The Kingdom Connection
It all started when he learned the Starman in the current Justice Society of America was that Starman, from the Mark Waid and Alex Ross magnum opus Kingdom Come, the one whose probably been blown all the way from kingdom come (no pun intended) and back by a UN nuke.
And then next issue, Wildcat’s son inexplicably transforms into . . . . well . . . a wildcat: one strikingly similar to his 
Kingdom Come counterpart.
And if that wasn’t enough, look to the two-page Countdown ads in virtually every other comic in the DCU. I first glanced over a cape-and-cowl figure, thinking it was Dr. Mid-Nite of the JSA. But it wasn’t.
It’s Red Robin. (Yes, the superhero! Geeze, why do you always have to go thinking about food!)
There are other, more subtle examples. Cyclone, for instance, the JSA’s newst member, and granddaugter of Ma Hunkel, was designed by Alex Ross himself to be the younger version of the one seen in Kingdom Come. And Roy Harper is (thankfully) Red Arrow instead of Arsenal.
In some ways, all of this is a good thing - setting up DC’s equivalent of “Days of the Future Past” - a gritty apocalyptic domain which is both always preventable yet always present in some shape or another.
But yet, I have to question some things. First, wasn’t elements of Infinite Crisis a retreading of Kingdom Come, with Checkmate representing a strictly human effort to contain the superhero community. Secondly, doesn’t superheroes taking sides against one another - chosing Batman or Superman - sound eeriely like Civil War - choosing Captain America or Iron Man. I’ve always thought the mini-series was influenced by Kingdom Come in some small way.
So, with this in mind, is there more to this Kingdom connection, and if so, is it as relevant as it was 10 years ago?
April 5th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I read Kingdom Come about a year ago and felt that it was eerily prophetic. It is probably the one book that brought me back to comics.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:46 am
I had similar feelings, Keith. I think I bought the book about a month or two after it came out in tradepaperback - around 1998-1999 - and it was also a really big comic experience for me. It was one of the books I’m going to file under my “I Wouldn’t Be Writing This If I Hadn’t Read . . .”
April 6th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I friggen lost my copy. ARGH.