Kingdom Come

A look at the best Superman story ever

Ever wondered what today's super-heroes would be like in twenty years time, when their hair was a little greyer, their reactions were a little slower and the costumes a bit saggy around the middle?

Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid and beautifully painted by Alex Ross, with help from Todd Klein, was original released in 1996 as a four part Elseworlds series. In the Elseworld comics heroes are taken from their familiar settings and placed in strange surroundings and worlds, some which have existed, some which might come to exist and others that would never exist.

The four part comic looked at the world and asked 'do we really need a Superman?' and then taking it one step further, sees the Man of Steel in self imposed exile a farm in Kansas. Superman has been in retirement for ten years, after an incident with a new breed of vicious Super hero called Magog. By this time most of the world's better known superheros have disappeared and a new type of hero roams the world.

Kingdom Come was a huge hit when released and a sequel followed along. It is not hard to see why, Waid has a great way with plot, making you really think about what you are reading. While Alex Ross' art is just out of this world, every page is beautifully crafted and each scene looks like it's alive.

I first read Kingdom Come when it came out in the comic form, since then I have purchased the graphic novel, and the sequel, which we will be looking at in the next issue. It is one of my favorite Elseworld's stories and should be the benchmark that other comics measure themselves against.

A classic in every sense.