DC is no stranger to having absolutely classic and genre defining stories. They quite literally spawned the superhero genre with Superman, after all, and some of his and other famous DC heroes’ comic books have literally altered the comic book industry around them. However, while there are many stories that might claim more impact on the industry, there is one that stands above all of DC’s other works, and even every other comic book in general, as the best story ever told in this format. Alex Ross and Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come turns thirty years old next year, and through it all this four-issue series stands as the absolute best story ever put to comics.
What is Kingdom Come?
Kingdom Come is an Elsewords story, following the DC Universe in the not so far future, where a new generation of heroes have replaced the old guard of the Justice League. However, these new metahumans do not act like heroes. They take lives without care and pillage and destroy everything that gets in their way, acting far more like villains than superheroes. The Justice League, meanwhile, has broken apart, its members scattered to the wind. Green Lantern guards the Earth from a lonely perch on the moon, Wonder Woman has been exiled from Themyscira for her failure to better the world, and Batman is an embittered old man who broods in the darkness of his cave.
The worst is Superman. The world’s greatest hero retreated from it ten years ago, after the Joker killed Lois Lane and numerous other personnel at the Daily Planet. Before he could find him, Metropolis’s new “hero” Magog did, and killed the Clown Prince of Crime. The people loved him for it, lauded him as a hero in a way Superman could never be, and it shattered the Man of Steel’s spirit. He lost his greatest strength; his faith in humanity.
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The comic follows minister Norman McCay, who has inherited the prophetic abilities of Wesley Dodds, better known as the Sandman, as he guides and is guided by the angelic Spectre, who asks Norman to pass his judgement on the superheroes of the world. Dodds had a vision that the world would end by the actions of the world’s heroes, and the unlikely pair travel through visions of Superman as he recruits heroes to stand against the bloodthirsty tides of the new generation, and how every action tips the scales of the Earth closer to armageddon.
What Makes Kingdom Come The Best
This storyline is so much more than another superhero story. The heart of it tackles the very ideals of heroism and what it means to be set apart from others by being powerful or special. The entire comic is about humanity learning to live with beings beyond human, and those people learning to live with humanity. The crux of the conflict between Superman’s reformed Justice League and the violent new generation that refuses to be controlled or moralized to comes from all of them ultimately having thrown away their humanity.
The new heroes only care about showcasing their power, and Superman’s group has lost faith that they can inspire humanity. Similarly, humanity has lost faith in itself. One small anecdote that says so much about the world is that the Olympics were discontinued because nobody saw the point in testing the limits of human ability anymore. Humanity lives in constant fear of godlike beings and are just waiting for the final war between metahumans that will end them all. Superman, meanwhile the ultimate paragon of righteousness, begins to make more and more questionable choices in his desire to improve the world. Superman is trying to save the world, but he’s forgotten how. The world has lost faith.
One of the most powerful moments in the entire series is after Magog’s team accidentally caused nuclear fallout in Kansas, killing over a million people, because of their uber-violent methods. Superman found Magog trying desperately to repair the damage he’d done, and screamed and demanded to know how Superman could ever leave someone like him in charge of saving the world. Magog never knew how to save anyone, so when the time came for the world to rely on him he only knew how to make things worse. Now he finally realized exactly what he should have done, but only far too late.
Ultimately, the book makes the case that heroism is about standing up for people who need help using your extraordinary gifts, but not letting that separate you from them. The metahumans’ powers didn’t make them gods, it just let them act like them. This culminates in the perfect climax to this tale, where Superman puts the choice of saving the metahumans’ lives or letting humanity live without them on the Captain, Billy Batson. He is both superhero and civilian, god and mortal, so only he has the right to choose. And of course, Billy makes the only call there is. He sacrifices himself to save everyone he can, because being a hero isn’t about being a god, it’s about helping people who need it. Norman McCay proves that too by calming down the enraged Superman and reminding him that his greatest superpower was always his heart, and he only started to fail when he stopped listening to it.
Kingdom Come is special because it cuts through the facade that superheroing is often draped in. It calls out the edgy, gritty versions of heroes as missing the point and firmly and resolutely declares that being a hero is about being as human as possible. Humanity, a care for everyone, is the true core of what being a superhero is, and Kingdom Come reminds everyone of that. It’s easy to get lost in the terrifying notions of everyday life, to think that we’re on the path to the apocalypse with no way to stop, and let those thoughts weigh us down with despair. This comic tells us that those times may come, but we can build past them if we hold onto hope and let that human spirit guide us. We can all be heroes if we try, just like the heroes can all be their most human selves. So let’s celebrate this beautiful story that will always be important, and celebrate it even more when it turns thirty.
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