Kingdom Come – the adaptation.
DC comedian ebook enthusiasts have been waiting for and advocating for this for over 25 years, and if a new teaser tweet “Making Plans (opens in new tab)” through newly installed and satisfied DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn is any indication, we may all, regardless, get it.
But what is Kingdom Come?
Kingdom Come is one of DC’s best-selling comedian e-book series, and later collections in publisher history, that Newsarama’s readers have decided as the DC Comics story of all time.
What made the magnum opus, which pitted the most “extreme” violent superheroes in style against the more classic superheroism of iconic DC characters like Superman, such a publicity and critical success, and what are the secrets of its longevity?
Along with our review, Newsarama looks into the beyond of why Kingdom Come has become a fan-favorite epic.
Set in a “possible” long-term DC Universe (now known as Earth-22 in the DC multiverse), Kingdom Come is one of the best-selling “Elseworlds” stories in the history of comedy e-books.
In the middle of its plot there is an older Superman with gray hair on his temples and another edition of the “S” on his chest, an edition that emanates a more mature environment than the classics.
The four-part series premiered in 1996, at a time when more brutal vigilante antiheroes like Marvel’s Punisher were more popular with readers than outdated icons like Superman. the Superman logo with the toughest heroes of the 90s.
Kingdom Come explained the clash between those concepts in the long-term remote DC Universe, allowing its creators to point out how violent justice can spiral out of control.
The plot of the series was born from the brain of superstar painter and writer Alex Ross, who had the help of co-author Mark Waid to bring it to light. Kingdom Come used Ross’s striking and realistic gouache paintings to tell its story and featured new heroes from the future, some animated through existing heroes and others from familiar icons.
Kingdom Come is set in a global where Superman retired after the Joker killed Lois Lane.
Fans of Injustice: Gods Among Us (opens in new tab) might recognize this concept since the Joker’s killing of Lois was the game’s triggering incident. But 1996’s Kingdom Come explored it first, albeit from another angle.
While Injustice featured Superman avenging Lois’ death by killing the Joker (which made Superman evil), Kingdom Come had another approach. In this story, there is another younger hero named Magog (a pastiche of the then-newly popular Marvel anti-hero Cable) who killed the Joker in retaliation.
Superman arrested Magog, who attempted to assassinate the Joker. But the court declared Magog guilt-free and the world hailed the young character as a hero. After the verdict, Superman was so disappointed with the global acceptance of brutal justice that he ceased to be a superhero.
He no longer lived like Clark Kent in the human world, opting to retire to the Fortress of Solitude and live in isolation as a farmer.
Without Superman as the guiding force in the superhero community, the line between hero and villain has blurred. It is difficult to know who is the villain and who is the hero, and the struggle between them began to claim the lives of innocent bystanders.
In order not to spoil the entire story, however, as you can imagine, Superman has to return. And smart guys have to fight less smart guys.
And while DC’s heroes take other positions in the story, Superman remains steadfast in his confidence that brutality is never justified. Superman and his values of truth, justice and American style have not changed through the bloodthirsty world around him.
At the end of the story, Superman comes out of retirement, once he returns he assumes the duty of protecting the world and discovers satisfaction in a new life Lois. In the final pages, the elderly Wonder Woman and Superman tell the gray-haired Bruce Wayne that Wonder Woman is pregnant with their child.
After the release of Kingdom Come, this edition of Superman is a familiar and beloved character among DC’s hardcore readers.
Kingdom Come Superman reappeared in The Kingdom (opens in a new tab), the aforementioned sequel that Waid wrote for DC without Ross’ involvement, and the publisher published a prose novel edition of Kingdom Come (opens in a new tab), adapted via Elliot S! Maggin.
A KC issue of Superman also appeared later in the first Batman/Superman name arc of 2003 (opens in a new tab); it was later revealed that this Superman, which resembles the Kingdom Come edition, came from another, even darker Earth in the Multiverse.
In 2008, Kingdom Come Superman finally made it to DC’s main continuity, traveling from their Earth exchange (at the time referred to as Earth-22 and part of the DC multiverse continuity) to interact with DC’s heroes in Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham’s Justice Society. America (opens in a new tab).
Interestingly, Kingdom Come Superman stayed with the JSA for a while, forming a full member of the team over several arcs, culminating in a non-secular prequel/sequel titled “Thy Kingdom Come”, in which he battled the universe’s biggest DC. Magog and his best friend Gog.
A later limited series, Justice League: Generation Lost (opens in new tab), linked villain Maxwell Lord to Kingdom Come’s long-term appearance, with Lord allying himself with Magog and even experimenting with visions of Kingdom Come events.
The 2011 “New 52” reboot, which erased the ultimate facets of Superman’s past continuity, adding KC Supes’ journey to the center of Earth and Generation Lost.
Since the reboot, Kingdom Come’s Superman has not appeared in the comic, but encouraged the DC-TV edition of CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Brandon Routh from the 2006 film Superman Returns reprised his role with an obviously animated look through Kingdom. Come here.
More (and speaking of Max Lord), Wonder Woman 1984 featured Diana wearing an edition of the golden war armor she wears in the climactic confrontation of Kingdom Come.
When the 25th anniversary of ancient history arrived and left without celebration, Earth-22’s Magog and Kingdom Come Global made a brief appearance in 2021’s Infinite Frontier limited series, and Magog gave the impression of being the villain of 2022 comedian Earth-Prime. Limited series of e-books. In the Arrowverse continuity of DC’s live television.
Kingdom Come is part of a crazy year of 1996 for DC and Marvel, the repercussions of which are still felt today. Discover our year-round retrospective.
Vaneta has been a freelancer for Newsarama for over 17 years, covering Marvel and DC, and everything in between. He also works in marketing.
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