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Mild Mannered Reviews - JSA Comics

Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman #1 Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman #1

Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman #1

Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 12, 2008

Cover date: January 2009

"Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman"

Writer: Alex Ross
Artist: Alex Ross

Neal Bailey Reviewed by: Neal Bailey

Click to enlarge



The Superman of Kingdom Come ponders his fate as a destroyer, and finds himself punching the New Earth Superman, wondering how he became a bad guy.

Cyclone speaks with the Kingdom Superman (earlier) and he explains the fate of his world. She tells him it sounds like something out of the Book of Revelations, and that sets Superman out to find Norman McKay's analogue on New Earth.

He finds McKay, but McKay offers no real special insight beyond not giving up hope.

As Superman mulls this, he sees a green cloud going off inside the Daily Planet. Suddenly panicked, he rushes there only to find Luthor goons, who he dispatches in a violent manner, almost too violent, until the New Earth Superman shows up to ask him what's wrong. Kingdom Superman accidentally punches New Earth Superman (from the opening). Coming to his senses, he apologizes and leaves.

At the JSA mansion Lois appears, and KC Superman relives the death of Lois at the hands of the Joker. She asks him how long it's been since he was Clark, and he indicates that Clark died when Lois did, and will never return.

5Story - 5: It doesn't really add anything to the overall plot, and yes, it's perhaps fanservice, but what a piece it is, honestly. It hits the key notes of what makes being Superman hard, and what makes him such a tragic figure when he fails. In short, everything that was good about Kingdom Come.

The idea of Joker killing a Lois defiant to the last is extraordinarily compelling, as is the idea of finding the McKay of New Earth and seeing how the ordinary people differ in small ways. Primo stuff.

5Art - 5: Alex Ross doing Kingdom Come. Do I have to say anything else, really? But a special compliment for producing probably the most gorgeous Lois I have seen in some time, if not the most gorgeous Lois I've ever seen in sequence.

2Cover Art (Red) - 2: Compelling image, but alas, it suffers from that stark, very monocolor lighting trend that has been hitting Ross' work lately. Imagine this scene in normal coloring, and you'll see why it upsets me.

3Cover Art (Green) - 3: Well drawn, and symbolically representative of the story, but at the same time diabolically corny.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2009

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