Kingdom Come #1 is an issue of the series Kingdom Come (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1996.
Synopsis for "Strange Visitor"
- There were voices, thundering, lightning and an earthquake...and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. There fell a great star from heaven, burning as if it were a lamp...and I beheld, and heard an Angel, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, WOE to the inhabiters of the earth.
The story begins with Wesley Dodds speaking with his pastor, Norman McCay, as he is reading from the book of Revelation in the Bible. Dodds has begun seeing visions related to that book and is trying to tell Norman about them. However, he dies before he can explain them.
While walking sometime after the funeral, Norman reflects on Dodds' life. Dodds had once been the Sandman. During his later life, Dodds had been worried about the world's current superheroes, who lack the morals of their predecessors. As Norman reflects on this, a fight between some of the modern heroes fight and Norman hopes that mankind can outlast these heroes.
These thoughts leaked into Norman's next sermon subconsciously. After the sermon, Spectre appear to Norman. Spectre was supposed to use Dodds for his host as he witnessed the events of the coming Armageddon, but has to use Norman because he is now having the visions.
They are first transported to a farm in Kansas (which turns out to be a holographic environment created in the Fortress of Solitude) where an aged Superman lives. Wonder Woman comes and tries to convince Superman that he needs to come out of retirement to help the world. Inside the house, they watch footage of a battle between a team of new heroes lead by Magog battling Parasite. Parasite pulled apart Captain Atom, causing a nuclear explosion that completely destroyed Kansas.
The Spectre then shows Norman that some of the old heroes still remain. The Flash still patrols Keystone City, Hawkman protects the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and the Green Lantern watches Earth from an emerald city in orbit. Others, such as the Atlanteans, the Amazons, and the Legion of Super-Heroes have all followed Superman's lead of living in solitude and wanting no more involvement with mankind, thus, cutting all ties with them. Becoming complacent, and content in their ancient civilizations or future times, and leaving the world to its own fate. When asked about Batman, the Spectre shows that he's now using robots to patrol Gotham City.
The Spectre takes them to Metropolis, where they see some of the modern heroes having a shoot out on a suspension bridge and a tram full of innocents. The tram's cable was cut, but Superman was able to save it in time. Everyone was thrilled to see Superman save the day once more, but Norman was able to see this was just the beginning of the Armageddon.
Appearing in "Strange Visitor"
Featured Characters:
- Norman McCay (First appearance)
- The Spectre (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Superman (First appearance)
- Wesley Dodds (First appearance; dies)
- Wonder Woman (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- 666 (First appearance)
- Harlequin (First appearance)
- Justice Batallion (First appearance)
- Alloy, the Metal Man (First appearance)
- Captain Atom (First appearance; dies)
- Judomaster (First appearance; dies)
- Magog (First appearance)
- Nightshade (First appearance; dies)
- Peacemaker (First appearance; dies)
- Thunderbolt (First appearance; dies)
- Blue Beetle (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Question (First appearance)
- Lightning (First appearance)
- Manotaur (First appearance)
- Mr. Terrific (First appearance)
- Nightstar (First appearance)
- NIL-8 (First appearance)
- Nuculoid (First appearance)
- Parasite (First appearance; dies)
- Phoebus (First appearance)
- Stars & Stripes (First appearances)
- Swastika (First appearance)
- Thunder (First appearance)
- Trix (First appearance)
- Tusk (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Batman (Behind the scenes)
- Beatriz da Costa (First appearance)
- The Flash (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Green Lantern (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Hawkman (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Legion of Super-Heroes (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Bouncing Boy (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Brainiac 5 (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Chameleon Boy (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Colossal Boy (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Cosmic Boy (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Dream Girl (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Ferro Lad (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Invisible Kid (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Lightning Lad (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Lightning Lass (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Matter-Eater Lad (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Mon-El (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Phantom Girl (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Saturn Girl (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Shadow Lass (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Superboy (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Supergirl (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Timber Wolf (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Triplicate Girl (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Ultra Boy (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Michael Carter (Behind the scenes) (Cameo) (First appearance)
- Gotham City street thugs
- "Fat Albert"
- "Mushmouth"
- "Dumb Donald"
- "Bill"
- "Russell"
- "Weird Harold"
- "Rudy"
- "Bucky"
- Black Mongul (Cover only)
- Blue Devil (Cover only)
- Buddha (Cover only)
- Cathedral (Cover only)
- Catwoman (Cover only)
- Demon Damsel (Cover only)
- Germ-Man (Cover only)
- Huntress (Cover only)
- Kabuki Kommando (Cover only)
- Pinwheel (Cover only)
- Shiva (Cover only)
- Stealth (Cover only)
- Tokyo Rose (Cover only)
- Von Bach (Cover only)
Locations:
- Earth-22 (First appearance)
Items:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in Millennium Edition: Kingdom Come #1 and the Kingdom Come trade paperback, hardcover edition and Absolute slipcase edition.
- In panel 1, page 7, the long-haired Korean with the cigarette dangling from his mouth is Sung Koo, the former proprietor of Halley's Comics, a Chicago comic-book store. Chicago happens to be where Alex Ross lived.
- At Norman's church congregation, Norman is preaching from the Book of Revelation (8:7, 9:2, 14:7) which parallels to the Kansas disaster. His audience is mostly composed of fewer and older attendees, which implied the loss of faith in superheroes among the young.
- The news broadcasts that Superman watches are translated as follows: "The world was shocked by horrible acts" (Anglicized Spanish), "Tragedy in America" (Korean), "paralyzed by the news of Magog" (Portuguese), "fierce brutality of Magog" (Italian), "American by the name of Magog" (French), and "We have learned that Magog has endangered us" (German).
- The rogue metahumans Manotaur and Trix fought each other earlier in the story, and much later are seen fighting on the same side, demonstrating that superhumans seem to be fighting just for the sake of fighting, with no regard to who gets hurt.
Trivia
- The Japanese graffiti that Norman walks by is the kanji title of the anime series Tenchi Muyō!. Also barely readable is the "Who Watches The Watchmen?" graffiti which is the quote of the Roman poet Juvenal that was thematically central in Alan Moore's Watchmen.
- The window of the shop that Norman walks by displays: Alternate Egos, by John Law, who is the Golden Age hero The Tarantula; and the book Under the Hood by Hollis Mason from Watchmen; and an signed World Series '02 baseball, which indicate that the setting of Kingdom Come takes place after 2002.
- At the Planet Krypton restaurant:
- Billboard figures of Batman, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, Flash, Lobo, and Marvin modeled after Alex Toth's character designs from the early Super Friends cartoon show.
- The waiter that greets Norman is dressed in the costume of Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Noticeably, the waiter doesn't know who exactly he's supposed to be dressed as.
- More waiters dressed as Captain Marvel, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, the Carrie Kelly Robin from The Dark Knight Returns, Aquaman, and the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen.
- "Bea" who is asking for Booster Gold, who is proprietor of the restaurant, is Beatriz Bonilla da Costa, aka Fire.
- The Batman costume from the 1960s Batman TV series can be seen on a mannequin in a vacuum tube.
- Images of Sugar and Spike appear on the video displays.
- Hanging from the ceiling are models of the Golden Age Batplane and the Silver Age Kryptonian Rocket.
- On the wall are Batman's 1950 camera batarang and Green Arrow's bow and boxing glove arrow.
- The hotel in the background when Norman and (briefly) Flash pass is the "Siegel," a reference to Superman creator Jerry Siegel.
- Turtle Boy appears on a Jumbotron TV (interestingly, its brand is called "Sonny" instead of Sony). The Chinese ideograms underneath the TV read "done" or "finished".
- The Steve Darnall marquee on the theater who is a reference to the former editor for Hero magazine.
- The "Secret Asian Man" on the billboard seen during the metahuman fight is a common mondegreen for the theme song of the TV series Secret Agent Man (the U.S. broadcast of the British TV series Danger Man).
- Superman's pose holding a green tractor is reminiscent of the cover of Superman #1 and Action Comics #1.
- The Spectre's line of "with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men" is taken from the radio opening of The Adventures of Superman.
- The animals (monkey, cat, dog, and a white horse) at Superman's "farm" are references to the Legion of Super-Pets.
- At the Fortress of Solitude are: A statue of Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van; the bottle city of Kandor; a T-Rex robot; a Kryptonian Warsuit; and a Service Robot.
- A portrait of Grant Wood's American Gothic appears on one of the news screens being watched by Superman.
- The shield-bearing Sentinel of Liberty seen in Gotham City is a reference to its depiction in Batman: The Animated Series.
- The street gang being pursued and captured by the Bat-Knights are analogs of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
- The people in the cable car are caricatures of Mark Chiarello, Charles Kochman, and Vince Letterio.
- The two women saying "Look! Up in the sky!" are caricatures of Heidi MacDonald and Maureen McTigue.
- Norman's monologue of "bending steel....changing the very course of the mighty river" is an echo of the words at the beginning of the Adventures of Superman TV series.
- The people in the crowd cheering Superman are caricatures of Bjork, Freddie Prinze, Dick Van Dyke, and Howard McNear.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Kingdom Come Recommended Reading
- Kingdom Come (Volume 1) - collected in Kingdom Come
- The Kingdom (Volume 1) - storyline The Kingdom collected in The Kingdom
- Thy Kingdom Come - collected in Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part One and Part Two and Part Three
- Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #9 - JSA #17
- Justice Society of America Annual (Volume 3) #1
- Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #18 - JSA #20
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Superman #1
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Magog #1
- Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom #1
- Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #21 - JSA #22
- Titans: Who is Troia?
- Justice League: Generation Lost (Volume 1) - storyline Justice League: Generation Lost collected in Justice League: Generation Lost Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
- Batman/Superman: World's Finest (Volume 1)
- Strange Visitor: Batman/Superman: World's Finest #7 - Batman/Superman: World's Finest #11
- Heir to the Kingdom: Batman/Superman: World's Finest #20 - Present