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US Mall 1 - Kingdom Come
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List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $18.92
Your Save: $ ( % )
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Manufacturer: DC Comics
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781563893308
ISBN: 1563893304
Label: DC Comics
Manufacturer: DC Comics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 232
Publication Date: 1997-10-01
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 1997-10-01
Studio: DC Comics
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not for everyone
Comment: I know that this was one of those epic comic storylines of the 90s. And on its face, it's a good story - war is about to break out between the generations of superhumans and everyone, super and regular, will suffer for it. Will the older generation of heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman abandon their morals to stop their children and grandchildren, who have little regard for human life? And on the other side, we have mortals like Batman (who is not aging well - but who ever expects Batman to age well?) and Lex Luthor and his most unfortunately named organization, the Mankind Liberation Front, or MLF. I swear, I could not read that abbreviation without thinking "MILF" and wondering if that had not crossed Mark Waid's mind. Anyways, these men seek to protect humanity, though for very different reasons. And then there's Captain Marvel/Billy Batson, caught in the middle of it all.
So yes, it's a good end-of-the-world story. But it just didn't appeal to me. The artwork is incredible. That's probably the biggest selling point for this story. But I felt like I was reading a "Who's Who" of DC heroes and villains, which became so dizzying that I couldn't keep characters straight and I really didn't care. In the back of the compilation, there's a chart of 105 of the heroes/villains, and many of their names end with the numbers 2 or 3. Despite the plethora of characters, the focus is mainly on Superman, with supporting roles from Wonder Woman and Batman. Several of the heroes I recognized (which didn't feel like many... go go Wesley Dodds) looked like they'd have interesting stories to tell and opinions to contribute... but they hardly utter a word. Which brings me to my biggest gripe - Captain Marvel/Billy is the character that this whole story hinges on. He is both mortal and superhuman. His mental state is less than whole, and he's the only person capable of matching Superman's powers. But he gets so little attention for such a pivotal character! Plus, I have a little trouble getting invested in a scene where the key word is Shazam. I guess it's just a sign of the times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: wrong description of item
Comment: This product is not new( although sellor describes this as new one.)
the last three pages are totally ripped.
I was really disappointed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Comment: Some of the best artwork in a graphic novel hands down. Really enjoyed reading this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Above and beyond expectations.
Comment: I was always told this was an excellent comic to get for DC fans. I was new to enjoying DC comics when I was told to pick this book up by a friend and when I did I was blown away. I have never seen artwork of this caliber and magnitude in a graphic novel before, and the story is as gripping as any traditional novel. Whether you just appreciate art or are a true fan of DC comics this is a must have.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Possibly the Best In-Universe Comics Story Ever
Comment: DC's recently-released "new edition" of Kingdom Come carries very little new content, but you should go read it anyway. Essentially a reprint of the original Dynamic Forces incentive hardcover that came out shortly after the book's release, it features a decade-old introduction by Elliot S! Maggin (the legendary Superman scribe who penned the novelization of Kingdom Come) and a sketchbook and gallery in the back, featuring some of Alex Ross's conceptual artwork and some of the promotional materials used to sell the original, four-issue miniseries. A nice package? Quite. New? Hardly.
Still, this new edition provides an excuse to re-read Kingdom Come (as if you needed one) and the new cover by Alex Ross is a prize. While I've never been a fan of gatefold covers (I always think of the reproduction problems presented by Dan Jurgens' terrific gatefold finale to The Death of Superman), the new Ross cover is a beautiful piece of art, and well worth the silliness of a gatefold to see it presented in as close to its original size as possible. Even in an age where Ross does far too many covers, and his artwork has started to lose the originality and punch that made Marvels, Kingdom Come and Astro City stand out on the shelves, a new image of such quality, tied to a fairly ageless property like Kingdom Come, is a treat.
It's a little surprising, given DC's recent tendency to--ahem--self-edit, that Superman's long hair remains intact in the flashback sequences. Famously, Ross was unhappy with having to make that change and did so only at the insistence of DC Editorial, who reportedly didn't want the post-Reign of the Supermen hairstyle to seem like "something that will go away soon" when Kingdom Come was published. Clearly it's an element of DC's publishing history that has drawn a lot of fan derision and, in spite of being one of the best-selling storylines of all time, hasn't been given a lot of visual representations in flashbacks such as the History of the DC Universe/History of the Multiverse backups that Jurgens himself drew for 52 and Countdown to Final Crisis.
Reading Kingdom Come again (it's been years) was a nice trip down memory lane (I won the Empire State Student Press Association Gold Award for Entertainment Writing in 1998 for a high school newspaper interview I conducted with Elliot S! Maggin about the novelization). The story is chock full of some of the best representations of DC's heroes you'll ever see. Insightful, consistent and cleverly laced together, these are the truest and most enjoyable versions of many of the characters that readers had seen in years. Captain Marvel was engaging, interesting and he had a purpose! Martian Manhunter was truly tragic. And, of course, Superman and Batman were both a little perfect, a little flawed...and constantly disagreeing about methods. This was the DC Universe that appealed to me more than any other I had read back in 1996, and a quick return trip to what's apparently now called Earth-22 has reinforced in this critic that Kingdom Come is the single greatest achievement in in-universe superhero storytelling ever published. While there are plenty of graphic novels that might give it a run for its money in terms of sheer storytelling, they're usually things like Watchmen, or stories like Kraven's Last Hunt which feature individual characters and, whether or not they technically occur in the Marvel/DC/Image Universes, they don't really use the universe effectively. Kingdom Come did so masterfully and, indeed, could not have happened without many of DC's smaller players coming in to insinuate themselves into a story that seems far too large for them.
And--that startling and tragic conclusion notwithstanding--many of the underappreciated heroes of the DCU got their moment in the sun, without having to get killed for it. That hardly ever happens anymore, right, Ted?...Ted?
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, but not for everyone
Comment: I know that this was one of those epic comic storylines of the 90s. And on its face, it's a good story - war is about to break out between the generations of superhumans and everyone, super and regular, will suffer for it. Will the older generation of heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman abandon their morals to stop their children and grandchildren, who have little regard for human life? And on the other side, we have mortals like Batman (who is not aging well - but who ever expects Batman to age well?) and Lex Luthor and his most unfortunately named organization, the Mankind Liberation Front, or MLF. I swear, I could not read that abbreviation without thinking "MILF" and wondering if that had not crossed Mark Waid's mind. Anyways, these men seek to protect humanity, though for very different reasons. And then there's Captain Marvel/Billy Batson, caught in the middle of it all.
So yes, it's a good end-of-the-world story. But it just didn't appeal to me. The artwork is incredible. That's probably the biggest selling point for this story. But I felt like I was reading a "Who's Who" of DC heroes and villains, which became so dizzying that I couldn't keep characters straight and I really didn't care. In the back of the compilation, there's a chart of 105 of the heroes/villains, and many of their names end with the numbers 2 or 3. Despite the plethora of characters, the focus is mainly on Superman, with supporting roles from Wonder Woman and Batman. Several of the heroes I recognized (which didn't feel like many... go go Wesley Dodds) looked like they'd have interesting stories to tell and opinions to contribute... but they hardly utter a word. Which brings me to my biggest gripe - Captain Marvel/Billy is the character that this whole story hinges on. He is both mortal and superhuman. His mental state is less than whole, and he's the only person capable of matching Superman's powers. But he gets so little attention for such a pivotal character! Plus, I have a little trouble getting invested in a scene where the key word is Shazam. I guess it's just a sign of the times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: wrong description of item
Comment: This product is not new( although sellor describes this as new one.)
the last three pages are totally ripped.
I was really disappointed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Comment: Some of the best artwork in a graphic novel hands down. Really enjoyed reading this one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Above and beyond expectations.
Comment: I was always told this was an excellent comic to get for DC fans. I was new to enjoying DC comics when I was told to pick this book up by a friend and when I did I was blown away. I have never seen artwork of this caliber and magnitude in a graphic novel before, and the story is as gripping as any traditional novel. Whether you just appreciate art or are a true fan of DC comics this is a must have.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Possibly the Best In-Universe Comics Story Ever
Comment: DC's recently-released "new edition" of Kingdom Come carries very little new content, but you should go read it anyway. Essentially a reprint of the original Dynamic Forces incentive hardcover that came out shortly after the book's release, it features a decade-old introduction by Elliot S! Maggin (the legendary Superman scribe who penned the novelization of Kingdom Come) and a sketchbook and gallery in the back, featuring some of Alex Ross's conceptual artwork and some of the promotional materials used to sell the original, four-issue miniseries. A nice package? Quite. New? Hardly.
Still, this new edition provides an excuse to re-read Kingdom Come (as if you needed one) and the new cover by Alex Ross is a prize. While I've never been a fan of gatefold covers (I always think of the reproduction problems presented by Dan Jurgens' terrific gatefold finale to The Death of Superman), the new Ross cover is a beautiful piece of art, and well worth the silliness of a gatefold to see it presented in as close to its original size as possible. Even in an age where Ross does far too many covers, and his artwork has started to lose the originality and punch that made Marvels, Kingdom Come and Astro City stand out on the shelves, a new image of such quality, tied to a fairly ageless property like Kingdom Come, is a treat.
It's a little surprising, given DC's recent tendency to--ahem--self-edit, that Superman's long hair remains intact in the flashback sequences. Famously, Ross was unhappy with having to make that change and did so only at the insistence of DC Editorial, who reportedly didn't want the post-Reign of the Supermen hairstyle to seem like "something that will go away soon" when Kingdom Come was published. Clearly it's an element of DC's publishing history that has drawn a lot of fan derision and, in spite of being one of the best-selling storylines of all time, hasn't been given a lot of visual representations in flashbacks such as the History of the DC Universe/History of the Multiverse backups that Jurgens himself drew for 52 and Countdown to Final Crisis.
Reading Kingdom Come again (it's been years) was a nice trip down memory lane (I won the Empire State Student Press Association Gold Award for Entertainment Writing in 1998 for a high school newspaper interview I conducted with Elliot S! Maggin about the novelization). The story is chock full of some of the best representations of DC's heroes you'll ever see. Insightful, consistent and cleverly laced together, these are the truest and most enjoyable versions of many of the characters that readers had seen in years. Captain Marvel was engaging, interesting and he had a purpose! Martian Manhunter was truly tragic. And, of course, Superman and Batman were both a little perfect, a little flawed...and constantly disagreeing about methods. This was the DC Universe that appealed to me more than any other I had read back in 1996, and a quick return trip to what's apparently now called Earth-22 has reinforced in this critic that Kingdom Come is the single greatest achievement in in-universe superhero storytelling ever published. While there are plenty of graphic novels that might give it a run for its money in terms of sheer storytelling, they're usually things like Watchmen, or stories like Kraven's Last Hunt which feature individual characters and, whether or not they technically occur in the Marvel/DC/Image Universes, they don't really use the universe effectively. Kingdom Come did so masterfully and, indeed, could not have happened without many of DC's smaller players coming in to insinuate themselves into a story that seems far too large for them.
And--that startling and tragic conclusion notwithstanding--many of the underappreciated heroes of the DCU got their moment in the sun, without having to get killed for it. That hardly ever happens anymore, right, Ted?...Ted?
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