Rating:  -
As a Christian, I just don't relish in the fact that they used the book of Revelation for a basis for this story. I mean it's a great story and all. But they did not need that to make it a good one. I guess it pressed a nerve or two, and for that it loses a star. That aside,absolutely everything else is top-star, two-thumbs up quality. Not to mention it is one HUGE graphic novel.Alex Ross is the man. I repeat THE MAN. His art is fantastic. Definately pick it up. Maybe not a must have, but just for the art alone I think it is worth it. Once again, they really didn't need Revelation for this novel, but everything else makes it definately worth it. Batman as always is great. Superman...well, is Superman as always. The love triangle with him and Wonder Woman Played real well and...e'hem...the baby. Nuff said. Pick it up.
Rating:  -
Alex Ross artwork is alone worth the price. A great story makes it a treasure.
Rating: -
Perhaps using The Book of Revelations as the basis for a superhero tale is a bit overreaching, but the idea of superheroes losing control and no longer caring about the human population makes for interesting reading. "What really motivates these super beings to do good?" and "When there are no more villains who do we fight?" are the questions presented here and when Superman becomes disgusted with the violence he withdraws from the world; leaving a void that is filled with chaos. With the human element being presented by a preacher who has lost his fate, and guided by DC Comics most overtly religious hero, The Spectre, the book's themes move forth heavy handedly but reach a conclusion that generally prove to be satisfying. As this remains a seminal event DC's history and current comics reflect many of the characters created for this series, this is an important book for fans of DC Comics.
The art is amazing. Alex Ross's paintings bring a layer of reality to comics that add another dimension to the reader's enjoyment visual perspective of what superheroes might look like in the "real world." There is always some new detail available; this art holds up under many viewings. The reader is often rewarded with one more detail that was missed and that is a rarity in comics. The art alone would be worth the price of this book, but when accompanied by a good story that has affected the DC line since its creation; this becomes a must buy for the DC fan.
Rating: -
set in the future, this dark comic explores the "what-if"'s and logical evolution of what would happen if comic book characters were real. The gritty drawing and emotions come through to make a coherent, realisitic scene. any fan of the what-if world of comics should check it out
Rating: -
Done in the best elseworlds tradition, Mark Waid and Alex Ross take us to a future that has become a bit too grim and a bitt too gritty. So much so that Superman, having lost Lois to the Joker and then having lost the Joker to a new type of hero, Magog, has decided that the world would be best served if he wasn't around. The rest of the heroes that followed the trail that Superman blazed followed him along this path as well, leaving the world without the other heroes that we usually associate with the DC Universe. Flash becomes a blur of good deeds, but isn't truly seen, Green Lantern becomes a sentinal who watches the skies beyond our own for possible threats, Wonder Woman is stripped of her title for her failure to bring peace to mans world and the Batman simply becomes too old to be the Batman, relying instead on his technological skills to protect Gotham.
All the while, the new breed of hero that has been spawned by the generation we know and love so well has all but destroyed crime and the criminals who committed it. Magogs killing of the Joker and eventual exoneration have given this new breed all the license they need to end threats with the most extreme prejudice. At the point we join the story, there are very few villains left in the classic sense of the word, but now the new breed, having grown bored instead fight each other, in most cases causing death and destruction where ever they are.
After a cataclysm of epic proportions Wonder Woman contacts Superman to show him what the world has become without him. Superman argues his point but in the end, being Superman, he does what he always does. Superman comes to the rescue. The road is long, hard and sometimes bloody, but together with the help of the old heroes, there is triumph, though not without tragedy, there is hope, but not without horror and we find love, though not without loss.
In the end you are left with a feeling of unease, but hope. As a comic book fan it amazes me that though this was to have been an elseworlds story and therefor something that couldn't happen, I see so many things happening in the new books that makes it seem as if this will become a reality, as far the DC comic world goes. :)
Read it, it's a great book with great writing and fantastic art. You'll spend as much time looking for the Beatles and Elvis as you will reading the story itself.
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