KINGDOM COME by Mark Waid (author) and Alex Ross (illustrator)

Published in 2008.
Originally published in 1996.

This edition collects the original four volumes of this limited series into one complete volume.

If you liked the feel of the recent Batman v Superman movie, you will likely enjoy this graphic novel. If not, you are probably better off skipping this introspective spectacle.

We start Kingdom Come with a world out of control. A new generation of Meta-humans abound. They have the skills of the old Justice League but none of their standards. The good ones still fight with the bad ones but they do it with little regard to the regular people who live all around them. Cars explode, buildings crumble and people get hurt. In a single fight Kansas was obliterated in a massive explosion caused by the death of a nuclear-powered Meta-human.

Where is old Justice League? It has disbanded since Superman retreated from the world and is living on a pretend hologram Kansas farm inside of his Fortress of Solitude. He is sick of watching his regular friends age and die. He is sick of "The Never Ending Battle" - the non-stop parade of criminals and human depravity. But, even a depressed Superman can't just let his second home (Kansas) be nuked without any sort of response.

Superman's new "coming out
of retirement" logo.

So, Superman comes back with his old friends to restore order, reign in the new heroes and fight the new enemies. But, things aren't as simple as all of that. Some don't want to submit. Some have to be rounded up and jailed in a special prison to be rehabilitated.

There are questions everywhere.

Will Superman become the world's dictator in order to save the world from itself?

Why is Wonder Woman so fired up to fight everyone?

Why is Batman working with Lex Luthor? 

Speaking of Lex, his comments about the need for regular humans to reclaim the planet from the Meta-humans aren't so crazy when you consider the devastation caused by the Meta-humans. And, of course, Lex has a plan.

Brooding and filled with too many characters - but also brilliantly conceived, I especially like the way that the story is told through a neutral third party human.

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Kingdom Come. 

I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5.

Superman: The Never-Ending Battle (Justice League of America) (audiobook) by Roger Stern

GraphicAudio delivers the goods

Published in 2008.

Performed by 29 actors.
Duration: 6 hours

GraphicAudio promises "A Movie In Your Mind" and they come awfully close with 29 actors, special effects, music and a go-go-go plot. While not the best of the Justice League series that I have listened to, Superman: The Never-Ending Battle was still quite entertaining.

Superman and the rest of the Justice League get caught up in a series of weather-related missions and about one-third of the way into the story the JLA begins to suspect that someone is manipulating the weather - summertime blizzards, ultra-thick fogs, record numbers of tornadoes, droughts and even worse abound. The questions, of course, are who is doing this and why are they doing it?

The main characters in this mission are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter and the Atom who mostly sits in the satellite headquarters monitoring maps and analyzing data. Superman, though, is the star.We get to see how he he somehow pulls off having a secret identity and still has time to be the "Man of Steel." We learn about his specially designed interest to the apartment he shares with his wife, Lois Lane and how he manages to turn in his assignments for the Daily Planet despite the time he takes out to save the world on a regular basis.

Superman has long conversations with his parents, Lois Lane, The Flash (including a nifty little cross-country run together), the Martian Manhunter, Batman and a particularly good one with the Green Lantern in which he is directly asked if he has ever considered just taking over the world and using his powers to make things about as good as they can be. The answer? Yes (who wouldn't, just for a moment?) but he looks to the example of George Washington who turned down the chance to be king twice (for that his old opponent George III called him the greatest man in the world). Superman even philosophizes to the villain in the story about why he fights for the rights of people to lead their own lives, even if they do not appreciate him.

Really, the plot is just an excuse to look at Superman, his life, his fears and how he moves past them, his influences, his philosophy and how he inspires and supports the rest of the Justice League. Batman is intriguing and the Flash is fun but Superman, the original Boy Scout superhero is really the foundation of the whole phenomenon. He is what we would all hope that we would be if we were suddenly endowed with super powers. Listen to this one for a boatload of action, but mostly listen to this one as an homage to Krypton's Last Son and a Kansas farm boy - Superman.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Superman: The Never-Ending Battle.

Reviewed on August 5, 2011.

Green Lantern: Hero's Quest (Justice League of America) (audiobook) by Dennis O'Neil

I have not cared much for Green Lantern,  but I picked this one up on impulse...

Published in 2009 by GraphicAudio
6 CDs
7 hours
Voiced by 20 actors

Unabridged.

When I was a kid I never cared much for Green Lantern. In the D.C. Comics universe I liked Superman and Batman and in Marvel I liked Spider-Man and the Hulk but the Green Lantern never did it for me. Maybe it was the giant green baseball mitts, pincers and boxing gloves coming out of the ring. Just seemed hoaky, I guess.

Which is all the stranger that I liked the audiobook for Green Lantern Hero's Quest: Justice League of America as much as I did. The book features Kyle Rayner, a new Green Lantern whose real life job is that of an artist and his specialty as a Green Lantern seems to be creating artistic even cutesy things with his ring, such as baseball mitts and giant boxing gloves.

GraphicAudio creates yet another adaptation that delivers "A Movie In Your Mind" as their slogan promises. I readily admit that I pick these up as less of a comics fan and more of an entertainment fan and I do find this series to be quite entertaining. Voiced by 20 actors, this audiobook reminds me of those old-fashioned radio shows that, if you're lucky, you can hear from time to time even nowadays.

Kyle Rayner is a struggling graphic artist who lives in a junky basement apartment and lives a life that really isn't going anywhere. A slacker might be the best term for him.

In the end, I was reminded of other stories from other sci-fi series more than I was reminded of the Green Lantern I remember (and disliked) from my childhood. Kyle is handed a Green Lantern ring by an alien and given precious little instruction, which reminded me of the TV show The Greatest American Hero as Kyle Rayner bumbles around and tries to figure out his powers.

As the story progresses we see a lot of themes discussed in the Star Trek shows and movies, including aliens interfering in other cultures (the Prime Directive) and the theme of being forced to live in a lavish prison - no matter how nice it is, it is still a prison ("The Menagerie" in the original series).  There is also the idea explored with Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Generations - the hero retiring to a perfect paradise and then being called back to fight once again.

This is not a perfect book. It gets fairly bogged down a little past the halfway point with large sections of the book describing space travel and seemingly endless discussion of physics and philosophy. A philosophical point raised by the Oans is never resolved satisfactorily - if life is evolved randomly, does it actually have value? The book seems to say that it does have value because the Green Lantern values it - but since he is evolved too, does his opinion count for anything?

Green Lantern purists seem to hate the book, but I enjoyed it.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Green Lantern: Hero's Quest (Justice League of America)

Reviewed on November 20, 2010.

Justice League of America: Exterminators (audiobook) by Christopher Golden

Published in 2008 by Graphic Audio.

5 CDs
5 Hours
28 Actors

Graphic Audio published the audio version of a DC Comics graphic novel featuring the Justice League of America. Graphic Audio boasts that it is "A Movie In Your Mind" and while that may be a bit of an exaggeration, it is every bit as good as those old radio plays that, if you're lucky, a local radio station may play from time to time. Graphic Audio has 28 actors (if my count was correct as they named them all), music, lots of special effects and they use them all to create a thoroughly engrossing story.

There is nothing particularly new in JLA: Exterminators. A wave of new "meta-humans" are popping up all over the globe with one thing in common (besides super powers): they were all in the UK about 10 years previously and were exposed to something that gave them these new powers.

The Flash and The Green Lantern become friends with a new meta-human with telekinesis and the audience is given a perspective on both sides of this issue - the old superheroes and the new ones, some good and some bad. I was reminded of that old TV show,  The Greatest American Hero, as their new friend, Ian, struggles with the desire to be a regular guy and the desire to use his new powers for good.

Later, things start to go even more haywire and giant monsters begin stomping around in just about every metropolitan area in the world, including Metropolis, Hong Kong, Long Beach, Edinburgh, Paris and especially London. Somehow, Gotham City is not pestered by this homage to Godzilla movies. These monsters are tough and the JLA has to call out anyone and everyone to stop them (except the military, which is featured big-time in a similar problem 10 years ago but is strangely absent while Superman gets thrown through entire buildings).

The audiobook features The Flash, The Green Lantern, Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter throughout. The Atom gets extended focus later on and eventually everyone gets called in including the retired versions of Flash and Green Lantern, Nightwing, the Titans, Steel, Black Lightning, Superboy, Wonder Girl, the Blue Beatle and pretty much everyone in the DC universe except for the Bizarro world folks.

In the end, Superman, Batman and the Martian Manhunter spend way too much time agonizing over whether or not to destroy these giant monsters that are destroying buildings by the minute and killing untold thousands. That over-thinking is not something that generally plagues Batman, but in this case it got annoying. For the record, I am all for killing giant alien monsters that are destroying the world's urban centers - without delay! The Flash and The Green Lantern respond by blowing off this psychological self doubt by asking if they should have gone ahead and  let them destroy the cities? No, is the answer. Then move on.

I've done a lot of critical observations here but the question is, is this an entertaining audiobook?

Yes!

Lots of fun - very entertaining. The multi-actor old-fashioned radio play format works very well.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: JLA: Exterminators.

Reviewed on November 7, 2010.