Kingdom Come (graphic novel)

Wow. If I thought The Dark Knight Returns was good, I had another thing coming – though it’s Frank Miller and Alan Moore’s shadows that loom large over Mark Waid’s ambitious writing. Almost every good idea in Civil War was already done here, ten years ago, from superheroes being made accountable for their actions and prominent ‘good guys’ arguing over the methodology and morality of controlling others to just about every prominent character in the universe making an appearance – and some of the more dubious ones, too (like crises beginning with the detonation of a nuclear-powered metahuman). I’m far less well-versed with the DC universe than the Marvel one (it was info about Marvel vs DC comics that led me to this series), never having heard of Hawkman, struggling to remember Green Arrow is called Green Arrow and having no idea Captain Marvel was as powerful as he was, so most cameos were lost on me, but I knew enough to follow with ease. As in The Dark Knight Returns, Superman and Batman are now old, jaded, lost in a world not quite as simple as it used to be, and finding it difficult as always to cooperate. There is also a framing device that’s much more intimate than Miller’s talking heads – an old preacher made to watch events unfold, and it’s curiously impressive how easy it is to empathise with this old man, who after all does not get much time to be developed. Everything is presented more seriously, more realistically, more straightforwardly, and even if yes, nuclear warheads are a cliché that grates even in a comic where clichés like flying men in tights can be accommodated, I have to say I’ve seldom been more impressed by a limited series.

And oh, the art. The art, the art. Alex Ross has a true gift. I love manga-style art, and artists like Takeshi Obata are incredible, but they’re working within a pretty, hyper-real world that can be produced at speed, and it’s quite another experience to see truly amazing Western comic art.