DC Database
Register
Advertisement

"Truth and Justice": And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar...and the seven angels prepared themselves to sound...

Quote1 Time has little meaning where we walk, Norman McCay. We move freely from moment to moment... I show you only that which we must see. Quote2
The Spectre

Kingdom Come #2 is an issue of the series Kingdom Come (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1996. It was published on April 12, 1996.

Synopsis for "Truth and Justice"

And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar...and the seven angels prepared themselves to sound...

Norman McCay is now seeing a vision of "seven angels" bathed in the fire of what appears to be the torch of the Statue of Liberty. He and the Spectre are taken to where the vision leads them: to the Statue of Liberty where the Americommando, a gun-toting fascist, fires upon immigrants approaching Ellis Island with his Minutemen, warning them to leave America or else. He is soon diverted by a trio of robots, Red, White, and Blue, attacking him, but their personal battle is in the middle of innocents who they care very little for. This battle is interrupted by Superman...and he isn't alone: he is joined by seven others from the Justice League who have returned to duty to deal not only with them, but also with two psionics called the Brain Trust who were using this personal battle for their own ends. They were both rendered unconscious by the appearance of Red Robin, a former partner of Batman who has also joined Superman's team.

After the successful confrontation, Superman and his Justice League allies appear at the United Nations to address the press conference gathered there that they will deal with the rogue superhumans on the loose. However, the Secretary-General of the United Nations isn't confident of Superman's means to achieve their goals, and neither is Bruce Wayne, who retired his identity as Batman but not the desire to continue working as a hero, willing to join Superman's reformed Justice League for that purpose. Nonetheless, Superman and the Justice League press forward with their intended goal, negotiating with superhumans who are willing to join the cause and using force on those who oppose them.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor has assembled a team of retired villains, calling themselves the Mankind Liberation Front, intending to use the battle between Superman's Justice League and the rogue superhumans to their own ends and purposes. Among them, Norman McCay and the Spectre see an adult Billy Batson as a servant to Lex Luthor, pleasantly giving Lex a shave.

At a nightclub where a group of random superhumans cavort, Superman gets their attention to deliver a message: that they should willingly join the League or else they will be dealt with. As Nightstar and Avia consider taking up Superman's offer to join him after he leaves, Oliver Queen shows up to offer them an alternative.

However, Superman is beginning to see more superhumans choosing to turn against the League rather than join them, so after some failed negotiation talks with Arthur Curry (who has surrendered his Aquaman identity to his former protege to take on his role as the king of Atlantis) and with Orion (who has killed his father Darkseid and has taken his place as the fearsome ruler of Apokolips), he turns to Mr. Miracle and his wife Big Barda for the answers.

Soon they find Magog standing on what's left of the Kansas landscape, futilely trying to rebuild, and Superman confronts him for the disaster he's caused. Magog blames Superman for the disaster, saying it all started when the Joker killed the Daily Planet staff, including Superman's wife Lois Lane. As the Joker was being brought into custody, Magog killed him with a blast from his energy staff. Superman brought Magog into court for his actions, but the judge ruled in favor of Magog, considering his actions "justifiable" and acquitting him. Rather than accepting Magog's challenge to fight him, Superman simply took off and was never seen until the present time. It is then Magog knew the real reason Superman took off: it wasn't that he feared Magog, but rather he feared that Magog was the kind of hero people wanted and the kind of future he represented. As Superman mockingly says to Magog, "You must be proud", he angrily blasts Superman with his staff before kneeling down in defeat, wanting Superman to kill him or do anything to take away the voices of a million ghosts haunting him.

While Superman and the Justice League are busy building "a stronghold of justice" using plans given to him by Mr. Miracle, Bruce Wayne is seen making an unseemly alliance with Lex Luthor's team of villains.

Appearing in "Truth and Justice"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Mentioned Only/Cameos:

  • Bane
  • Darkseid
  • Jimmy Olsen (1st appearance; dies in flashback)
  • Lois Lane (1st appearance; dies in flashback)
  • Perry White (1st appearance; dies in flashback)
  • Two-Face

Locations:

Items:

Notes

  • This issue is reprinted in the Kingdom Come trade paperback, hardcover edition and Absolute slipcase edition.
  • The Statue of Liberty depicted is defaced with red graffiti ("LOBO WUZ HERE") no doubt done by Lobo. Also the Statue has a large hole in the place where her heart would be, as if an actual heart was torn out, which seems to symbolize the poor state of America accompanied with Americommando's xenophobic rant.
  • Magog's attempt to rebuild a barn mirrors Superman's retirement in issue #1. This symbolizes the similarities between him and Superman: both are the champions of Metropolis and symbolic leaders of their generations of metahumans. However, Magog tries to do too much and the wrong way, and loses his temper when he fails, destroying what he has done and symbolically demonstrating where he differs from Superman.

Trivia

  • Phil Sheldon from Marvels, for which Alex Ross has been an artist, makes a cameo at the superhero press conference at the UN building. Sheldon later makes his last appearance in the story's final issue.
  • The scenes where the Spectre and Norman talk about the friendship between Batman and Superman are similar to the covers of their character debuts in Detective Comics #27 (1939) and Action Comics #1 (1938), respectively. In the same scene, Wonder Woman's depiction is similar to the cover of Wonder Woman #1 (1942).
  • Older versions of Weather Wizard and Captain Cold appear as bartenders at the nightclub, and are apparently the owners. Also they have a photo of their days as the Rogues with Captain Boomerang, and an autographed picture of their enemy Barry Allen.
  • In another reference to the Super Friends, one of the superhumans seen taunting Superman at the nightclub is wearing Marvin's T-shirt under his leather jacket. The faces of Zan and Jayna, the Wonder Twins, can also be seen among the crowd.
  • A man wearing a mask worn by Steve Miller on the cover of his 1973 album The Joker is seen at the bar in the nightclub, playing a pull-my-finger game with the Human Bomb.
  • Rorschach of Watchmen makes a cameo appearance in the background of the nightclub standing next to the Question. He appears to be breaking one of Brother Power's fingers, in much the same way that Rorschach harmed a low-life criminal during an interrogation in Watchmen #1.
  • The Human Bomb is seen holding a beer with a "Q" brand. The "Q" is a reference to Quality Comics in which the Human Bomb was originally a Quality Comics character.
  • Superhero analogues of the Village People appear in the nightclub scene.
  • In the Japan scene, a brief cameo of the Japanese anime hero Astro Boy appears on the screen behind Power Woman.
  • In the flashback sequence, the front page article reading "Must There Be A Superman?" is also the title of a story of the same name written by Elliot S. Maggin in Superman #247.
  • The two men seen standing near Scott Free's machine are Monty Python troupers Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam depicted as the jailers from The Life of Brian.


See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

Superboy Vol 4 69
This page is missing characters!
This page is missing one or more character, location or item appearances. If you find any characters that appear in this issue, episode, movie, game or book but are not included on the page, please add them to the Appearances list of the template.
Kingdom Come Trade paperback
Kingdom Come Continuity Storyline/Crossover
DC Rebirth Logo

Kingdom Come was a four-issue limited series published in 1996 under DC's Elseworlds imprint. Like all Elseworlds, this series was set in an alternate reality outside that of the mainstream DC Universe (in this case, Earth-96/Earth-22/Earth 22). However, several elements and characters were later introduced in the mainstream universe.
This template will categorize articles that include it into the Kingdom Come category.

Elseworlds logo
Elseworlds
DC Rebirth Logo

This comic issue, event, or limited series takes place in its own separate continuity as an Elseworlds story; although it may exist within a larger Elseworlds continuity as part of its series. This includes both titles with the Elseworlds Logo, and titles retroactively declared as Elseworlds Stories.
This template will categorize articles that include it into the Elseworlds category.

Elseworlds

Elseworlds Batman Batman Chronicles #11Batman Chronicles #21The Batman of ArkhamBatman: BloodstormBatman: The Blue, the Grey, and the BatBatman: Book of the DeadBatman: Brotherhood of the BatBatman: Castle of the BatBatman: Crimson MistBatman: Dark AllegiancesBatman: Dark Knight DynastyBatman: Dark Knight of the Round TableBatman: Detective No. 27Batman: The Doom That Came to GothamBatman: The Golden Streets of GothamBatman: Gotham by GaslightBatman: Gotham NoirBatman: Haunted GothamBatman: Hollywood KnightBatman: Holy TerrorBatman: I, JokerBatman: In Darkest KnightBatman: League of BatmenBatman: ManbatBatman: MasqueBatman: Master of the FutureBatman: NevermoreBatman: Nine LivesBatman: The Order of BeastsBatman: Red RainBatman: Reign of TerrorBatman: Scar of the BatBatman: ThrillkillerBatman: Year 100Batman/Dark Joker: The WildBatman/Demon: A TragedyBatman/Houdini: Devil's WorkshopBatman/LoboCatwoman: Guardian of GothamRobin 3000
Superman Kamandi: At Earth's EndSon of SupermanSuperboy's LegionSupergirl: WingsSuperman, Inc.Superman: A Nation DividedSuperman: At Earth's EndSuperman: The Dark SideSuperman: Distant FiresSuperman: KalSuperman: The Last Family of KryptonSuperman: Last Son of EarthSuperman: Last Stand on KryptonSuperman: Red SonSuperman: Speeding BulletsSuperman: True BritSuperman: War of the WorldsSuperman/Tarzan: Sons of the JungleSuperman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy
World's Finest Batman: Two FacesElseworlds 80-Page Giant #1Elseworld's FinestElseworld's Finest: Supergirl & BatgirlSuperman & Batman: Doom LinkSuperman & Batman: GenerationsSuperman and Batman: World's FunnestThe Superman Monster
Trinity Batman: NosferatuSuperman's MetropolisWonder Woman: The Blue Amazon
Green Lantern Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald NightsGreen Lantern: Evil's Might
JLA/JSA JLA: Act of GodJLA: Age of WonderJLA: Created EqualJLA: DestinyJLA: Island of Dr. MoreauJLA: Riddle of the BeastJLA: Secret Society of Super-HeroesJLA: Shogun of SteelJSA: The Liberty FilesJustice League: The NailJustice League: Another NailJustice RidersJSA: The Golden AgeKingdom ComeLeague of JusticePlanetary/JLA: Terra Occulta
Other ConjurorsFlashpointTitans: Scissors, Paper, StoneWonder Woman: Amazonia

Annuals Action Comics Annual #6Adventures of Superman Annual #6Batman Annual #18Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #4Batman: Shadow of the Bat Annual #2Catwoman Annual (Volume 2) #1Deathstroke the Terminator Annual #3Detective Comics Annual #7The Flash Annual (Volume 2) #7Green Lantern Annual (Volume 3) #3Justice League America Annual #8Justice League International Annual #5L.E.G.I.O.N. Annual #5Legionnaires Annual #1Legion of Super-Heroes Annual (Volume 4) #5Lobo Annual (Volume 2) #2New Titans Annual #10Robin Annual (Volume 2) #3Steel Annual (Volume 2) #1Superboy Annual (Volume 4) #1Superman Annual (Volume 2) #6Superman: The Man of Steel Annual #3Team Titans Annual #2

Related Alternate TimelinesAmalgam UniverseImaginary StoriesIntercompany CrossoversJust ImagineMultiversePossible FuturesRealworlds
Advertisement