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. 
- — 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:
- The Silent Cavalry
- Batwoman (First appearance)
- Ace (First appearance)
- Black Canary (First appearance)
- Bruce Wayne (First full appearance)
- Condor (First appearance)
- Dinah Lance (First appearance)
- Doctor Fate (First appearance)
- Dragon (First appearance)
- Jade (First appearance)
- Menagerie (First appearance)
- Obsidian (First appearance)
- Oliver Queen (First appearance)
- Ralph Dibny (First appearance)
- Red Hood (First appearance)
- Theodore Kord (First appearance)
- Wildcat (First appearance)
- Zatara (First appearance)
- Justice League (First appearance)
- Adam Blake (First appearance)
- Aleea Strange (First appearance)
- Alloy
- Aquaman (First appearance)
- Atom-Smasher (First appearance)
- Avia (First appearance)
- Big Barda (First appearance)
- Brainiac's Daughter (First appearance)
- Bulletman (First appearance)
- Doctor Mid-Nite (First appearance)
- Donna Troy (First appearance)
- Flash
- Golden Guardian (First appearance)
- Green Lantern
- Hawkman
- Hourman (First appearance)
- King Marvel (First appearance)
- Mister Miracle (First appearance)
- Nightstar
- Phoebus (First appearance)
- Power Woman (First appearance)
- Queen Marvel (First appearance)
- Red Arrow (First appearance)
- Red Robin (First appearance)
- Red Tornado (First appearance)
- Robotman (First appearance)
- Sandman (First appearance)
- Scott Free (First appearance)
- Starman
- Superman
- The Ray (First appearance)
- Tornado Champion (First appearance)
- Wonder Woman
- The Whiz (First appearance)
- Arthur Curry (First appearance)
- Orion (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Brain Trust (First appearance)
- Americommando (First appearance)
- Minutemen (First appearance)
- Cathedral (First appearance)
- Joker (Dies in flashback)
- Magog (Flashback and main story)
- Mankind Liberation Front
- Billy Batson (First appearance)
- Edward Nigma (First appearance)
- Ibn al Xu'ffasch (First appearance)
- King (First appearance)
- Kobra (First appearance)
- Lex Luthor (First appearance)
- Red, White and Blue (First appearance)
- Selina Kyle (First appearance)
- Vandal Savage (First appearance)
- Tokyo Rose (First appearance)
- Kabuki Kommando (First appearance)
- Samurai (First appearance)
- Von Bach (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Secretary General Wyrmwood (First appearance)
- Bar Patrons
- 666
- Ambush Bug (First appearance)
- Blackhawk (First appearance)
- Brother Power (First appearance)
- Captain Boomerang (First appearance)
- Catwoman II (First appearance)
- Creeper (First appearance)
- Deadman (First appearance)
- Doctor Bedlam (First appearance)
- Gentleman Ghost (First appearance)
- Harlequin
- Human Bomb (First appearance)
- Icicle (First appearance)
- Lady Blackhawk (First appearance)
- Lightning
- Lobo (First appearance)
- Marvin White (First appearance)
- Metamorpho (First appearance)
- Mister Scarlet (First appearance)
- Mister X (First appearance)
- Mysteryman (First appearance)
- Nuculoid
- OWAC (First appearance)
- Phantom Lady (First appearance)
- Plastic Man (First appearance)
- Question (First full appearance)
- Rorschach (First appearance)
- The Shadow (First appearance)
- Sherlock Holmes (First appearance)
- Shiva (First appearance)
- Solomon Grudy (First appearance)
- Spy Smasher (First appearance)
- Swamp Thing (First appearance)
- Tawky Tawny (First appearance)
- Ultra (First appearance)
- Virman Vundabar (First appearance)
- Zan & Jayna (First appearances)
- Parademons
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
- The United Nations building resembles the Justice League's Hall of Justice from the Super Friends cartoon show.
- 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
- 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
Links and References
