Why You Should Read DC Comics' Kingdom Come

So I've just started getting into DC comics for the first time. And true to my nature, it is because of a video game; the recently released DC Injustice (which is an amazing game, by the way.) The first comic I looked for after falling in love with Aquaman's play-style (poke, poke, poke) was of course his own printed adventures. But what I found at Edward Mckay's Used Books and More was instead; Kingdom Come.

SHAZAM!

I'd seen posters and action figures from the series before and, again true to my nature, I was intrigued by the art style. So I picked it up for a paltry $7.50 and I've just finished reading it today. And let me tell you, it's given me more fuel for my own creative process where super-powered and/or magical beings are concerned in my writing than anything else I've read so far. Without giving too much away, it deals with the dichotomy of super-powered people and their human sides. What happens when you separate the two? After I'd read about the first chapter or so of the book, I was thinking about the obvious parallels to Marvel's Civil War. It's one side of good guys with some bad guys who are all for regulating super-people, vs the other side of good guys and bad guys who aren't. Of course that's watering it down a lot, and when you've read both you realize they go in very different directions.

Not THAT similar, but still good guy vs good guy

Whereas Civil War deals with freedom and how much of it you're willing to give up in exchange for security, Kingdom Come is more about our relationship as humans with the powers that be. In terms of storytelling and character creation, this book has helped me tremendously with ideas on how to design a character with fantastic abilities. I think the key is in rooting them as a human. Superman is Kryptonian by birth, but he's a country boy by his upbringing. Imagine if he came to Earth after a life of Kryptonian privilege? While I'm sure this has already been explored by writers in the past, I'm willing to bet that the strictly alien Kal-El wasn't as much of a hero as Clark Kent.

X-Rays, DRANK. Frost Breath, DRANK. 

All in all, Kingdgom Come has inspired a lot of new thought concerning my own characters that have been in incubation for years, as well as spurring me to explore the DC universe even further. One thing I like about it is that the capes and heroism aspect feels more played up than the Marvel I've read. I've seen so many gritty and relatively down-to-earth stories recently that seeing idealistic crusaders and all the juxtaposition that can go with it is fascinating. But that's another post for another day. In short, read Kingdom Come, you won't be sorry.