Annotations to Kingdom #2

Unless otherwise specified, descriptions are moving left to right and top to bottom.

Kingdom Come is referred to as KC.

Page 1. The events on this page are deliberately resonant to the events in KC #1, page 15 (25 in the collected edition), with similarities in the location and nature of the disaster, as well as how people are alerted the disaster (via a newscast from a newscaster who looks roughly similar in both scenes).

Page 4. Panel 2. As we'll see by the end of this issue, the cloaked & silver-haired character that Rip Hunter is speaking to, who also appeared in Kingdom #1 (pages 17-18), is not, in fact, the Phantom Stranger, as the reader was led to believe, but someone else entirely.

Page 6. Panel 2. In KC #1, the destruction of Captain Atom is what caused the Kansas Disaster.

Page 10. Panel 2. See page 37, panel 3.

Page 14. Panel 2. Amazo (first appearance Brave and the Bold #30) was an android constructed by JLA enemy Professor Ivo, who was designed to absorb the powers of every superbeing with which he came into contact. The recent DC One Million series established that versions of DC heroes and villains would appear time and again over the next million months; Amazo 2025 is, clearly, a future version of the android.

Page 19. Panel 4. In KC #3, page 35 (145 in the collected edition) the sword was described as "a gift from Hephaestus," and was presumably forged by him - and so one would assume unbreakable by mortal means. But, as we saw in New Year's Evil: Gog, Gog was empowered by, among others, Zeus, and so would presumably be able to break something made by Hephaestus.

Page 20. Panel 2. Back we go to Planet Krypton, which here closely resembles the first glimpse we got of the restaurant, in KC #1, page 9 (19 in the collected edition), panel 2. The artifacts we see are:

• in the lower left, the lantern of the Green Lantern's & the source of their power.
• in the upper left: the trident of Blue Devil; the old, 1960s DC logo (aka the body of Jonni DC); the boxing glove arrow and bow of Green Arrow; the camera Batarang.
• hanging from the ceiling is a duplicate of the rocket in which Superman, as a child, was rocketed to Earth, colored here in the dark blue, 1970s Earth-1 design.
• in the middle of the panel, a mannequin wearing a Batman costume in a vacuum tube. In KC #1 it was clearly the costume of the Adam West Batman of the 1960s television show.
• hanging from the ceiling in the upper right is a model of the Batplane of the GA Batman.

Page 21. Panel 1. The golden object on the wall above Nightstar and Ibn al-Xu'ffasch is the "astro-glider" of the New God Orion.

Panel 2. The model hanging from the ceiling bears the crest of the Blackhawks, the freedom-fighting pilots. This crest most closely resembles the Blackhawk crest seen in KC; the model, as Terence Chua points out, can be seen in the epilogue to KC.

Panel 5. The exterior of Planet Krypton is almost exactly the same as it was in KC #1, page 8 (18 in the collected edition), down to the Alex Toth-illustrations along the top of PK's front wall.

Page 22. Panel 4. "Titans, together!" is the traditional battle-cry of the Teen Titans. Several scenes in KC showed former Teen Titans grouped together; it could be that a version of the Teen Titans continued in the world of KC, and that Flash IV (Kid Flash) was a part of them.

Page 23. Panel 3. The Guardians of the Universe were the ultrapowerful figures who powered the lanterns from which the Green Lantern rings got their powers. The Source, in the DC Universe, is...well, it's a big energy source and might also be God (it's hard to describe).

Page 24. Panel 3. The Phantom Zone Projector is the instrument by which Superman, pre-Crisis, projected things and people into the Phantom Zone, a dimension discovered (pre-Crisis, at least) by Superman's father, Jor-El.

Page 25. Panel 1. The use of the Phantom Zone Projector as a last-ditch weapon against a seemingly-invulnerable foe has been seen in comics at least once before, in Alan Moore's magnificent Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Mark Waid must have known that its use here would draw comparisons to Moore, however, because as we quickly see, it didn't work - at least, as Tom Galloway points out, it works, just not as much as Batman wanted it to.

Panel 2. The Silver Age Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, long made use of trick arrows, such as the boxing glove arrow seen earlier, on page 20, panel 2. The arrows in this quiver are more of them.

Panel 3. These are three versions of the Green Lantern rings. The one on the left is the ring of the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Steve & JHS & Kate Ryan point out that the ring in the middle is the ring of the evil Green Lantern, Power Ring, of the Crime Syndicate (the evil Justice League) of Earth-3. The ring on the left is, presumably, the ring of the Silver Age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.

Panel 4. The Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds, used a WW1 gasmask and a gasgun as his weapons.

Panel 5. In current DC continuity Jonah Hex, the cowboy anti-hero, was stuffed and mounted after his death, as seen in the Jonah Hex Spectacular. In the collected edition of KC, on page 206, we saw that Hex's corpse, in a vacuum tube like this one, was in Planet Krypton.

Page 25. Panel 1. The KC Wonder Woman is using the shield of the Atomic Knight (first introduced in Strange Adventures #117), a character who was initially caught in a virtual reality post- apocalyptic scenario, and then later began to have precognitive visions. Tom Galloway adds that the shield was constructed by the Gardner Grayle, the Knight, after he was removed from the VR scenario.

Panel 2. Nightstar is using the Ibisstick, the magic wand used by Ibis (first appearance: Whiz #1), the magic-using Egyptian prince formerly of the Fawcett line of comics and last seen in the pages of DC's Power of Shazam. As M. Horne points out, Superman is using Blue Devil's trident against Gog. Tom Galloway suggests that one of the guns that Ibn al-Xu'ffasch is using is Adam Strange's.

Page 27. Panels 3-4. "I have had enough" is a somewhat trite supervillain expression, but as Michael Starsinic points out, this was said near the end of Crisis, by the Anti-Monitor; this may be Waid having Gog quote the Anti-Monitor, rather than just echoing a cliche.

Page 30. Panel 4. Flying into the hole into Hypertime is the Green Lantern's power lantern.

Page 31. Panel 1. The boxing glove arrow is, alas, headed for Hypertime, too.

Pages 33-34. Now I know what Hypertime is: the Hell to which annotators sentenced.

Page 33. Presumably all of these visions no longer exist in DC continuity, which is why they're only visible here. Note that in every case the image is (or seems to be) taken directly from the original comics themselves, rather than the images being recreated by Kingdom's artists.

(As usual, working left to right and top to bottom).

• Wally West from Elseworlds: Justice Riders.
• Captain Carrot (first appearance: New Teen Titans #16), the mightiest hero of Earth-C and leader of its premier superteam, the Zoo Crew.
• JHS corrects me and notes that this is Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. In World's Finest #215 Batman Jr. and Superman Jr., the future children of Batman and Superman, were introduced (this occurred on Earth-E, btw). Tom Galloway adds that a later issue of World's Finest retconned the Super-Sons away as a computer simulation run by Superman in the Fortress of Solitude.
• the Silver Age Hawkman & Hawkwoman, whose existence was erased (due to a perhaps-permanently befouled continuity) in Zero Hour. They are drawn by Joe Kubert, surely the quintessential Hawk-artist.
• Zook, the Silver Age pet/sidekick of J'Onn J'Onzz, the Martian Manhunter; Zook first appeared in Detective Comics #311.
• returning to the left, Robin II. JHS corrects me and says that "Robin II is from a series of imaginary stories from the early 60's, in either Batman or Detective. These stories featured an adult Dick Grayson as Batman II, and Bruce Wayne and Kathy Kane's son as Robin II." Terence Chua adds that Bruce Wayne, Jr., was Robin II, and Betty Kane, the former Bat-Girl, was Batwoman II.
• I don't know who the pig-tailed child is; a number of people pointed out that she is a Czarnian, a member of Lobo's race.
• I don't know where the rocket escaping from the exploding Krypton is from.
• returning to the left, I don't know who the grimacing character to the left of Offspring is.
• Terence Chua & Thad Doria identify the black-haired character beneath Offspring's foot as the Darkseid-raised Superman from the Superman: The Dark Side Elseworlds.
• Bat-Mite. First introduced in Detective Comics #267, Bat-Mite was a fifth-dimensional imp who idolized Batman.
• MickeyCT & Jerry Boyajian & Thad Doria point out that the snarling woman is Supergirl, from the Power Girl issue of DC's Tangent line.
• the albino monster is Solomon Grundy, the failed plant elemental and enemy of the Golden Age Green Lantern, in what I believe is a panel taken from his origin issue, All-American Comics #61.
• Johnny Quick, the blond speedster who was killed not too long ago in Flash.
• Cosmic Boy, Sun Boy, and Lightning Lad, of the Legion of Super-Heroes, in their Silver Age costumes.
• Metamorpho, the elemental superhero.
• that's Plastic Man, and I'm pretty sure the art is by Bob Oskner - perhaps this is from an issue of Jerry Lewis? Or possibly from the 1960s Plastic Man revival?
• returning to the left, the character with the "USA" chest emblem is the Superman from
• the Superman: A Nation Divided Elseworlds. (Thanks to Loren & Jerry Boyajian for iding the issue)
• JHS notes that the bald man is the Martian Manhunter, drawn by Joe Certa. Joe Certa was the definitive SA Martian Manhunter artist, drawing every one of his 131 stories.
• Loki Carbis points out that "the mustached man is an alternate timeline Bruce Wayne - the image here is from the recent "Seven Soldiers of Probability" story in JLA v2 #19. This story was also written by Mark Waid." Scott Sherwood, on the other hand, says that "the mustached man is the Earth-2 Bruce Wayne, as drawn by Joe Staton and (I think) Bob Layton. This would have been either in one of the last All Star Comics from the '70's, or from Adventure Comics, which picked up the JSA series after All Star folded."
• the Silver Age Superboy.
• Hawkman again; Mark Coale points out that this is the Silver Age Hawkman from his Brave and the Bold issues.
• returning to the left, that is Wonder Tot, the baby Wonder Woman (don't ask) from Wonder Woman #122.
• Darkseid, from the recent JLA "Rock of Ages" story arc, which was a dystopic future.
• Ma and Pa Kent, as seen in the Silver Age Superboy.
• the Spectre, the ghostly hero who is a manifestation of the wrath of God. Tom Galloway points out that this art is done by Bernard Baily, the co-creator, with Jerry Siegel, of the Spectre.
• Jor-El and Superman, in all likelihood from one of the Silver Age issues in which Superman traveled back in time to visit his father: Superman #123, #141, or Action #283 or #314.
• Power Girl, from the second wave of books in DC's Tangent line. (Thanks to Loren for iding her)
• Kamandi, in a shot from one of the covers of his book (possibly #7 or #8, adds Owen Erasmus). Kamandi, introduced in Kamandi #1, was a savage teenager in a postapocalyptic future world of anthropomorphic animals.
• returning to the left, Rocco Morocco suggests, and Thad Doria confirms, that the masked character is the Batman from DC's Tangent line.
• JHS notes that this is Superman (under the influence of red kryptonite, as I originally noted) from Superman/Batman Generations #2, the 1959 chapter.
• Brainiac and Koko. Brainiac, first introduced in Action Comics #242, is an alien humanoid computer from the planet of Colu. He's seen here in his Silver Age, green-skinned form. Koko is his "alien pet."
• Terence Chua & Thad Doria note that the character with the black sun emblem on his chest is Orion, from Superman: The Dark Side.
• returning to the left, the Catwoman from an Elseworlds, although I couldn't tell you which one.
• Proty II. Proty II, introduced in Adventure Comics #316, was an alien of the shapeshifting race of Proteans who joined the Legion of Super-Heroes as Chameleon Boy's pet.This scene is from Adventure Comics #341, (not #340 as I originally said - thanks to Sidne Gail Ward for correcting me) in which Proty transformed into the grotesque creature seen here so as to better fight Computo.
• Xeen Arrow. During Jack Kirby's classic run on the Silver Age Green Arrow (Adventure Comics #250-255), the Silver Age Green Arrow, in a wonderful two-part story (#252-253 - "The Mystery of the Giant Arrows" & "Prisoners of Dimension Zero"), was drawn, along with his faithful sidekick Speedy, into another dimension, one in which everyone and everything was much taller. Xeen Arrow is hero of Dimension Zero.
• Julie Schwartz, the hero of Earth-Prime. In Flash v1 #179, the Flash traveled to Earth-Prime, which was the Earth of us (you and I, the reader) and met Julie Schwartz and a few other creative types at DC comics. I wondered whether this scene is from Flash #179 or one of the later issues in which Earth-Prime appeared; Tom Galloway notes that "with Julie is the Cosmic Treadmill built by Barry to return to Earth-1, using parts that Julie obtained. The Treadmill later sent Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin to Earth-2 for one of the odder JLA-JSA team-ups around JLA #124-125. The scene is thus either from Flash #179, or perhaps from a composite of a couple of panels from there which I recall being used in a Daily Planet house page for a profile on Julie."
• returning to the lower left, Quisp (first introduced in Aquaman v1 #1), the Silver Age sidekick of Aquaman.
• the outline of the Batman from what "Mort Weisinger" and JHS identify as Gotham By Gaslight.
• another scene with Wonder Tot, this time accompanied by Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, and Hippolyte. Tom Galloway adds "In which "Impossible Stories" (since at the time, Wonder Tot and WonderGirl were Wonder Woman's younger selves) Hippolyta went by "Wonder Queen". These stories were put together by the Amazon's Magic Sphere. However, at least one story either didn't make that clear or was misread by someone as Wonder Girl then showed up as a separate character from Wonder Woman in Teen Titans."
• Hawkgirl, Jimmy Olsen, and Aquaman, from JLA: The Nail.

Page 34. Starting in the upper left:

• Ultraa. First introduced in JLA v1 #153, Ultraa, a refugee from an exploding planet, grew up on Earth-Prime as that world's first super-hero; he came into conflict with the Justice League and eventually retired to be among the aborigines of Australia. (Thanks to Sean Walsh I now know that Ultraa has appeared post-Crisis)
• the Joker of DC's Tangent line of comics.
• returning to the left, Superboy and Krypto.
• Superman Red and Superman Blue - the original, Silver Age Superman Red & Superman Blue, from an Imaginary Story in Superman #162, in which an accident in the Fortress of Solitude splits Superman into two beings, who proceed to recreate Krypton, get rid of Kryptonite & all crime on Earth, and marry Lois Lane and Lana Lang.
• what "Mort Weisinger" & JHS identify as the Atomic Knights from Strange Adventures (Thanks to Michael Standish & Tom Galloway for correcting the book error here). Owen Erasmus adds that it's from their very first splash page, in Strange Adventures #117.
• returning to the left, a Superman, from the Superman: Red Son Elseworlds. (Thanks to Mark Coale & Loren for the id)
• what "Mort Weisinger" identifies as Nova, Superman's secret identity in World's Finest #178, when "Supes lost his powers and tried to carry on as a powerless superhero." Tom Galloway adds that this was an "Imaginary Story."
• the Silver Age Insect Queen.
• returning to the left, Superman from the Superman: War of the Worlds Elseworlds.. (Thanks to Mark Coale & Loren for the id)
• Batman from Dark Knights of the Round Table Elseworlds. (Thanks to Loren for the id)
• the Flash from DC's Tangent line of comics.
• returning to the left, Superman from the Superman: A Nation Divided Elseworlds.
• the Golden Age Batplane.
• Orion of the New Gods, in his ugly Return of the New Gods costume. (Thanks to Sean Walsh & JHS for iding him)
• and, in the lower right, Bat-Mite and Robin, again.

Page 35. Panel 1. "Mort Weisinger" identifies the two in the upper right as "the 30th century descendants of Lex Luthor and Mr. Mxyzptlk (the L is Luthor's descendant, the M is Mxyzptlk's brother - Annotator), rushing to the aid of the adult Legion of Superheroes." (I should have gotten this one myself) This occurred in Adventure Comics #354-355.

• Loren notes that the Superman in the lower left is Black Zero, from Karl Kesel's Superboy Hypertime story arc.
• The half-obscured Power Girl above Wonder Woman's head, Loren notes, is from the second wave of books from DC's Tangent lines.
• Terence Chua & Todd VerBeek & Thad Doria add that the Superman in the upper right is from the War of the Worlds Elseworlds.

Panel 4. An aging Captain Marvel, which "Mort Weisinger" suggests may be from the Power of Shazam tie-in to DC One Million; Mark Coale suggests it might be the Captain Marvel from the Power of Shazam "Legends of the Dead Earth" issue. And the bearded Green Arrow and Hal Jordan; Tom Galloway corrects me and notes that this is new art, rather than a reproduction from an existing comic.

Page 36. Panel 3. A nice moment here, of the modern Superman gazing up in awe at the GA Superman. And, as Jay J notes, the GA Superman smiling back.

Page 37. Panel 3. More than a couple of times in this issue, similarities have (clearly deliberately) been drawn between the silver-haired character and the Phantom Stranger. On page 10, panel 2, the Quintessence referred to the character as "Stranger." Here we see that the silver-haired character is Jonathan, the son of Wonder Woman and Superman. (What last name would he take, I wonder?). Like the Phantom Stranger, Jonathan was on speaking terms with the Quintessence. And his collar, at least, is the same as the Phantom Stranger's. All of which leads to the (no doubt predictable) speculation: is Jonathan the Phantom Stranger? I would say not, since the Stranger's mysterious origin and unexplained past is a large part of his charm - but I could well be wrong. He might also be some sort of riff on Pariah - but where Pariah brought doom, Jonathan brings hope?

Page 40. The Golden Age Superman, and now left available to be brought back into continuity. Good.

Thanks to Jerry Boyajian; Loki Carbis; Terence Chua; Mark Coale, as always; Coottiehead; MickeyCT; Deszaras; Johanna Draper; Owen Erasmus; Avid Eye; Tom Galloway; Bruce Grubb; M. Horne; Jay J; JHS; Mark Katzoff; Loren; Sean MacDonald; Rocco Morocco; Kate Ryan; Scott Sherwood; David J. Snyder; Michael Standish; Michael Starsinic; Steve; Fly Taggart; Dean Velasco; Todd VerBeek; Sean Walsh; and Sidne Gail Ward.

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