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itsnotalakeitsanocean's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I've been meaning to read this for years and now that I've got the chance... I don't really know what to think about it to be honest. Admittedly this might be partly due to the fact I'm a filthy casual when it comes to DC Comics, but also I feel like in the wake of The New 52, several ideas bought up in Kingdom Come were expanded upon in several books for better or (usually) worse.
What I liked:
What I liked:
- The art is absolutely breathtaking and mostly holds up to this day (Wonder Woman's questionable outfit and a few other background characters' outfits aside). Characters are appropriately expressive and the artist does a superb job of making characters with all manner of designs feel like a coherent part of a universe.
- The scale of the tragedy at the very beginning is done with an appropriate level of terror and sombreness that doesn't veer into melodrama - something that would be very easy to do considering how wacky some superheroes and their stories can get.
What I didn't like:
- Not being a religious person myself, I think the Christian aspects are a bit heavy handed at times. I can see why one would want to compare the Christian God to superheroes - particularly in their way of passing judgment through superhuman feats that normal humans are incapable of - but all it really amounted to was "look at these gods among men and despair as they fail the next generation of heroes!"
What is up with making Superman build a gulag? If anything I thought it would be Batman to be the one to do such a thing, not the guy that's supposed to be an allegory for immigrants coming to seek the American Dream whilst fixing problems within the system. I understand he was doing it to try and reform anti-heroes that caused more harm than good, but it still rubs me the wrong way Superman would be the one to do it. In hindsight, I'm kind of baffled why Lex Luthor would have let Batman roam freely among his cronies without suspecting something would be up. I definitely didn't see Batman's double crossing coming, but you would have thought if Luthor was so intent on keeping Shazam under his mind control, he would take steps to prevent Batman from getting too close?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, and Genocide
huntersrl's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, War, and Violence
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