Kingdom Come

AUTHOR: Waid, Mark

ARTIST: Alex Ross (illustrator); Todd Klein (letterer)

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1996

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1997

Publication History

Following his success with Marvels (1994), illustrator Alex Ross proposed to DC Comics what would be the rough outline of Kingdom Come. He was matched with writer and editor Mark Waid to flesh out the details and nuances of the series. Kingdom Come was originally published by DC Comics as four, full-color prestige-format books, collected the following year into one trade paperback with an additional scene, epilogue, and apocrypha. It was also released in a hardcover, slipcase edition, along with a Revelations companion text.

In 1999, a novelization of the graphic novel was written by Elliot S. Maggin, which appeared in hardcover, in mass-market paperback, and as a dramatized audiobook in abridged form. In 2006, Kingdom Come was rereleased in the oversized “Absolute” format with still more added material. The trade paperback was published again in 2008 with a new wraparound cover by Ross.

Plot

Set a decade or more into the future, Kingdom Come centers on a new generation of reckless, rampant superhumans pushing the unempowered population’s fears to a breaking point in the wake of a nuclear mishap in Kansas. The disaster is partially caused because of Magog’s lack of leadership.

After the death of one of his parishioners (Wesley Dodd, who is secretly the World War II-era hero the Sandman), Norman McKay, who spends much of the story unseen by the other characters and serves as the narrator, begins having visions of a calamity to come. He is tasked by the Spectre to witness the events of the coming days and render a judgment against those guilty of the imminent disaster.

In response to the disaster, the retired superheroes, led by a reluctant Superman, return to active duty to corral the wild young superhumans and reestablish order by potentially outdated means. Superman’s return does not solve the escalation of the superhuman threat, but he does come to understand that he cannot force a solution that treats superhumans and normal humans separately. Ultimately, he regains his sense of humanity, coming to once again wear the disguise he once used as Clark Kent to keep him tied to humankind. Furthermore, McKay persuades an enraged, rampaging Superman to embrace forgiveness rather than revenge.

The forced discipline of the young people and the failed penal system lead to all sides fighting one another, which has the potential to cause their virtual eradication if a lost hero, the manipulated Captain Marvel, does not intervene to sacrifice himself. Batman discovers that “Marvel” is actually Billy Batson, under the manipulation of Lex Luthor. Though Batman reveals Luthor’s ruse, the mind-addled Billy transforms into Captain Marvel (in his traditional red, lightning-bolt attire) to square off against Superman. However, his heroism ultimately breaks through his manipulated psyche, and he chooses to sacrifice himself lest all superhumans be destroyed.

Characters

•Superman, a.k.a. Clark Kent, Kal-El, and the Man of Steel, is the epitome of superheroic ideal, with his signature red cape and predominantly blue costume. Over the years, his jet-black hair has grown gray along the temples, and his revised costume features a more angular symbol against a black, not yellow, background, perhaps reflecting his jaded attitude. His superpowers remain at full force, and, as revealed by nemesis Lex Luthor, his years of soaking in Earth’s solar radiation have left him nearly invulnerable to his customary bane of kryptonite; in fact, Superman survives a ground-zero explosion of a massive nuclear payload able to kill nearly every other superhuman. Though he remains a force for good and justice, Superman has become increasingly conflicted over what those terms mean, especially after he loses his most direct tether to humanity, Lois Lane.

•Magog, a.k.a. David Reid, Superman’s popular replacement, was satirically modeled by Ross on the high-selling antiheroes being marketed to comics audiences in the 1990’s. Magog wears a ram’s-horn metallic helmet and has both a cybernetic limb and staff through which he can fire intense blasts of energy. Before the events of Kingdom Come, he apparently became the “people’s hero,” doing what Superman would not (for example, killing the Joker in cold blood). By story’s end, Magog seems to support Superman’s call for a renewed commitment to working with humanity as well as properly training the next generations of heroes.

•Norman McKay, the series’ narrator, is a retirement-age American man, sporting a white beard and white hair, who works as a pastor. Both his occupation and overall look were based on Ross’s own father, Clark Norman Ross, and his last name is a tribute to Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905-1914, 1924-1927) creator Winsor McCay.

•The Spectre, a.k.a. Jim Corrigan and the Angel of Vengeance, McKay’s Vergil-like guide through the world of superhumans, is depicted as ghostly pale and nearly nude, with only his billowing green hood and cape providing any clothing. This lack of modesty partially reflects his growing disconnection with humanity: the soul of slain police officer Jim Corrigan once aided the divinely charged spirit with the proper execution of his duties, but, by the start of Kingdom Come, he admits to having lost his way and needing McKay’s insight. The two follow the superhumans’ struggle and decide to allow their near eradication.

•Wonder Woman, a.k.a. Diana of Themyscria and Diana Prince, warrior princess, wears a modified version of her traditional tiara, bracelets, and strapless red-white-and-blue leotard at the opening of the story and an eagle-inspired suit of battle armor by its conclusion. According to her Amazonian sisters, she has failed as an ambassador to the wider, more savage world and been ostracized from her native home. Unlike Superman, she continued her struggle even in the face of worsening conflicts, but, upon his return, she has become affected and hardened by those years. This leads her to fight against both the escaping prisoners of the Gulag and Batman’s force, only to later see that Superman’s call for peace is the proper path.

•Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Billy Batson and the World’s Mightiest Mortal, acts as a wild card throughout the series, serving Lex Luthor obediently and inexplicably. Until the story’s conclusion, his brawny form is usually clothed in a tuxedo, topped by his thick-browed and thin-eyed enigmatic smile.

•Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, modeled by Ross on an aging Gregory Peck, must wear an exoskeleton atop his business suit to compensate for all his years of damaging heroics. He seems to ally himself and his young followers with Lex Luthor’s quest to wipe out the superhumans, only to later double-cross him. Once he has deduced Marvel’s situation, he leads his team into the fray, donning a battle suit and attempting to prevent any further casualties.

•Lex Luthor, a businessman-cum-megalomaniac, has thickened about the neck and belly but remains a bald, brilliant narcissist. With Superman’s sudden return, he must accelerate his plans for eliminating the threatening superhumans from the planet. Using a cadre of unempowered former supervillains (such as the Riddler and Catwoman) to escalate tensions between the warring superhuman community, he hopes to lead the world after the superheroes’ demise.

Artistic Style

Ross’s full-color, photorealistic painting style is employed throughout the series, its covers, and its promotional material. Utilizing a several-step process (including layouts, penciling, and shadowing), Ross worked from photographed models of his own choosing and design, several of whom are thanked in his notes at the end of the book. He continues to use traditional superhero comics page spreads; however, this level of verisimilitude in his work serves as a major attraction for readers, as it did in his previous work, Marvels.

In many cases, the photorealistic style makes the characters feel all the more immediate and both their powers and their plights more accessible. All of the pages are rendered in considerable detail, but he reserves full-sized splash pages for powerful, iconic images of the characters in their majesty. It is quite possible, given the theme of religion, that Ross’s style is influenced by Warner Sallman and his richly detailed portraitures of Jesus (for example, the Head of Christ), particularly given the number of character close-ups and visual allusions included in Kingdom Come. These allusions include the Spectre emerging through a stained-glass window portraying the Garden of Gethsemane, the nuclear bomb blast in the shape of a cross, and a retired and longhaired Superman performing carpentry with two boards and three nails, among other images.

Themes

Kingdom Come pivots on four vital themes. The first concerns definitions of humanity and whether the superempowered are more than human or whether they have the same responsibilities and foibles. This ties in closely to the second major theme of morality, the core of the superhero genre itself. If ethics and morals determine heroism, what happens when those principles shift? Superman’s answer is to leave when society’s aims do not match his own; Wonder Woman’s is to remain fixed, regardless. If morality is absolute, then the superheroes’ sense of justice—and their brand of vigilantism—needs to endure. Otherwise, their actions are only temporary, and their understanding of humanity is likewise ephemeral. Change in morality along with change in humanity is at the heart of the third theme, the generational divide exemplified by the relationship between Superman and Magog (as well as among audiences from their respective comics eras).

Overall, though, the key theme is likely faith. The religious imagery, the series title, the narrator’s profession, and the biblical quotations all point to religious faith undergirding the plot of Kingdom Come and its apocalypse/Ragnarök-like climax. Less literally, faith, as in the belief in one and another or optimism for the future, can be said to fill the entirety of the story, from the characters’ conflicts to the motivation of its creators to the book’s impact on the comic book industry. As author Geoff Klock writes in How to Read Superhero Comics and Why (2002), Kingdom Come moves the revisionist superhero narrative forward to the new age.

Impact

In the words of Klock, “Kingdom Come stages the return of the classic heroes, the return of the powerful origin and inspiration to confront what was done in their name.” Largely, the story allowed heroes to be inspiring again in the wake of grim and brutal antiheroes inspired by Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986) and Watchmen (1986-1987) a decade earlier.

It also cemented Ross as the industry illustrator par excellence and created massive demand for his realistic art style. Given Ross’s popularity, it was surprising, then, that DC balked at his proposal for a follow-up series entitled The Kingdom, detailing modern-day events potentially leading to the future displayed in Kingdom Come. Instead, the publisher had Waid lead a separate 1999 event by the same name to inaugurate DC’s failed and ultimately temporary new explanation for its titles’ shared continuity, dubbed Hypertime.

While the Kingdom Come Superman was thought to have appeared in the Superman/Batman series—this was later determined by the editors not to be the authentic character from the same reality—he does visit the present in 2008 as part of Geoff Johns’s “Thy Kingdom Come” story line in Justice Society of America. Ross took part in Johns’s stories, providing covers in the style of Kingdom Come and select pages.

Further Reading

Busiek, Kurt, and Alex Ross. Marvels (1994).

Gruenwald, Mark, et al. Squadron Supreme (1985-1986).

Ross, Alex, Jim Krueger, and John Paul Leon. Earth X (1999).

Bibliography

Klock, Geoff. How to Read Superhero Comics and Why. New York: Continuum, 2002.

Lamken, Brian, ed. The Comicology “Kingdom Come” Companion. Arden, Pa.: Harbor Press, 1999.

Lewis, A. David. “Kingdom Code.” The International Journal of Comic Art 4, no. 1 (Spring, 2002).

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Superman Graveside.” In Graven Images: Religion in Comic Books and Graphic Novels. New York: Continuum, 2010.