Product Description: The incredible sequel to the bestselling and multi award-winning Kingdom Come! In that story, it was judgement day, and war was waged between superheroes old and new to determine the fate of the entire planet. A fully painted Elseworlds saga, it featured one of the most astounding visions of the DC universe ever presented. Now in this stunning sequel, the impossible has happened...Superman has been killed. Not once, but countless times, murdered over and over again by the being known as Gog. If he isn't stopped, the whole structure of reality will collapse!
Judge for yourself ^ While I did indeed love "Kingdom Come" I actually think "The Kingdom" is a much better comic. But let's explain a few things (without spoilers).
"The Kingdom" was a graphic novel done in one piece. It's style is very photorealistic and, indeed, I'm almost positive much of the art was created by tracing photo images (the artist himself admits he worked extensively from hundreds of photos). I'm not a big fan of this approach and based on the artwork alone I'd rate it pretty low. However, it's a terrific story.
"Kingdom Come" was a collection of stories from various comics that attempted to tread some of the same ground while offering some new insights and, yes, be a sequel of sorts. As a collection it used both many different artists as well as encompassed different casts (because the individual comics that tell the tale were from the lines that were concerned mainly with those characters). The artwork is definitely comic artwork, and is very different from chapter to chapter as it is collected from so many different sources. Overall, however, I much prefer it as representative of "comic" art.
If you enjoy the characters of "Kingdom Come" you will most likely enjoy "The Kingdom" -- they are very true to those characterizations. But this is something you need to see for yourself.
Just like nearly every other powerful tale in the DC universe, it will inspire vastly dramatic (and differing) opinions. But if you avoid this due to someone trying to tell you it's awful then you will be missing out on potentially one of your favorite books (it's one of mine). Make up your own mind and you might be very pleasantly surprised.
Graphic SF Reader ^ A little of a story about Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a child. Gog and Magog, and all that sort of thing. A lot of sidetracking to use some other characters and points of view. This is also partly a continuity fudging, apologist and essay about self contained stories versus the soap opera aspect of comics. He throws in the whole Hyper-Time thing to talk about this.
A Great Superman Tale ^ I thought this was a great tale. For anyone who's interested in physics and comics this will make you think. Time travel is a major part of this story. As you read Kingdom keep this question in the back of your mind, "If you went back in time and killed your own father or grandfather would you cease to exist?"
The figure of Gog and a religion based on Superman is a fascinating idea. In some ways I was remind of the worship of Marilyn Monroe in the rock opera "Tommy".
Kingdom was slow in parts, but generally speaking a good read.
So disappointing ^ I'm a lapsed comic book fan. I've slowly been re-acquainting myself with several serials, and I found Waid's Kingdom Come to be really mesmerizing. Intelligent, emotional, and with a solid beginning and ending. So even though I read negative reviews about Kingdom, I figured I should still give it a shot. It can't be THAT bad, can it?
It can!
I'm not sure who the Mark Waid is who wrote this series of books, but it has none of the flair or drama that the first series had in spades. You can't even fault Alex Ross not being involved... much of book's failing are in the dialogue; wooden, forced, and yes... CAMPY! It takes at least a modicum of care to write comic book dialogue that *carefully* dodges the 'camp' bullet, and unfortunately this one convenienly lines itself right up for a headshot. The fact that the last 10 pages set us up for the supposed 'secret to end all secrets' of the DC Universe... when it's revealed as a pastiche of lame sci-fi time-travel gobbledy-[...] and Marvel Universe storyline conventions... blah! I literally dropped the book to the floor and never touched it again. Waid's writing is usually much much better, so my (unconfirmed) belief is that he was forced to write this by the corporate masters at DC to piggyback on the hype and sales that Kingdom Come generated.
Truly sad. :(
Let's be honest here...... ^ .....really the only reason you want this is for the appearance of Earth-2 Superman pounding on the mysterious wall.......because you were a little late looking for the back issue and now this is the only way to get it.
Right?
Everything else about this series is bunk. Hypertime?? Really?
Still, I can't begrudge you for wanting it. That Superman thing IS kinda important.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
