io9: kingdom come

Luke Skywalker Owns The Classic Releases Of This Week's Comics

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Do you happen to have a fetish for Luke Skywalker? Or perhaps your name is Mark Hamill? (Not that that means that you don't have a fetish for Luke Skywalker, let's be honest.) Then this is definitely your lucky week in terms of comics haul. For the rest of us, it's all Savage Worlds, reissues of classic works, and well . . . Bruce Campbell. Who else tells you what comics to crave on a weekly basis?

It really is a week where you can pick up those classics that you never quite got around to reading. DC are putting out an oversized reprint of Frank Miller's pre-Dark Knight series Ronin (soon, like almost everything else Frank Miller has touched, to be a motion picture, as they say) as well as a regular sized new edition of apocalyptic superherofest Kingdom Come (You'll believe a man can fry!), while Image reissues Madman creator Mike Allred's secret origin of rock'n'roll odyssey Red Rocket 7 (in preparation for Neon Monster's Red Rocket 7 party a week on Saturday, of course), IDW collect some of the best Star Trek comics ever made in Star Trek Archives Volume 1: The Best of Peter David, and even Marvel gets in on the act with a new hardcover edition of Grant Morrison and JG Jones' very enjoyable Marvel Boy miniseries from the beginning of the century... all of which are easily recommended (especially Red Rocket 7).

Equally as recommended is Wonder Woman: The Circle, the hardcover collection of the start of Gail Simone's run on DC's favorite Amazon, which is just one of the non-contemporary collections also hitting shelves this week - In particular, you should pay attention to Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1: Shipyards of Doom (for the title alone, I mean, come on), Marvel's time-traveling cyborg mutant book Cable Volume 1: Messiah War, and the weird-but-enjoyable Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand, which makes io9 hometown San Francisco seem even weirder that normal.

In terms of all-new material this week, it's a tough one: do you go for Marvel's Skaar Son Of Hulk Presents The Savage World Of Sakaar, which spins a one-off special issue about the home world of the Hulk's son, or Dark Horse's one-off My Name is Bruce, where Bruce Campbell kicks ass in a way that the Hulk could never manage?

Much easier to choose is the collection of the week - even with all of those classic books available above, there was no way that anything would seem more essential this week than Star Wars: Luke Skywalker, Last Hope for the Galaxy, an 800 page hardcover collection of comics from the last thirty years proving why George Lucas' favorite son isn't entirely overshadowed by Han Solo after all. In case you need some convincing, here's a preview of what to expect inside.

Whether you're following the force or just out for your own personal gain, you can find a complete list of this week's new comic releases here, and the whereabouts of your closest comic store at the Comic Shop Locator Service. Now let's blow this thing so we can all go home.

Which Hero Would You Like To See In Hot Self-On-Self Action?

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:40:07 PST

NiceKirk shares a tender moment with MeanKirk, who's worn extra eyeliner just for the occasion, in this clip from the Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within." You just know they stopped by Kirk's quarters for some nookie on their way to get merged back into one person. But what if Roger Korby's robot Kirk, and the fake-Garth Kirk, and the woman-in-Kirk's body Kirk also joined them? Or is there another scifi hero you'd like to see having an orgy with his/her alternate selves? Click through to vote!

Must Read: Kingdom Come

charliejane — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:50:03 PDT

Must-read graphic novels are futuristic classics that shouldn't be missed. Of course, not every must-see is perfect. That's why we've rated them 1-5 on the patented "crunchy goodness" scale.

Title: Kingdom Come
Date: 1996

Vitals: Yet another dysfunctional future of the DC Comics universe. In this one, Superman and other superheroes have abandoned their mission and a new generation of super-violent amoral "heroes" has taken over. Superman comes out of retirement to try and impose order, but winds up (surprise!) fighting some of his former allies.

Famous names: Mark Waid, Alex Ross

Crunchy goodness: 3

Spinoffs/Sequels/Copycats: In 1999, DC published the out-of-continuity The Kingdom, which forms a prequel and sequel to Kingdom Come, in which a villain named Gog travels through time and kills Superman over and over. The Kingdom introduced the concept of "hypertime," which allowed the DC Universe to have alternate universes again — until every other writer ignored it.

Deja vu: Kingdom Come owes a lot of its sheen to its painted artwork by Alex Ross, who also did the art for Marvels. And it features a central "everyman" character, Norman McCay, just as Marvels had "everyman" photographer Phil Sheldon.

Most painfully dated moment: Not only does Ross' painted art look less special than it did in 1996, but also the whole "superheroes are getting too mean and violent, waah" sermon feels a bit old hat at this point.

Ten Years Later: Reflecting On "KINGDOM COME" With Alex Ross by Jonah Weiland