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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Every page is a beautiful painting that brings you into the world of Alex Ross. An exciting, politically-charged story, having you wonder who's in the right and who's in the wrong and what will become of Earth
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This story is VERY full of itself. The religious metaphors and themes are too on the nose for me. What was compelling was the sheer amount of detail and time given to thinking through generations of heroes. I spend a ton of time reading the extras that detailed the thought process behind characters with no speaking parts.
An semi-interesting premise that, in execution, did absolutely nothing for me. I get the significance but I personally didn't like it. Like, at all. :/ Okay, the art was pretty. Meh.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely want to reread! I think there is a lot more that can be mined from this with repeat readings.
No matter how many times I come back to this comic, I still find myself conflicted about it. I love Alex Ross' artwork and the premise for Mark Waid's story is so damn intriguing that I get sucked into Superman's epic battle to stop the Apocalypse and reengage with the world. That being said, I end up hating most of the characters in this book, most prominently Superman and Wonder Woman. (And I say that begrudgingly, since Waid has written one of my all-time favorite Superman comics.) So how can I be engrossed in a story where I hate characters Waid clearly wants me to love?
I'm not a hundred percent sure I can put my finger on the answer. I will say that this comic is a redemption story--everyone wants redemption now and again, so that's relatable enough--but pitching it on a global scale may be where Waid and Ross go wrong. By showing us such a large picture, where heroes act as chess pieces for the powers that be (a faithless minister and the ever-present Spectre watch them interact from the ether), it is hard to trace character choices from moment to moment, and thus hard to understand what Superman is actually DOING, and why it is considered morally gray, since we only get an eye's blink at his actions and move on over to some new crisis. Wrap this ambiguity up in a layer of odd philosophical discussions about responsibility that hint but never directly state what DC heroes have been responsible for, and you have a mess of a comic.
Yet these flaws are part of the reason I still enjoy this graphic novel. I love its epic scope and how many people get involved in a possibly world-ending situation. I also love the literary connections it draws between the wondrous horrors of Revelation and superheroes fighting--I'm pretty sure every normal person would see their fisticuffs as the pyrotechnic hysteria that Ross creates.
In the end, I feel like Kingdom Come contains the epic drama and sweep that I love in comics, where ridiculous things happen, but also wonderful, amazing things that remind you why you picked up these rags every week as a kid. But it also contains the flaws of many comics: the substitution of action for character choices and personal development. If you can withstand one thing and embrace the other, then Mark Waid's universe is worth a try, at least once.
I'm not a hundred percent sure I can put my finger on the answer. I will say that this comic is a redemption story--everyone wants redemption now and again, so that's relatable enough--but pitching it on a global scale may be where Waid and Ross go wrong. By showing us such a large picture, where heroes act as chess pieces for the powers that be (a faithless minister and the ever-present Spectre watch them interact from the ether), it is hard to trace character choices from moment to moment, and thus hard to understand what Superman is actually DOING, and why it is considered morally gray, since we only get an eye's blink at his actions and move on over to some new crisis. Wrap this ambiguity up in a layer of odd philosophical discussions about responsibility that hint but never directly state what DC heroes have been responsible for, and you have a mess of a comic.
Yet these flaws are part of the reason I still enjoy this graphic novel. I love its epic scope and how many people get involved in a possibly world-ending situation. I also love the literary connections it draws between the wondrous horrors of Revelation and superheroes fighting--I'm pretty sure every normal person would see their fisticuffs as the pyrotechnic hysteria that Ross creates.
In the end, I feel like Kingdom Come contains the epic drama and sweep that I love in comics, where ridiculous things happen, but also wonderful, amazing things that remind you why you picked up these rags every week as a kid. But it also contains the flaws of many comics: the substitution of action for character choices and personal development. If you can withstand one thing and embrace the other, then Mark Waid's universe is worth a try, at least once.
