CBR NEWS: Ten Years Later: Reflecting on "Kingdom Come" with Alex Ross

[Jonah Weiland]

Ten years after the release of "Kingdom Come," the series is still highly popular with old and new fans alike, with an Absolute edition for the most dedicated coming this June. Jonah Weiland sat down with Alex Ross for a lengthy chat about his thoughts on the series 10 years later and what it means to him today.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=7304

[LoneWolf21]

Kingdom Come, despite the painted art and all the raves I hear about it, is just a story I can never get into, because it just seems so simplistic in (what is to me) it's message of "Silver age good, everything else bad!"

[JimmyDee]

Kingdom Come, despite the painted art and all the raves I hear about it, is just a story I can never get into, because it just seems so simplistic in (what is to me) it's message of "Silver age good, everything else bad!"I couldn't disagree more. No, I wouldn't call "Kingdom Come" groundbreaking work, but it was HIGHLY creative and very influential on a number of comic creators and fans.

The story is much more than the Silver Age being good and the new being bad. On the contrary, it was more an indictment of the Silver Age heroes who abandoned their posts as leaders, mentors and counselors to the new generation. It was about different ideologies working against each other and, in some cases, with each other towards a common goal. It was about strength and responsibility. It was about the blurry lines between good and evil. It was about a lot of stuff, but it wasn't just "Silver age good, everything else bad!"

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying you should or need to like it, but I think it's disingenuous to classify it as less than it is.

Now, how do I get myself a copy of that damned "Comicology" issue?

[stillhere]

So what's up with the "editor" that Ross doesn't go into - I assume that's Dan Raspler, but does anybody have the story?

[NotSuper]

Has it really been ten years since the release of this great work? Man, time sure goes by fast. Now I have the urge to read the story again.

[SuperManny]

So what's up with the "editor" that Ross doesn't go into - I assume that's Dan Raspler, but does anybody have the story?

What section of the interview are you talking about....? I'm sure he's implying Dan Raspler.

*remembers The Kingdom well*

[west3man]

I'm looking forward to the Absolute Volume. Yum.

I didn't feel like Kingdom Come was beating me over the head with a message, but maybe it hit me at just the right age. I didn't really get into it until it had been out for a while.


Anyway, I'm insanely fond of it. It's one of my favorite comic book thingee thingees ever. Ever.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Storywise, I still prefer Marvels to KC but artistically, Kingdom Come is still one of the best-looking graphic novels I ever read.

[borateen]

It was the story that got me back into comics after about a year-long hiatus, and it's when I started reading comics for story content rather than pretty art or just because it's got a character I like in it. I guess it helped me mature a little in that respect.

I just wish I could afford the Absolute Edition.

[west3man]

It was the story that got me back into comics after about a year-long hiatus, and it's when I started reading comics for story content rather than pretty art or just because it's got a character I like in it. I guess it helped me mature a little in that respect.

I just wish I could afford the Absolute Edition.Three words:
Sell. Sell. Sell.

[west3man]

Storywise, I still prefer Marvels to KC but artistically, Kingdom Come is still one of the best-looking graphic novels I ever read.
I tried again, recently, to try to get into Marvels and I just could. not. do. it.

I almost feel guilty about that. Once in a while, I give it a shot. I end up feeling like I do when I force myself to drink water, but I'm not thirsty.

Marvels just isn't for me, I guess.

[The Humanist Hero]

I just got my Absolute Watchmen (several months after giving away my TPB copy in anticipation), and I love it. But I didn't think it would be worth it to buy any more Absolute editions.

However, I may have to get Absolute Kingdom Come. I do think the art alone is worth it.

[LoneWolf21]

I couldn't disagree more. No, I wouldn't call "Kingdom Come" groundbreaking work, but it was HIGHLY creative and very influential on a number of comic creators and fans.

The story is much more than the Silver Age being good and the new being bad. On the contrary, it was more an indictment of the Silver Age heroes who abandoned their posts as leaders, mentors and counselors to the new generation. It was about different ideologies working against each other and, in some cases, with each other towards a common goal. It was about strength and responsibility. It was about the blurry lines between good and evil. It was about a lot of stuff, but it wasn't just "Silver age good, everything else bad!"

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying you should or need to like it, but I think it's disingenuous to classify it as less than it is.

Now, how do I get myself a copy of that damned "Comicology" issue?


Hmm, I think I see what you are saying. Another problem for me, I think, was that I finally read it a few years after it's release, and so with all hype surrounding it, it's possible that it just couldn't (for me) live up to all of things I'd heard about it.

[Paul Newell]

Now, how do I get myself a copy of that damned "Comicology" issue?
Well you can't have mine!

But I do highly recommend getting the World's Funnest one-shot. :)

They appear in the midst of the final battle and Mxy realises he's painted...He gets angry and uses his powers to blow the paint off everbody rendering them as pencil sketches.

It's also worth it for:

Dave Gibbons "rampaging" through the Silver-Age Earth-One.
Mike Allred in the Phantom Zone.
Sheldon Moldoff drawing the Golden Age Justice Society.
Stuart Immomen and Joe Giella recreating a Mike Sekowsky Earth-Three.
Frank Cho portraying Earth-X.
Jaime Hernandez doing C.C. Beck's Marvel Family and the Monster Society of Evil.
Scott Shaw's Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew.
Stephen DeStephano destroying our Earth.
Jim Woodring in the 5th Dimension.
David Mazzuchelli's Kirbyesque Apokolips.
Jay Stephens portraying the Super Friends.
Bruce Timm doing Cartoon Network storyboards.
Frank Miller returning to DKR.
Doug Mahnke doing the Post-Crisis 90's DCU.
Phil Jimenez recreating the Crisis.
Ty Templeton covering every other past, future and alternate reality of the Pre-Crisis DCU.All behind a Brian Bolland cover. Oh yeah, Evan Dorkin kills everyone.

[OzBat!]

One of my all-time favourite comics! I don't care if she is just Brandy in the costume (or maybe it's because it is Brandy in the costume? :D ), but Frank Cho's Freedom Fighters bit was brilliantly funny... Human Bomb and Dollman constantly staring at Phantom Lady's rack! evil MWUHHH-Hahahahaaaaaa!

[SUPERECWFAN1]

KC was and is a classic. It still stands as something that explores a lot in heroes. I remember getting the Mini-series 10 years ago and was completely in awe of it.

[Calybos]

I wasn't impressed with the story of Kingdom Come, but the art really left me cold.

If Ross's "painted" style means this sort of identical faces and figures... not to mention persistent murk and glare everywhere... no thanks. I'll stick with pen and ink. I've avoided his stuff ever since.

[Solaris]

Kingdom Come is a story of dissolution and the corruption of power, of redemption and hope, of sacrifice, of sorrow and righteous turned to error and wrong... and it's all seen through the eyes of one "ordinary" man, who's not a superhero at all---at least, not in the comic book sense.

But Norman *is* a hero, in that he stands for the decency and caring, and despair over power gone mad, and personal crisis of conscience, and the willingness to stand up and speak out for good, whatever the cost to himself... of an "ordinary" man. Norman moves through doubt and questioning. He sees the wrongs, and the pain, inflicted by those with power on those who have none, and he asks "WHY?" He sees the events unfold, and speaks out at a crucial moment... then has to wait in suspense for the outcome.

It is a superpower that all ordinary men and women have... but we are all too often unaware of it's true potential, or impact.

There are so many psychological studies within the book:

Wonder Woman... who has to undergo a "baptism of fire" and be haunted for the rest of her days by taking a life, to fully understand that in order to be herself, she must remain true to what SHE believes is right... rather than acting in order to gain approval from her sisters, or acting by *their* code.

Superman... who has to face the reality that indecision and absence are *also* choices, and also have impact on the lives of others... and that his rejection of the responsibility that came with his power *also* was a rejection of the kind of world he was supposed to work toward, encourage, and inspire, for *everyone* here. He too faced consequences of his actions... and did his best to remedy them, even if initially he did so by making mistakes. He picked up, and kept trying, and shouldered the responsibility for his part in what went wrong, both in the beginning AND in the "meta prison" attempt. Good lesson. He also did something, at the end of the book, that I wish our govt. had understood and done, in the Iraq prisons: no matter how heinous the injury you have received from someone, returning it in kind corrupts YOU. Had our govt. followed that, there would have been no torture allowed (or encouraged) in the prisons there. Supe refused to destroy the U.N., even though they'd just massacred a lot of people, including Shazam.

Batman... learned that no one is too old, or too disabled, to help, and to play their part in changing the present for the future. :)

Shazam/Billy found the strength to overcome the mental torture/conditioning to express his *true* ideals... at the cost of his own life.

And a whole generation of "meta children" learned, first hand, the true impact of their powers on everyone, and that it MATTERS that they use those powers rightly, rather than as bored rich kids looking for a good time.

Yes. I think this book was *quite* worth the effort, for those reasons alone... and that doesn't even include the fantastic art, etc.

If you didn't get those ideas, ideals, and lessons out of the book... go read it again. :)

[Guapo Méndez]

Kingdom Come was a blast. I mean two hundred tons of dynamite wouldn't come even close.

I remember the months of anticipation, seeing those cryptic ads with gorgeous art, dreading that I would not be able to get that comic (around the 90's getting good comics in Merida, Yucatan was a royal pain in the butt)...which if I recall correctly, I didn't.

Yeah, when I bought my KC issues, I started with number III. I had to spend a pretty amount of cash to buy I and II from another comic book fan. I didn't matter: the story and the art were more than worth it.

The sheer detail in *every* panel, the absolotely gorgeous depiction of every character, the final fate of several characters...totally and completely amazing.

I bought the original 4 issue run, then the mexican versions, then the Slipcase (pretty, oh so pretty), the novel and the radio version. Hell, one time I played the audio tapes while reading the slipcase....better than a movie, kid.

I'm sorry for those who don't get Kindgom Come (or ***shudder*** find it boring). To me, it was -and is- one helluva rollecoaster created by one of the best writers there is and painted by one of the best artists there is (I don't miss any Mark Waid nor Alex Ross work. Since KC they have been mandatory items in my collection).

So, cheers to Waid and Ross, for that DC Comics milestone!

[Eliseu Gouveia]

I tried again, recently, to try to get into Marvels and I just could. not. do. it.

I almost feel guilty about that. Once in a while, I give it a shot. I end up feeling like I do when I force myself to drink water, but I'm not thirsty.

Marvels just isn't for me, I guess.

Marvels echoed in me because I used to read those same exact stories growing up, way back when publishers still had an idea of what the word continuity meant.

Seeing the stories replayed from an everyman´s PoV was like a dream come true, it really captured the essence of that once marvelous universe.

[cwang2]

I have been anticipating this 10 year anniversary edition for a while. Personally for me, KC is my all time favorite comic. It has everything that I could ever want from a comic from the storyline, structure, characters, artistic creativity, etc.

For me, I have always been fascinated with the duality of what superheros represent and what they stand for. For the first time, I saw Superman not as the genuine icon that he is, but as a flawed being searching for redemption and forgiveness for his failure. The fact I saw that in the greatest superhero of all time not only fascinated me, but opened my eyes to the entire spectrum of uniqueness that it Kingdom Come.

I must admit when I first saw MARVELS, I wasn't all that interested in Alex's style. At the time it came out I was really into Spawn and the extremely detailed artwork that it contained, so to me, the graphic detail in MARVELS paled in comparison. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate his style, it just wasn't my preference at the time. Even I couldn't deny that Alex's truly unique style was something noticable. Today, I can't get enough of his art.

As far as comparing the two, MARVELS and KINGDOM COME, I have to side with KC a little more. Both take on the view point of the "everyman," but Norman in KC takes on a pivitol role in the comic; he decides the outcome of the story, whereas the main character in MARVELS has more of a bystander/ outsider feel to it with his own agenda. I feel MARVELS inspirational and symbolic impact to the readers didn't amount as much as KC. KC touches the very fabric of heroism in a time where lost souls rule the world.

I've read KC many, many times and it never gets dull for me. The Absolute Edition is well deserved and its commemorative mention is well worth Alex's effort to fight for.

[Jack]

I've always thought that Ross' art is much better suited to depicting the DCU than the MU. This is by no means a condemnation of Marvel (so please, don't take this the wrong way anyone), but the DC characters are just more iconic, more epic.

[west3man]

Marvels echoed in me because I used to read those same exact stories growing up, way back when publishers still had an idea of what the word continuity meant.

Seeing the stories replayed from an everyman´s PoV was like a dream come true, it really captured the essence of that once marvelous universe.
That makes sense. Unfortunately, I don't have that kinda of history with that era of the MU.