Superman cause the events of the day to happen in the first place? What is the role of meta-humans -- of any superhero, actually -- in society?
The story is masterfully shown to us from the perspective of an impartial preacher by the name of Norman McCay, who was chosen by the Spectre himself as a human anchor within these events. And a gift to us, the readers, is always impressive the artwork of Alex Ross.
There are some flaws in both story and art, and the purist amongst us will quibble about them, but "the average DC fan" will enjoy the care and effort the author and artist put into this tome. The casual reader of comics may be confused by the Spectre and his role, but can otherwise enjoy this tale of cause and effective morality performed in stunning artwork.
Rating:  -
The series (now graphic novel) "Kingdom Come" has been recommended to me by friends, shopkeepers and online recommendation wizards for nearly a decade now. I finally got around to reading it. As can be expected from something that has been on the "to read" pile for so long, a great deal of anticipation was built up in my mind. Did it live up to the hype? Sort of.
Let me explain. "Kingdom Come" was a DC Comics 'Elseworlds' (parallel universe - unaffected by long range continuity) stoy of the DC superheroes - all the big names are here: Captain Marvel, Superman, Batman, etc. (although it should be noted that DC's 'heavy hitters' like Superman and Batman hog the "screentime" while a lot of DC's midlevel charcters receive short shrift, and the principle antagonists - a host of new 2nd generataion heroes - are almost reduced to nonentity status, their names recorded only in the books back matter). There is no doubt that the comic was groundbreaking at the time of it's release - with Alex Ross' painted panels adding a wonderfully epic feel to this DC Ragnarok. Unfortunately, some of the material seemed to go over ground which had been covered better and more extensively in other truly great graphic novels; such things as the golden age heroes (and by extension the comics medium in general's) loss of innocence, philosophical discourse on the moral compass of an ubermensch, and the conflict between the mortal/human superheroes (e.g. Batman, Green Arrow) toward the immortal/superhuman ones (e.g. Wonder Woman, Superman) ALL had been given better treatment in such outstanding graphic novels as the "Miracleman" volumes, "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and "The Watchmen". And have since been covered further (and again better than in "Kingdom Come") in such volumes as "JLA:Tower of Babel", "Marvels" (also illustrated by Ross), the graphic novels of Kurt Busiek's "Astro City" and perhaps to a lesser extent, Marvel's "Ultimates" series.
The upshot being that after having already read all of those titles, the power of this book seems somewhat diminished, and repetitive. Which is not to say that it is a bad book. In fact, it remains a great read today, and judged in terms of its place in comic history - a milestone. In fact, it is nearly flawless on it's own merits.
One of the few complaints I did have was that my copy came with a promotional CD-ROM which promised lots of great comic art and previews. The disc was attached to the back cover - making the book inflexible in the center, and difficult to read. The disc proved impossible to remove without damaging the book, and it was a major let down in terms of contents. I'd have prefered that it came seperately, or not at all.
So, in closing, if you are expecting something as good as "The Dark Knight" or "The Watchmen" you are in for a let down, but if you want a good graphic novel in the superhero genre, you could do a lot worse than this one.
Thumbs up.
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G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "Supermen, if they are not good men, are vermin." Some new edition ought to print that on the inside cover, because it adequately captures the major theme of Kingdom Come, which depicts a world of superheroes gone bad.
Waid and Ross glory in the DC universe and give us one of the best, and one of the most mature, superhero stories ever. They ride the coattails of Superman, depending heavily on his role as major pop icon to evoke emotions by subtly comparing him to Jesus. After such a glorious introduction, they proceed to deconstruct Superman and his fellow Justice League characters. Impressively, Waid strips away Superman's bravado without ever losing the story's broad scope and emotional impact. Few books, even visually enticing comics, can send literal tingles up my spine, but Kingdom Come not only provides the tingles, its artwork is so stunning that it transcends the visual and seems to bring with it its own John Williams soundtrack. If you are alien to comics, like myself, you will fail to recognize many characters and you may miss all the "Easter eggs," but you will almost certainly know enough of Superman to feel Kingdom Come's undeniable power.
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