Kingdom Come Annotations: Fourth/Final Draft

[jnevins]

this will be the last draft I do before issue #2 comes out. Y'all can
send me corrections & additions, of course, but I doubt I'll be reposting
another draft - not unless I get a lot of new information....anyhow, enjoy!

Kingdom Come Annotations

(corrections and additions are of course welcome)

Cover According to Mark Waid, the cover to this, the first
issue of _Kingdom Come_, is filled with the bad new heroes who
have forgotten, or never knew, what real heroism is like.
Let's call them the Image Idiots.
First row: Johnny Thunder, Laibach, Thunderbolt, 666,
Harlequin, Catwoman, Spectre, Captain Atom, Trix.
Second Row: "Der Sandmann" (my name for him), Swastika,
"Checkmate" (my name for him), Nightstar, Cathedral, Sunburst,
Stripesy, Katana, Magog, Huntress.
Third Row: Tusk, Shiva, Judomaster, Nuculoid, Demon
Damselle, Manotaur, Kabuki.
Last Row: Buddha, Mr. Terrific, nameless robot (see page
11 below), Pinwheel, Star-Spangled Kid, "Chain mail" (my name
for him), and Nil8.
Captain Atom appears on the cover to have his eyes
closed; could this be symbolic in some way of his quick death
in this issue? If so, perhaps we should be looking for
figures on the covers of the next three issues who have their
eyes closed, as well.
Demon Damselle, by the way, is visually based on Ruth
Morrison, Alex Ross' girlfriend.
Corrections to the previous cover annotations are
courtesy the folks who spoke to Mr. Waid at a signing, and the
very-pleasant Mr. Ross, to whom I was lucky enough to speak.

p 1 Quotes from Revelation 8:5. Waid and Ross are starting us off
with a reference to the book of the Bible which describes the
end of the world - not a good omen, and not the last time we
see implications of a bad ending for the world of _Kingdom
Come_.
The following quotes and interpretations of the Biblical
references are verbatim courtesy of Anthony (sorry, I didn't
get your last name):

"The eagle symbolism used with Superman:"
"In the book of Revelation, the eagle represents the
`power and swiftness of divine help.' In a larger sense, the
eagle is the symbol used for St. John (who wrote Revelation).
They (Catholics) use this symbol in referring to St. John
because his gospel focuses on Christ's divine and Heavenly
nature. In other parts of the Bible, eagles are also used to
represent the rise towards Heaven. `I will raise you up on
eagles' wings' from the Old Testament (Isiah XL 31) is an
example of this."

"there were voices:"
"St. John refers to hearing voices *many* times...these
voices represent the souls of the martyrs begging God to take
vengeance out on the world for its sins."

"...and thunderings, and lightnings..." and "And there
followed hail and fire mingled with blood:"
"These are probably meant to be taken literally. These
are natural disasters that God will use to punish people.
Throughout the Bible, natural disasters were a sign of God's
displeasure. The fire refers back to the Old Testament. In the
book of Genesis, after the flood, God tells Noah that He will
not destroy the earth again with water, but the next time with
fire." (this is also echoed in the verses old spiritual hymn:
"God gave Noah the rainbow sign: no more water, the fire next
time." This was in turn used for the title of James Baldwin's
book, _The Fire Next Time_)

"... and an earthquake:"
"Earthquakes are used to represent God's presence, such
as in the Gospels when Jesus dies, there are earthquakes
mentioned." (notably the earthquake which rocked Hell, as seen
in Dante's _Inferno_)

p 2 Quotes from Revelation 8:7, 10.
Andrew: "There fell a great star from Heaven, burning as
if it were a lamp...:"
"In Revelation, it says the name of the star is
`Wormwood'. Wormwood is a bitter plant, and is used to
represent God's punishment. Revelation also mentions other
falling stars, which refer to the fallen angels. Could these
`fallen angels' be the fallen super heroes?"

p 3 Quotes from Revelation 8:13.

p 4 This is our introduction to the main narrator, Norman McCay,
who is a new figure, introduced in _Kingdom Come_; he is to be
our Everyman guide through this DC dystopia. Alex Ross on
McCay: "Norman McCay is just simply what my dad looks like, a
figure who might well have been around for every age of the
superhero."
Norman McCay's name is also an homage to Winsor McCay,
the great artist of the classic comic strip _Little Nemo in
Slumberland_.
The aged man McCay is talking to - Wesley - is, as we
shall see, Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, one of DC's
earliest heroes - note his mentioning that "the sands run
out." Wesley was driven by dreams, as shown in _Sandman
Mystery Theater_, to fight crime - but his dreams have turned
here into Biblical-driven nightmares. Or, just maybe,
premonitions from God, or the Spectre...
As Wesley is getting out his old Sandman hat, he looks,
as Mark Coale points out, like William S. Burroughs.
Wesley is quoting here from Revelation 10:3.
Jonathan Woodward points out the cracked Lexcorp Building
over Norman's shoulder; it matches the damaged skyline of the
city, and is another indication that the effect of all the
superhumans on the society of _Kingdom Come_ is a dire one.
Anthony, on Wesley's "seven thunders" quote:
"Seven thunders will utter their voices..."
"This refers to the anti-Christ. The number seven
probably refers to the first beast in Revelation, which had
seven heads `each containing insulting names to God.' The
seven heads refer to the seven Roman emperors, and the names
are the names of these emperors. They are revolting to God,
because they claimed to be deities, and had people refer to
them with such titles as `our lord and god.' Interestingly,
this beast is supposed to rise out of the sea, and on the page
2 we see what looks like an arm coming out of the water
holding a lightning bolt."

p 5 Panel 2 is what the GA Sandman looked like in costume, for
those of you who've never seen him. As Scott Casteel caught,
but I somehow missed, Wesley is seeing the doctor and nurse as
the Sandman, with the same red tone as the dream images.
Panel 5 - the horned, winged figure landing on the
rooftop is Demon Damselle.
Wesley is quoting, in panel 1, from Revelation 11:3.
Anthony says, regarding this: "Who these two witnesses are is
still being debated by theologians. It could refer to two Old
Testament prophets, St. Peter and St. Paul, or it could be
symbolic of the Church as a whole. The reason there are two of
them, though, is because in the Gospels Jesus always sent out
the Apostles in groups of two to witness to the faith. Also,
at the time Revelation was written, you needed two witnesses
to prove that something was true."

p 6 Andrew Lannen points out that, in panel 1, you can just make
out a man with a white streak in his red hair standing near a
small gravestone marked "Corrigan." That is, of course, Jim
Corrigan - aka the Spectre - who we'll see again, in a few
pages. (It might also be Jason Blood, the human half of the
demon (and DC anti-hero) Etrigan - but it makes more sense
thematically for it to be Corrigan) Corrigan's presence here
also fits, as Loki Carbis pointed out, as he is, most likely,
the last surviving member of the Justice Society.
Note the Hall of Justice, from the _Superfriends_ tv
cartoon, in the picture on the front page of the Daily Planet.

p 7 In panel 4 we get a nice homage by the authors to three comic
book characters and their books: _Alternate Egos_, by John Law
- aka the Golden Age hero The Tarantula; _Behind the Mask_, by
Jessie Chambers - daughter of the Golden Age heroes Johnny
Quick and Liberty Belle, and a heroine in her own right in the
pages of Mr. Waid's current book, _The Flash_; and _Under the
Hood_, by Hollis Mason - aka the Golden Age Nite Owl from _The
Watchmen_.
As Scott Hollified (my inspiration for annotations) has
pointed out, the original title of John Law's book was "Alter
Egos."
If this is all taking place twenty years in the future,
then that poster of the alterni-pop singer Bjork (ex-
frontwomen of the Sugarcubes) in panel 3 must be really,
really old. Loki points out that the Bjork poster here is the
same one that was used to promote her song "Violently Happy."
Given the Image-like heroes we see here, that title is
entirely appropriate.
Note also in panel 2 - you can _just_ make out the "Who
Watches The Watchmen?" graffiti - the quote of the Roman
satirist Juvenal that was so central to Alan Moore's
_Watchman_ series.
Alex Tam points out that the statue of Lady Justice in
panel 3 seems to have fallen into "Knight's Past," the store
of Jack Knight (from _Starman_ fame); Alex notes that the
symbol above the door to the store is quite similar to the
symbol Jack Knight wears on his jacket, and that the store has
a turret, which evokes images of the past and of knights.
Also in panel 2, as Bern Walker points out, is a set of
kanji - a reference to the anime _Tenchi Muyou_. The phrase
can be translated as "Heaven and earth are useless," which is
quite apropos to the themes of the story so far.
Mark Stephenson points out that the "Buy Me!" messages on
the laptops might be a reference to John Carpenter's film
"They Live."
The signed ball in the shop window, from the last World
Series in 2002, symbolizes, as Donald MacPherson notes, that
this future is much bleaker; few things are as synonymous with
innocence and American pride as baseball. I just hope that
the Red Sox won it in `02; New England can't survive otherwise
<G>.

p 8 Those figures on the billboard around the Planet Krypton are:
Batman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, Flash, Lobo,
and Marvin. All are drawn exactly like Alex Toth's character
designs from the early _Superfriends_ cartoon, and are done in
cartoon style, suggesting how this current generation sees the
older, more traditional heroes. As Dave Van Domelen points
out, putting Marvin (in some ways the epitome of harmless
superheroic fun) next to Lobo (the epitome of the violent,
amoral new breed of "hero") is a disturbing juxtaposition.
The rocket on the Planet Krypton sign is the Golden Age,
pale-blue/silver rocket seen in Action Comics #1.
Note the poster in panel 4 - the cover of Batman #1.
The smirking waiter is, of course, dressed like the
Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. As we see on the next
page, even the waiter doesn't know who he's supposed to be
dressed like - and Hal Jordan was one of the best and noblest
of the Silver Age's heroes. This is not a very enjoyable
future.

p 9 More of those waiters, dressed like Captain Marvel, Supergirl,
Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Carrie Kelly Robin from _Dark
Knight Returns_, and the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen (but in
the costume of the Flash of the _Legends of the Superheroes_
television show from the 1970s). The costumes, though, are
just a little bit off - faux heroes inside Planet Krypton to
match the faux heroes outside.
Planet Krypton is clearly meant to be a riff on Planet
Hollywood; Jason Langlois also notes that Ron Perleman, part
owner of the Marvel Entertainment Group, has "a deal with
Planet Hollywood to develop and open a line of restaurants
themed on Marvel Superhero characters."
That costumed mannequin in the vacuum tube looks like
Batman - but the Adam West Batman of the 1960s television
show, rather than a Batman that has ever appeared in any
comics.
Note the old DC logo - or, as Sean MacDonald says, Johnny
DC's body - to the right of the Batarang.
Those two kids cavorting on the screen above the room are
Sugar and Spike, two long-time DC figures. Hanging from the
ceiling are the GA Batplane and the rocket in which Superman,
as a child, was rocketed to Earth - the rocket here is the
dark blue, 1970s Earth-1 design. And on the near wall in the
upper left is one of Batman's batarangs and Green Arrow's bow
and boxing glove arrow.
The "Bea" asking for Booster Gold would appear to be the
Beatriz DaCosta, aka Fire, from the Giffen Justice League.
It's typical of Booster Gold, a somewhat mercenary hero at his
best, to own a place like the Planet Krypton, which seems to
be a soulless merchandizing/selling-out of the Silver Age
heroic tradition.
David A. Carr notes that all the lanterns in Planet
Krypton are green. Ed Mathews points out that the salt shaker
on the table that the Carrie Kelly Robin is taking an order at
is a figure of either Doll Man or Superman. Dean Velasco
points out that the "Green Lantern" here has his ring on his
left hand - the Hal Jordan Green Lantern always wore the ring
on the right hand. And Scott Casteel notes that the bowls
used are replicas of Jay Garrick's Flash helmet.

p 10 More cool/kitsch points to Mr. Waid for including Turtle Olsen
in panel 2. In the modern series Jimmy was briefly a
children's tv hero - "Turtle Boy" - a la the Power Rangers,
which is what is being shown on-screen. Of course, I prefer
to believe that Waid is hearkening back to Olsen's original,
Silver Age incarnation as Turtle Olsen; as Scott Hollifield
pointed out, this idea is reinforced by the on-screen Turtle
Olsen menacing a bridge, which he originally did back in the
1960s.
The hotel in the background of panel 2 is the "Siegel" -
a reference to Superman creator Jerry Siegel.
Tony PI notes that the Chinese ideograms underneath
Turtle Olsen in panel 2 read "done" or "finished."
Panel 3 has a sign with the name "Barta," which could be
a possible reference to the writer Hilary Barta.
As Thomas Howard caught, there's a flyer for the
alternative band XTC on the telephone pole in panel 3.
The Steve Darnall movie marquee is a reference to the
former editor for Hero magazine who is now a freelance writer;
thanks to Johanna Draper for clearing this puzzle up.

p 11 Big Fight Scene #1. This page introduces us to the new breed
of superhumans; their fight here doesn't seem to have much
purpose, and is quite destructive - but that's the whole
point, of course. They are:
The new Star-Spangled Kid (the flying African-American
with the glowing rod and the blue kerchief). The original SSK
was a Golden Age hero who with his older sidekick Stripesy
fought crime in the 1940s and was a part of the short-lived
Justice Society of America imitators the Seven Soldiers of
Victory. SSK later took Starman's cosmic rod, and still later
used a "cosmic converter belt" and took the identity of
Skyman; he was eventually killed in action. The new Star-
Spangled Kid, you'll note, is using the cosmic rod and wearing
the cosmic converter belt - and both his kerchief and armband
are spangled with stars. Doug Limmer also points out that the
_Kingdom Come_ SSK has an upside down American Flag on his
shirt - more symbolism.
Manotaur - the minotaur figure with the gun. This is one
of the new characters for _Kingdom Come_.
Nuculoid - the glowing blue figure wrestling with the big
robot. Another character introduced here; Alex Ross' comment
is "I made this one up when I was 11. Be kind."
Sunburst - the red-and-white costumed figure flying and
leaving a flaming trail behind him. Sunburst is the Japanese
solar-powered hero. His costume here, though, is new. This
is to be an ongoing theme in _Kingdom Come_; the costumes of
the heroes and villains have changed, to reflect the darker
times.
The flying women with flowing black hair is Nightstar -
the daughter of Nightwing (aka Robin) and Starfire, from the
Teen Titans. She seems to have received their approach to
battle but none of their sense of responsibility.
The man with the gun, running next to Nuculoid, is
Stripesy, the sidekick to the new Star-Spangled Kid.
The winged, "thorned" woman shooting lightning at
Manotaur is the _Kingdom Come_ version of the GA Johnny
Thunder's T-Bolt.
The figure in black body armor and white hair shooting at
Sunburst is Trix, a new character made up for _Kingdom Come_.
The giant robot with the two long horns is, according to
Alex Ross, "just a robot." He can also be seen on the
backcover, next to the new Mr. Terrific.
The man getting out of the truck would seem to be, as
Eric Fritzius notes, Reginald Denny, perhaps the most famous
victim of the L.A. riots/revolt.

p 12 Thomas Howard points out that the Manotaur being shot through
a window, beneath a sign reading "Golden," is a nice allusion
to the Golden Calf; in Biblical terms, the Golden Calf is
money - or, more explicitly, the golden calf made by Aaron
when Moses was absent on Mount Sinai, in Exodus 23, and
worshipped by the people.

p 13 The laughing man in panel 4 is 666, a new character made up
for _Kingdom Come_.

p 14 Note the poor woman in panel 1 who's just been shot in the
eye. In any real world with violent superhumans, bystanders
would constantly be getting injured in this way.
Unfortunately, we're going to be seeing a lot of this sort of
"collateral damage" in _Kingdom Come_.
The "Secret Asian Man" on the billboard in panel 1 is a
riff on the Patrick McGoohan series "Secret Agent Man," the
supposed prequel to "The Prisoner;" Lance Smith points out
that "Secret Asian Man" was in turn a comic strip in _The
Comics Journal_ based on a Chicago comic book store owner.
Marc Singer wonders how the car that Manotaur is lifting
in Panel 1 - with the license plane 28IF - made it to America,
as the last time it was seen was on the cover of the Beatles
"Abbey Road" album. Kudos to Marc for catching this, and to
Ross for putting it in there.
Eric Fritzius points out the man taking pictures in panel
2, just to the left of Sunburst's head. As Eric points out,
this might well be an allusion to one of the main characters
in _Marvels_, Alex Ross' first major project.

p 15 The big bulletin board the superhumans are looking at is from
the Daily Planet - the main newspaper of Metropolis, of
course, and the one at which Superman's secret identity, Clark
Kent, worked at. In this future time they've apparently gone
high-tech and developed video-broadcast capabilities. What
we're seeing on the board is the sad news of the Bad Thing
that has happened in Kansas. A Very Bad Thing, indeed. Donald
MacPherson also speculates that "the Planet's conversion to a
broadcast medium could be Waid's small comment on the state of
the newspaper industry at present."
Note that the brandname of the board is "Sonny" - a
futuristic variant on Sony, perhaps.

p 16 There's a sad irony in Norman McCay's sermon here; he's
preaching from the Book of Revelation (8:7, 9:2), and what
he's saying parallels the Bad Thing that took place in Kansas.
Anthony adds that "the natural disasters described are again
supposed to be taken literally. Two of the disasters (hail and
no more green grass) refer back to the plagues of Egypt. The
`no more green grass' is symbolic of the locusts that eat all
of the crops and cause famine." It also has resonance with the
results of the Kansas Incident.
Although the figures in panels 3 and 4 look like George
and Barbara Bush, Alex Ross says that any resemblance is
purely coincidental.
As Johanna Draper points out, there are few people in the
church, and they're all older; this is a parallel to what is
happening to many churches today, and to the loss of faith in
superheroes among the young of _Kingdom Come_.

p 17 McCay's ripping up of the pages of his Bible, in panels 3 and
6, doesn't forebode well; if a man of the cloth can undergo
such a severe attack of doubt, to the point where he's
literally destroying his Bible, something is obviously deeply
wrong.
Bill Jennings points out that the name of Pastor McCay's
church is "Gethsemane Evangelical," as we can see in panel 1.
This would fit with McCay's attack of doubt and anguish;
Gethsemane was the garden outside Jerusalem mentioned in Mark
14 that was the scene of Jesus' agony and arrest; McCay's
"betrayal" of his congregation somewhat mirrors Judas'
betrayal of Jesus.

p 18 Enter the Spectre. Another Golden Age hero, the Spectre was
originally Jim Corrigan, a policeman killed in the line of
duty. But rather than go to Heaven, he was told by a Voice
that his mission on Earth was not finished, and that he was to
return and fight evil. In the decades since then he was
evolved and become the manifestation of God's judgment and
wrath.
As a few people have pointed out, the Spectre is naked
here, missing his traditional shorts and boots; this might be
a parallel to Dr. Manhattan's nakedness in _Watchman_.
Also, the Spectre's actions in the church scene appear to
echo the stained glass windows of the church. Andrew says, of
this: "The window that he (the Spectre) walks through is
depicting the Agony in the Garden. This could represent the
fact that we all will `go through' temptation, trials, and
tribulations. Also, the Agony in the Garden is where Jesus
says, `Not My will, but Your will be done.' This is referenced
in one of the Kingdom Come ads that states, `Whose will be
done?'"


p 19 The Spectre says, in panel 4, "long ago, I would have judged
swiftly, with clarity...but my faculties are not what they
once were." This somewhat mirrors the Spectre's history; he
has had his powers increased and decreased at various times,
going from being nearly omnipotent to being simply very
powerful.
Dave Van Domelen speculates that his depowering is not
random, but meant to "reflect the idea that even the Wrath of
God has been weakened by the evil of the times. The loss of
faith has had effects from the mundane to the cosmic." It
will be interesting to see if this theory pans out, although
I'd guess that when this Spectre punishes those responsible
for the coming Armageddon, he's going to do is in a forceful,
powerful manner.
The Spectre's conversation with McCay is counterpointed
by the picture, in the background, of Jesus talking with -
someone. The figure raising his/her hand might be Thomas, who
doubted Jesus' resurrection, but it looks - to my eyes, anyhow
- more like a woman, which would make it Mary Magdalene, most
faithful and penitent of Jesus' followers.
Note the gleam in the Spectre's eye in panel 5. It's a
skull. -Not- a good sign.


p 20 The Spectre originally came for Wesley Dodds. I'm glad that
Mr. Waid gives Wesley respect in this manner; as has been
endlessly reiterated on the DC newsgroup, the Golden Age
heroes of DC have not generally been treated well - which
makes every instance of them being given some dignity and
respect that much more important.

p 21 Norman McCay says "I see a midwestern farmland...but that's
not--possible." Obviously, whatever it was that happened in
Kansas was really, really bad.
As a number of folks, Alan Turniasky among them, have
pointed out, the shot of Superman here, with the beard,
turned-down left hand, and plank behind his shoulder, are all
reminiscent of Jesus on the Cross. Given the overwhelming
Biblical imagery in _Kingdom Come_, that isn't coincidental.
Neither, I think, is it a coincidence that we see Kal-el here
as a carpenter - Jesus' occupation. Finally, Michael Denton
points out that we can see three spikes sticking out of Kal-
el's pocket - a reference, perhaps, to the three spikes used
to crucify Christ.
William H. Sudderth, among other people, points out that
Superman's pose in panel 3 is very similar to his pose on the
cover of Action #1.

p 22 Superman has obviously aged somewhat here; he is much closer
in appearance to the original, later Earth-2, Superman than to
the Superman of today's DC.
We begin to get some of _Kingdom Come_'s back-history
here. Superman began his "self-imposed exile" after a "trial"
of some kind; we'll get more on this later.
The menagerie of animals on this page - a cat (sitting on
the hay bales in the barn), horse, dog, and a grinning monkey
peeking from behind a horse's legs - are Alex Ross' hommage to
the Silver Age Superman's Legion of Superpets - Streaky,
Comet, Krypto and Beppo, respectively. The dog in panel 3
particularly looks like Krypto.
Thomas Howard points out that Superman, lifting the
tractor, could be taken as another allusion to the cover of
_Action Comics_ #1.

p 23 Enter Wonder Woman; she looks a little older, and costumed
somewhat differently, than we're used to - but it's still
Wonder Woman, one of DC's major icons.
According to a Ross interview, this Wonder Woman has her
immortality back. Ross also said that Wonder Woman's
loincloth is meant to hearken back to the GA Wonder Woman's
skirt.
I found the panel of Krypto licking Superman's face
particularly gratifying; Krypto is long since gone, but some
of us still remember him with fondness.
Note Wonder Woman's line in panel 4 - "you can't live
forever in solitude." As we'll soon see, this line cuts two
ways; Superman can't live alone and apart from the world
forever - and he can't live here, in the Fortress of Solitude,
either.
Panel 5, where Wonder Woman is moving the strand of hair
out of Kal-el's face, is a very nice touch. Have I mentioned
how wonderful this book looks yet?
Also note that in panel 5 Kal-el says, "Earthlings die.
You know that." with the "die" and "you" being in boldface.
I take this implication to mean that, in the _Kingdom Come_
future, Wonder Woman's long-time lover, Steve Trevor, has
died.
Diana and Kal speak of "him," with Kal denying that he's
afraid of "him." Luthor? Mxyzptlk? Braniac? Nope - someone
potentially worse - Magog, who we'll meet later.
"They were your parents, Cla--Kal. And she was your
wife." We knew that Ma and Pa Kent were bound to die -
originally, before Crisis, they were dead before Superman
began fighting crime. But Kal's wife, Lois Lane? Again,
whatever happened to drive Superman away from Metropolis, it
must have been quite sad - sad enough to make him give up his
Clark Kent identity and become Kal-el again.
The "here, things grow" line is obviously meant to be
important. Here as opposed to where? Rural heartland America,
where Clark Kent grew up, as opposed to Metropolis? Isn't
Metropolis the city of hope? Something _bad_ must have
happened. In fact, the Event in Kansas is a symbolic slap at
Superman; he's from somewhere very like Kansas (in post-Crisis
DC, his hometown of Smallville is in fact in Kansas), and the
new breed of superhumans destroyed it.

p 24 Wonder Woman reveals that we aren't actually in the heartland,
but in Superman's Fortress of Solitude, his Arctic (Antarctic,
post-Crisis) keep and hideaway. This is a new and interesting
twist on the Fortress of Solitude; it has traditionally been
shown as a literal fortress in the side of a cliff, somewhat
cold and antiseptic, but this Fortress seems closer to
Miracleman's vast London Pyramid. William H. Sudderth adds
that the post-Crisis Fortress of Solitude was underground.
The holographic technology used here seems to be quite
similar to the "holodeck" used in _Star Trek: The Next
Generation_.
As the keen-eyed Donald MacPherson notes, all of the
doors in the Fortress of Solitude are shaped like Superman's
emblem.
"He's out of control." Magog, it seems, has become the
symbolic leader of the new breed - in much the same way that
Superman was the symbolic leader of the original heroes.
Unfortunately, Magog is no Superman - quite the reverse.
To quote Benet's _Reader's Encyclopedia_: "Gog and Magog:
In British legend, the sole survivors of a monstrous brood,
the offspring of the thirty-three infamous daughters of the
Emperor Diocletian, who murdered their husbands, and, being
set adrift in a ship, reached Albion, where they fell in with
a number of demons. Their descendants, a race of giants, were
extirpated by Brute (the mythological first king of the
Britons) and his companions, with the excpetion of Gog and
Magog, who were brought in chains to London and were made to
do duty as porters of the royal palace, on the site of the
London Guildhall, where their effigies have been at least
since the reign of Henry V. The old giants were destroyed in
the Great Fire, and the present ones, fourteen feet high, were
carved in 1708 by Richard Saunders.
"In the Bible, Magog is spoken of as a son of Japhet
(Genesis x. 2), in the Revelation Gog and Magog symbolize all
future enemies of the kingdom of God; and in Ezekial Gog is a
prince of Magog, a terrible ruler of a country in the north,
probably Scythia or Armenia. By rabbinical writers of the 7th
century AD Gog was identified with the Antichrist."
Additionally, note the white right eye and scars around
the right eye of Magog; Marvel's Cable also has these
features, and is another exemplar of the violent, Image-like
heroes that Waid and Ross are implicitly attacking in _Kingdom
Come_.

p 25 The statue of Jor-el and Lara, holding up the planet Krypton,
were parts of the post-Crisis Fortress of Solitude. The
Kryptonian Battlesuit and orange Servitor Robot are from the
post-Crisis Fortress of Solitude. The T-Rex robot is another
feature of the pre-Crisis Fortress of Solitude. The super-
large journal in the background is also a part of the pre-
Crisis Fortress; Superman writes his adventures in the journal
in Kryptonian. Also, we can see the bottle city of Kandor next
to the statue of Lara and Jor-el.

p 26 The word balloons here are various newscasts in Spanish,
Korean, Portuguese, Italian, French and German; in order, they
are saying, "The world is shocked by these horrible acts"
(Spanish), "Tragedy in America" (Korean), "American by the
name of Magog" (French), "fierce brutality of Magog"
(Italian), "We have learned that Magog has endangered"
(German).
Note also that the Spanish is Anglicized.
We see, in various panels:
A shot of the famous painting American Gothic - a subtle,
dark commentary on a "typical" American farming couple.
A shot of four heroes: The Question, Peacemaker, Peter
Cannon, and the Blue Beetle. All four are heroes from the
Charlton line of comics who were later purchased by DC. Peter
Cannon, however, is dressed in the costume of the Golden Age
character Daredevil; Alex Ross said that this was done "just
because I wanted an excuse to draw Daredevil's costume." As
well, Peacemaker here has some similarity to Boba Fett, from
the _Star Wars_ movies - perhaps a further commentary by
Waid/Ross on how Peacemaker in particular has evolved?
A shot of the new Judomaster next to Peter
Cannon/Daredevil. The original Judomaster was a World War Two
hero from Charlton; this new Judomaster is a woman, and is
wearing a jacket/vest which was absent from the first
Judomaster's costume.
Our first view of Magog. Say, isn't he in an Image
comic? :-) (as Elayne says, I just gave away the whole point
of the series. Oh well (-: )
A shot of Captain Atom, an atomic-powered character who
was originally a Charlton hero but was later bought by DC; he
became the most prominent of the (formerly-) Charlton heroes,
and nearly became the evil villain-from-the-future Monarch.
He's in a new costume here, one that combines his original red
and yellow colors and his more recent silver/chrome look.
Jonathan Woodward speculates that the deliberate grouping
of the Charlton heroes together might be another reference to
the _Watchmen_, whose heroes were originally based on the
Charlton characters. Still another _Watchmen_ reference here,
as Alan Turniasky points out, is the lone figure watching the
bank of television screens - quite similar to Ozymandias in
_Watchmen_. However, I'm certain that the idea of exposure to
several tv screens at once as a way of receiving mass input
predates _Watchmen_; it might be either from Marshall McLuhan
or from William S. Burroughs.
A shot of large metal figure saving Magog from a blast -
we'll learn more of him later.
Several people have speculated on the possible identities
of the various news anchors: Walter Cronkite, Carroll
O'Connor, and perhaps even Vic Sage, aka The Question.

p 27 Big Fight Scene #2. As the television narrator tells us, it's
Magog and his "Justice Battalion" vs the Parasite.
The Justice Battalion is clearly the successor to the
Justice League. Note the word choice - "Justice Battalion."
The "Justice Society" and "Justice League" have a somewhat
civil tone to them. The "Justice Battalion" is much harder-
edged - fitting for this Dark New World Mr. Waid has created,
but a sad step down from the Silver Age. (gregg and Mark Coale
both point out that the JSA, once upon a time during the
second World War, _was_ the Justice Battalion. Magog
seemingly believes that his heroes are at war with their
opposition - quite a difference from the old, Silver Age
Justice League). Dan Shoemaker also points out that "the
characterization of the Justice Battalion as ruthless and
fearsome has resonances with the dream-universe JLA depicted
in Dan Jurgens' run on the book" from a few years back.
The Justice Battalion apparently consists of: Peacemaker
(in new costume), Peter Cannon (in Daredevil costume), new
Judomaster, Magog (as Alex Ross notes, "giving him a gold
metal motif and huge ram horns was intended to give a sense of
pagan idolatry like a golden calf." Again, more Biblical
symbolism at work here), Captain Atom, Nightshade (another
Charlton character), and the tall figure in metal. They are
facing off against the Parasite, one of Superman's deadliest
enemies and a superhuman capable of draining the life and
powers out of anyone. Here, though, he's "weakened" - rather
than being big, strong, and purple/green/orange, his
musculature and veins are visible - perhaps he's been reduced
to feeding on his own life-force?
The Parasite is seen here as "fearful" - one more note
that these superhumans are _not_ the heroes that we know and
admire. The bad guys were never really afraid of the Justice
League, even though they knew they'd be beaten. This Justice
Battalion, however, seems to be somewhat more deadly - as the
narrator notes, they ignored the Parasite's pleas for mercy.
This seems out of character for Captain Atom, Nightshade,
Judomaster and Peter Cannon, but it's a new age, and these
aren't the heroes we knew.
More backhistory: "Magog--one of the new breed of heroes,
known to many as the one responsible for Superman's farewell
to Metr--" Perhaps Magog was responsible for the death of
Lois Lane?
The Parasite lays hands on Captain Atom in panel 3, which
gives him Captain Atom's powers - this is how he can blast
Captain Atom so badly in panel 4. And, like Wonder Man being
cracked open in _The Last Avengers Story_, breaking open a
nuclear-powered man just isn't a good idea, as we're about to
see.

p 28 Chernobyl, USA. Hundreds of thousands dead, a panicked world
economy, global famine...oy. When Waid and Ross go for broke,
they don't play around.
The tall metal figure we saw on pages 12 and 13 is
identified here as "the Metal Man Alloy." The Metal Men were
a group of robots, created by Dr. Will Magnus, that were each
made out of a different element - Lead, Mercury, Tin, etc.
Alloy seems to be, as the word implies, a combination of all
of them - hence his size and multi-colored costume, as well as
the element mark on his forehead, which all of the Metal Men
also had. David Goldfarb notes that Alloy's appearance is
somewhat similar to the element hero Metamorpho. Jonathan
Woodward points out that Gold is dead as of 1996 and that one
of Alloy's arms is gold colored; this could be a mistake on
Waid/Ross' part, or merely another indication that this is an
Elseworlds, after all, and not strictly bound to current
continuity.

p 29 Kal-el tells Wonder Woman to "go back to your island." Wonder
Woman is from Paradise Island, the legendary home of the
Amazons; in _Kingdom Come_, she has apparently moved back to
it, perhaps in response to Steve Trevor's death.
Donald MacPherson notes the similarity of poses between
Wonder Woman and Lara in panel 2; this might be an implication
by Waid/Ross as to who the parents of a new generation of
superheroes should be.
That desolate landscape Wonder Woman is flying over is
the Antarctic; we can just make out the traditional, old-style
keyhole door to the Fortress of Solitude. However, the door is
in the shape of Superman's emblem.

p 30 Johanna Draper points out that the imagery of the curtain
being parted by the Spectre is similar to "the Biblical
imagery of the curtain hiding the Holy of Holies, which was
rent at Christ's crucifixion."

p 31 Keystone City here looks like Metropolis does in current DC
continuity: bright and hopeful. The Spectre calls it a
utopia, and it certainly seems to be. Why? Well, as the
Spectre points out, it's the home of the Flash, who here seems
to incorporate bits of several of the figures who have borne
the name: he's got the winged metal hat of the Golden Age
Flash, Jay Garrick; he's got the lightning-bolt-backdraft of
the current Flash, Wally West; he's got the in-several-places-
at-once appearance of Mort Meskin's Johnny Quick; and his
color and skin-tight costume are similar to the Silver Age
Flash (and first patron saint of DC) Barry Allen. Which one
of these he is, if any, however, remains to be seen.

p 32 We get a glimpse of another of the old-timers - Hawkman. As
far as I know, the "environmental terrorist" angle is new to
the character, but his sympathy for the "beasts and birds" is
a logical, in-character extrapolation. His hawk-like helmet
is something that was added to the character in the 1970s; his
original helmet showed at least part of Hawkman's face. The
pendant around Hawkman's neck is an Egyptian hawk (a falcon,
perhaps?) - symbolic of the Golden Age Hawkman being the
reincarnation of an Egyptian prince (and, yes, ancient Egypt
did have princes).
I'm now convinced, as most other people were from the
start, that what we are seeing is not Hawkman's new costume,
but is in fact his new body. He's become a real hawk-man;
this is in keeping with his new, post-Zero Hour nature as a
hawk avatar, as well as a nice twist by Waid and Ross and the
Egyptian origin of the Golden Age Hawkman; Hawkman has become
a hawk-headed figure, just like the Egyptian gods Horus (who
had a falcon head) and Ra (who had a hawk's head).

p 33 Enjoy the good life in the off-world colonies! Green Lantern
has seemingly taken his role so seriously that he's removed
the citizens under his protection from Earth altogether, and
put them in an orbiting, "self-made Emerald City." (_love_ the
Wizard of Oz homage there). We aren't sure which Green
Lantern this is, of course; he's got Alan Scott's (the Golden
Age Green Lantern) silver/blond hair, but his costume has the
symbolism of the poorly-treated Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal
Jordan, and the fact that it is armor, rather than a costume
of some kind, is redolent of the new Green Lantern, Kyle
Rayner. Note, also, that the lamp, the source of the Green
Lantern's power, is now a part of the costume - which must
make recharging relatively simple.
I find it interesting that the Green Lantern is now "ever
vigilant, ever waiting for signs of threats extraterrestrial."
Is this a reflection of _Kingdom Come_ Green Lantern's
relationship with the Guardians of the Universe (the Silver
Age Green Lantern's bosses), or just an indication of how
remote GL has become from humanity, and how remote the Earth
has become from the rest of the Universe?
Some people have posted saying that GL's Emerald City is
empty; I don't think this is so - note the shuttle/plane
landing in a space port in the foreground.
A few other people have pointed out that the lower part
of GL's space-city is the mothership from ELO's "Out of the
Blue" album cover.
David A. Carr notes the similarity between GL's pose here
and the classic Buscema Dr. Doom pose.

p 34 We see the domed cities of Atlantis in panel 1 - home of
Aquaman - and a glimpse of Paradise Island in panel 2 - Wonder
Woman's home. Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkman,
the Flash, Superman - as the Spectre says, these were the
"gods of yesteryear," the Justice League of America, the most
noble of the heroes of DC's Silver Age. And now they've
retired and gone apart from humanity. A grim prospect,
indeed. However, there are a few of the JLA we've yet to
see...
Somehow I knew Mr. Waid wouldn't let me down. Yes, that
is the Legion of Superheroes in panel 3. I didn't know how,
but I knew a long-time Legion fan such as Mr. Waid would
somehow put them in here. Their costumes seem to be an
agglomeration of the traditional, Silver Age costumes and the
modern costumes the post-Zero Hour Legion wears - but Messrs
Waid and Ross seem to have included almost all of the
Legionnaires, regardless of the period they appeared in. In
order, from the lead, we see Superboy, Supergirl, Saturn Girl,
Light Lass/Gossamer, Lightning Lad/Live Wire, Braniac 5,
Cosmic Boy, Mon-el/Valor/M'Onel, Karate Kid, Sun Boy/Inferno,
Dream Girl, Ultra Boy, Timber Wolf, Invisible Kid, Element
Lad, Star Boy, Colossal Kid/Leviathan, Phantom
Girl/Apparition, Chameleon Kid/Chameleon, Shadow Lass,
Shrinking Violet, Matter-Eater Lad, Princess Projectra,
Chemical King, Ferro Lad/Ferro, Dragonmage, Triplicate
Girl/Triad, Catspaw, Bouncing Boy/Chuck Taine, and XS. (Waid
and Ross have taken Legionnaires from all points of the
group's history; the only ones missing are Tyroc, Wildfire,
Dawnstar, Computo, Kid Quantum, Gates, Kinetix, Andromeda,
Blok, the White Witch, Invisible Kid II, Magnetic Kid, and
Nemesis Kid.)
As a couple of people have pointed out, both Superboy and
Supergirl are from the 20th century, and are presumably who
the Spectre is referring to having "lost themselves" in the
future. This would of course refer to the post-Zero Hour
Superboy, who is only a partial clone of Superman, rather than
the Silver Age Superboy (who I originally thought it was), who
had a long and intimate association with the LSH but was also
the younger Superman - a chronological impossibility now. To
further complicate matters, Mark Coale informs me that,
according to Mark Waid, Alex Ross painted this panel -before-
Zero Hour and the advent of the new, clone Superboy.
Note the old, Silver Age Legion of Superheroes club house
at the lower left of the LSH panel.

p 35 We're now in Gotham City, not New York - although that looks
like the Statue of Liberty in the background, it's actually
Gotham City's own Sentinel of Liberty.
The influence of the design of the Batman movies and
_Batman: The Animated Series_ on Gotham City seems clear here.
Another nice, subtle touch on this page is the variety of
styles of the cars in panel 1 - ranging from classic 1920s to
futuristic. A very nice job by Mr. Ross.
I'd never have caught this, or believed it, had others
not pointed it out, but in panel 2, that's Fat Albert and his
gang who've just shot those civilians. Fat Albert, Dumb
Donald, Bucky, Old Weird Harold, Rudy, Russell, and Mushmouth,
what has become of you? The same thing that happened to the
rest of _Kingdom Come_, of course - a decline into depravity.

p 38 "Batman has his city under control." Indeed. Although it
seems more like he's got Bat-robots - whose heads look like
Batman's old Batmobile - doing his dirty work for him.
An ongoing subject of debate on the newsgroup
Rec.Arts.Comics.DC.Universe is the meaning of this scene. Does
the presence of the Batbots and the Spectre's word choice
somehow signify, as many people believe, that Batman has
instituted a fascist/totalitarian reign in Gotham? I'm of the
belief that this isn't necessarily so - but we will see (I
hope) the answer to this question in later issues.
On this issue, Waid said, in his own words: "...due to
Batman's perseverance and Superman's absence, Metropolis has
become Gotham and Gotham has become Metropolis. Batman just
kept fighting the good fight."

p 39 Big Fight Scene #3. That's Manotaur, Swastika, and Trix again
in panel 4. The young African American is the _Kingdom Come_
Johnny Thunder; the original, GA version of the character
commanded a genie called the T-Bolt, but this Johnny Thunder
has separate powers all his own. The design on his shirt is
the original, GA T-Bolt, as drawn on page 2, panel 4 of _All-
Star Comics_ #3 - the Golden Age comic book which had the
first appearance of the Justice Society of America.
Note that Manotaur and Trix were fighting each other
before, but are on the same side now. These superhumans seem
to be fighting just for the sake of fighting, with no regard
to who gets hurt - which is, in a way, a neat encapsulation of
the Image ethos. <G>
Jonathan Woodword points out the Daily Planet in the
background - Metropolis is the only suitable place for
Superman to make his return.

p 40 The big skull-faced robot at the end of the cable-car is Nil8,
a character made up for _Kingdom Come_. He can also be seen
on the cover.
The figure standing in the middle of the cable-car,
draped in armor and guns and wearing the sign "fair play" on
his chest, is the _Kingdom Come_ version of the Golden Age
hero Mr. Terrific. Mr. Terrific partisans will, with some
justification, cry foul, as the character has been portrayed
badly first in _The Golden Age_ and now here - but at least he
(or the name) is included here, rather than ignored. (And as
Jonathan Woodward points out, his GA origin was of a man who
decided to fight crime because he was bored. In a way, the
_Kingdom Come_'s Mr. Terrific is the logical evolution of that
sort of mentality. Still, though, Mr. Terrific remains a
character crying out to be used properly.)
The figure in the foreground of the cablecar, clad in
motley and firing a handgun, is the _Kingdom Come_ Harlequin -
not Molly Mayne, Alan Scott's GA foe and later wife, but
rather the Batman figure who claimed to be the Joker's
daughter (but was really Two-Face's daughter) and was, for a
short time, a member of the Teen Titans.
Elayne points out that the figure inside the cable car,
in the middle window, looking up in terror, is modeled on Mark
Chiarello, and the figure in the right-hand window is modeled
on Vince Letterio. Both are DC employees. The wounded man is
a further, so-far-unnamed DC employee. Elayne also speculates
that that's Kurt Busiek looking back up as Vince and others
attend to the wounded DC employee.
Martha Thomases adds that Jason Liebig and Charlie
Kochman, both former/current DC employees, are also in the
crowd scenes. She also says that the Harlequin figure is
modeled on Jill Thompson, a DC artist. And Martha Thomases
would know, too.

p 42 This is the fanboy in me, but I found this page _extremely_
gratifying. Go Supes!

p 43 Breathes there an American who doesn't feel _something_ stir
inside themselves at the words "Look! Up in the sky!"? The
women saying those classic words in this case are visually
modeled on Heidi MacDonald (comics editor of Disney Adventures
magazine and Friends of Lulu board member) and Maureen McTigue
(Assistant Manager of Retailer Services for DC).
As Mark Coale pointed out, the "bending steel....changing
the very course of the mighty river" is an echo of the words
to the beginning of the old Superman tv show.

p 44 Someone whose name I didn't get pointed out the words "Good
sport" written on the new Mr. Terrific's hands.
A few people, including Henry Chen, pointed out that
Superman's emblem is now red-on-black - not the red-on-yellow
we are all used to. This is similar to the Max Fleisher
cartoons of the 1940s, but is also meant, according to Ross,
to reflect the darker tenor of _Kingdom Come_.

p 45 Uh-oh - McCay's having a vision of a burning Superman. This
doesn't bode well.
Ross apparently decided to have some fun with the
character appearances here. Not only do we see Bjork again,
but also Dick Van Dyke and Floyd the barber. Go figure.

Comments, criticisms, or additions, anyone?

The following folks were mighty helpful, providing comments,
criticisms, and loads and loads of information:

Anthony, Deane Aikins, Marie E. Antoon, Brian Bailie, Don Brinker,
Michael Brown, Loki Carbis, David A. Carr, Scott B. Casteel (who
did his own list of annotations), "Cheese," Henry Chen, Mark Coale
(who is responsible for turning me into a DC fanboy), Dwayne Chun,
Michael Denton, Mike Dietsch, Johanna Draper, Andrew Farrell, Jason
Fliegel, Eric Fritzius, Mark Gallaher, Grant Giandonato, David
Goldfarb, gregg, Rob Harris, Rick Haikeeba Hodge, Scott Hollifield,
Thomas Howard, Bill Jennings, Just Joe, David Lacina, Jason
Langlois, A. Chilton Lannen, Yeechang Lee, Len Leshin, Doug Limmer,
Sean MacDonald, Donald MacPherson, Jonathan Maske, Edward Mathews,
Rudolf Mammitzsch, David Morefield, Paul@discordia, Tony PI, John
Quiring, Ray Randell, Greg Schienke, Dan Shoemaker, Marc Singer,
Don Smith, Lance Smith, David J. Snyder, Mike Solko, Craig
Stenseth, Mark Stephenson, William H. Sudderth, Alex Tam, Matt
Terl, Martha Thomases, Gtribb, Alan Turniansky, Dave Van Domelen,
Yves Vallois, Dean Velasco, Bern Walker, the ever-helpful Elayne
Wechsler-Chaput, Andrew D. Woodard, Jonathan Woodward, and Allen W.
Wright.

Let's have a big round of applause for them, shall we? They made
these annotations what they are - without them, this would just be
the ramblings of one very confused fanboy.

jess