Kingdom Come: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Absolutekingdom.jpg|frame|''Pretty Awesome'']]
 
 
{{quote|''"According to the word of God, the meek would someday inherit the earth. Someday. But God never accounted for the mighty."''|'''Norman McCay'''}}
 
A [[DC Universe]] & [[Elseworld|Elseworlds]]s [[Comic Book|graphic novel]], published in 1996. Written by [[Mark Waid]] and beautifully painted by Alex Ross, ''Kingdom Come'' depicts a dystopian future in which [[Superman]] has retired due to the public's preference for heroes who will use lethal force. The [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] superheroes followed him, in some cases retiring completely, in others sticking to their own small areas.
 
Until a tragedy strikes in Kansas. The death of [[Captain Atom]] causes a nuclear explosion which destroys most of the Midwest of the USA. This loosens the last bounds of restraint among the new generation of metahumans, who begin to fight one another with abandon. Superman returns, reassembles the Justice League and tries to take back control, with dire consequences.
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** [[Shout-Out]]: They're called [[Batman and the Outsiders|Batman's Outsiders]].
* [[Call to Agriculture]]: After retirement, Clark Kent is living in an artificial farm.
* [[The Cameo]]: ''Many,'' especially in the bar scene-- keepscene—keep an eye out for [[Watchmen (comics)|Rorschach]].
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Many:
** Magog himself is based on Cable, with elements of other [[Rob Liefeld]] characters.
** Tusk, a robot in the first fight scene is visually based on Z'gok-E from [[Mobile Suit Gundam]].
** Americommando is visually based on [[Judge Dredd]], with a hint of [[Watchmen (comics)|The Comedian]].
** Tokyo Rose takes some visual hints from Chun-Li of [[Street Fighter]], although with a more Japanese tone to it (obviously).
** An Unnamed background character in the Meta-Human rave scene is visually similar to the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]], only [[Darker and Edgier|bigger and uglier]].
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** A robot in the Gulag scene looks a lot like the robot Maria from Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
* [[Canon Immigrant]]: The version of Superman introduced in Kingdom Come was later incorporated into the main DC continuity and interacted with the Justice Society. The Kingdom Come-verse is officially Earth-22 of the post-''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' multiverse.
** Versions of a number of [['''Kingdom Come]]''' characters also ended up in the Main DCU's JSA, including Atom Smasher, Cyclone, and even Magog himself.
** Alloy showed up in in ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold]]''. Then again, the Metal Men combining is just too good an idea not to use...
*** ''[[Justice League International|Justice League: Generation Lost]]'', which had a major subplot having to do with the events of ''Kingdom Come'', actually ''did'' use it.
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{{spoiler|'''Lex:''' "Shut up."}} }}
* [[Legacy Character]]: Again, all over the place. Its setting is helpful in allowing such characters to see a lot of use. They really come to the fore in the sequel, though.
* [[Literary Allusion Title]]: not only ''[['''Kingdom Come]]''''' itself a literary allusion (to either Matthew 6:10 or Luke 11:2 from the Bible), but each chapter title ('Strange Visitr', 'Truth and Justice', 'Up in the Sky' and 'Never-Ending Battle') is an allusion to the classic [[Superman]] introduction.
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: We've got the original "[[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]]" DCU heroes, their children, the rogue antiheroes, the former supervillains, and a number of ordinary "humans" (mostly politicians).
* [[Monster Modesty]]: Many characters due to the large cast but most notably the Spectre who wears nothing but a single cape and Hawkman, who is now a humanoid bird and wears very little.
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** Batman uses powered armor and keeps his city safe with robotic drones.
** Doctor Mid-Nite (now called simply "Midnight"), who once used smoke bombs, now exists as a living smoke cloud that fills out his costume's cape.
** Garfield Logan -- onceLogan—once called "Beast Boy" and "Changeling", now called "Menagerie" -- can—can only shapeshift into fictitious creatures, such as the Jabberwock from Lewis Carroll's ''Through the Looking Glass''.
* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: [[Supergirl]] and [[Superboy]] leave the present when the rise of the anti-heroes leads to Superman retiring, and join the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]] in the 30th Century.
* [[Second Coming]]: Superman's return from his self-imposed exile to deal with Magog and his generation of heroes was first seen as this by McCay. However, {{spoiler|1=the visions McCay has seen reveal that Superman's presence would catalyze the coming doom, not avert it.}}
* [[Secret Identity Identity]]: The revelation of Bruce Wayne being Batman leads to Wayne Manor being wrecked by Two Face and Bane, and Bruce, of course, no longer keeping up the pretense. Superman also drops the Clark identity. Indeed the ending shows ''all'' the surviving supers de-masking, and seems to be showing the end of the [[Secret Identity Identity]] for this universe.
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** May be Averted: one of the last few panels shows a curious bug-like device.
* [[Shout-Out]]: Full of them. Shouts out to, among others, ''[[Watchmen]]'' and numerous Golden and Silver age comics. Most of them are explained in the Absolute Kingdom Come hardcover edition. This comic has the ''Fantom of the Fair'' and ''Powerman'' in it, for chrissakes.
** An early panel shows [[Watchmen (comics)|Hollis Mason's autobiography]] in a shop window.
*** "Who watches the Watchmen?"
** And Kingdom Come has been subject to a frankly ridiculous amount of Shouts Out from the main DCU ever since. ''So'' many elements were just taken directly from this.
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* [[Take That]]: At [[Dork Age]] [[Nineties Anti-Hero|Nineties Anti Heroes]] in general and [[Cable]] in particular; see the page quote above.
* [[Talking the Monster to Death]]: How Norman McKay keeps {{spoiler|Superman}} from destroying the UN.
{{quote| '''Spectre''': After ten years, he has finally let free a wrath that would cower Satan himself. How can ''any'' man calm the fury he feels towards his persecutors?<br />
'''Norman McKay''': I can reach behind it. Do you really think he's mad at ''them?'' He's raging at himself. Let me talk to him. '''Now.''' }}
* [[Throwaway Country]]: Kansas, and parts of the surrounding states. ''Twice!''
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* [[Values Dissonance]]: Used in-story. It's problems with values dissonance that cause Superman to retire in the first place because he cannot reconcile his values with those of the younger generation of heroes and, more importantly, the public that supports them.
* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: {{spoiler|Magog. He goes down without Superman touching him. He just collapses to his knees at the weight of the guilt of the destruction of Kansas.}}
{{quote| ''' {{spoiler|Magog}}:''' They chose the hero who would kill over the hero who wouldn't. And now they're dead. A million ghosts. Punish me. Lock me away. Kill me. Just make the ghosts go away.'''}}
** The fact that he's an [[Anti-Hero]] instead of a true villain no doubt contributes to this. He really was trying to be a hero and do the right thing, and he genuinely cares about all the innocents who suffered for his recklessness.
** Luthor also has a mild one part way through the story; for most of it, he's smug and in control, but when one of his confederates raises the question of whether he's concerned about Superman's return his immediate response is to violently scream that Superman will not get near him before he calms down.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:KingdomComic ComeBooks]]
[[Category:Comic Book]]
[[Category:Superman]]
[[Category:Comic BookBooks of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]