Red Arrow, Aquaman II, The Whiz, Braniac's Daughter, Avia, Atom Smasher, Phoebus, Alloy, Magog, Pinwheel, Nightstar.
These are just some of the new super-heroes introduced in the Kingdom Come miniseries (now collected as a trade paperback), saying nothing of virtually every important hero - and many villains - from the DC universe. Little surprise, then, that Kingdom Come can make any comics' enthusiast breath a little shallower. After all, if on every page you encounter new heroes with new powers (not to mention scantly clad men and women with perfect bodies), what more could a geek want? Some story and art couldn't hurt, but luckily, these - especially the latter - are also found in abundance.
But let us begin at the beginning. To be more precise, let us begin 20 years after the end. We have moved forward in time from DC's normal continuity: comics' cyclical time has been unfrozen, and the years allowed to take their toll. Superman is no longer perpetually in his 30s. As a matter of fact, he's no longer Superman; he has retired in confusion and disappointment when the people of Metropolis chose another, more brutal champion over him: Magog.
Taking their cue from The Man of Steel, his contemporaries ceased their attempts to contain their powers and integrate their vigilante efforts into the fabric of human society. Some, like Green Lantern, have retired from the world. Others, such as the Batman in Gotham and the Flash in Keystone, have turned their various cities into crime-free utopias at the price of usurping political power.
They, however, are not the problem. Their progeny are. It turns out that when two super-people have children, at the very least their offspring will have a mix-and-match set of their parents' powers. What they won't have is any real understanding of the superhero's role in society, nor many moral bounds. The world is full to the brim with superheroes, and it can't take much more of it.
Kal-El is persuaded by Wonder Woman to resume his role as Superman, re-forming the Justice League and touring the globe with a simple message aimed at super-people: cease all independent activities and join us, or else.
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