Kingdom Come

The series was written by Mark Waid and painted by Alex Ross, who used live models and photographic references to create the photorealistic painted style that became his signature. Ross had previously gained fame for "Marvels" (1994) with Kurt Busiek, and "Kingdom Come" cemented his reputation as one of comics' premier painters.

Set in a future DC Universe, the story begins when Superman has gone into self-imposed exile after a new generation of violent antiheroes — led by the ruthless Magog — replaces traditional superheroes. When these new heroes cause a catastrophe, Superman returns to reassemble the Justice League and impose order, setting up a devastating conflict with Batman's faction and human governments.

The original miniseries ran for four issues in 1996, published under DC Comics' Elseworlds imprint, which was reserved for stories set outside mainstream continuity. The series was later collected into a trade paperback that became one of DC's best-selling and most consistently reprinted graphic novels.

DC published a direct sequel called "The Kingdom" in 1999, also written by Mark Waid, though without Alex Ross on full art duties. Waid later revisited the Kingdom Come Superman in the pages of "Justice Society of America" in 2007, bringing that version of the character into the main DC continuity temporarily.