By: Mark Waid Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 232 Publication Date: October 01, 1997 Release Date: October 01, 1997
Amazon.com: Writer Mark Waid, coming from his popular work on Flash and Impulse, and artist Alex Ross, who broke new ground with the beautifully painted Marvels, join together for this explosive book that takes place in a dark alternate future of the DC Superhero Universe. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and almost every other character from DC Comics must choose sides in what could be the final battle of them all.
Product Description: Writer Mark Waid, coming from his popular work on Flash and Impulse, and artist Alex Ross, who broke new ground with the beautifully painted Marvels, join together for this explosive book that takes place in a dark alternate future of the DC Superhero Universe. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and almost every other character from DC Comics must choose sides in what could be the final battle of them all.
AWESOME G-NOVEL - GOT ME BACK INTO DC COMICS! If you love Elseworld plots, tons of characters new and old, end of the world stories, Justice League, and the Superman vs Captain Marvel battle, this novel is one of the finest ever written. Each page is a work of art, the story is geared towards older readers, set in a near future anti-utopian world. I was pretty much done with comics after college, so I shifted to graphic novels thanks to Miller's Dark Knight Returns, read tons of G-Novels, and then started to put them down for good. Picked up Kingdom Come and now I'm back in love with DC...this is one of my top G-Novels of all times! Thanks and keep dreaming. John Dae
Good in parts, awful in others. First off, the art is wonderful. It is gorgeous consistently throughout, even if at times a bit confusing packed with as many superheroes as it is. However, the writing has some annoying conventions that I wish I would have known about prior to purchasing.
Namely, the heavy biblical narrative trying to convince the reader that no, really, this time it's the end of everything! Invoking the book of Revelations virtually non-stop by a preacher that does indeed preach throughout the book, was both gimmicky and entirely unnecessary. The conflict simply did not need the biblical overtones in order to give it more weight. It's the classic problem of telling instead of showing that writers often fall into. We don't need to be told how terrible mass destruction is. Simply showing it works just fine.
Worse, the book uses another tired convention of invoking the unseen messenger guiding a witness to the crisis, like a ghost from Dicken's Christmas Carol. Instead of giving us well-rounded antagonists from this new crop of careless superheroes, we get a constant exposition of doom.
The frustrating thing about this book is how good it is in parts. Its focus is almost entirely centered on Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, and thankfully a lot of good stuff arises from that. However, a bit of a bait and switch happens when we have Wonder Woman advocating essentially a "final solution" to the problem. So we get this morality play played out between Superman and Wonder Woman instead of between the next generation of heroes and the old generation, which to me would have been far more interesting.
That all said, parts of the book really are well done. Superman's story is interesting and poignant. Wonder Woman's is also affecting when Superman guesses at her deeper motives. And Batman is written wryly and with great humor. And the interactions between the three, which is essentially the book, are great.
But the flaws I mentioned above truly drag this work down. Don't believe the hype. It's a good book with good ideas, but it fails in the execution and long preachy expositions. I would have given the book two stars but the art truly raises this work up from mediocrity and worth a look for that alone. But I do recommend borrowing a copy and reading it first before buying.
Amazing art and story This is a definitive comic in the industry. It is classic Alex Ross with superb art and a deep involving story with some political undertones. The story is amazing and sucks you in as you see it through the eyes of a ministers who is being shown the entire thing by The Spectre in the classic style of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol. I will not get into the story other than to say it is inspired. The art is top notch, the pacing is great and the ending is well thought out and powerful.
Good story, great art! If you like alternative history, this is a great graphic novel for you. The artwork is wonderful and the story idea that superheroes' values have changed over time with those of society is very thought-provoking.
I'd highly recommend this one, especially for someone who maybe isn't normally into comix.
Fantastic Graphic Novel Great art from the artist Alex Ross and a wouderfull story. A must have for every DC comic book fan.
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Trevor
Megaton Man
