In 1996 DC Comics under the guise of Elseworlds released a four issue mini series called Kingdom Come. Like wildfire, the series spread across the country, and became one of the highest selling miniseries of all time.
While the series made its plastic debut in 2000 as part of the Elseworlds line up, in 2003 Kingdom Come was garnered its own series of figures. Much like Alex Ross's artwork for the comic book themselves, the figures were amazing looking, right down to the finest detail.
The packaging itself left little to desire, though it fit accordingly with the comics. Black everywhere, with a logo at the top. Towards the bottom, the figures name.
DC Direct released three series in total, which in this humble writer's opinion was not enough. The books left so much more room for more figures that could have been produced. But, DC (it seemed) was on some kind of kick during this time to produce and release as many figure lines as possible (based on the hottest titles in their libraries), and while series often times got a strong push onto the market, they seemed quickly abandoned for the next best thing in the DC world.
The three series included the following figures;
SERIES 1
Wonder Woman
Superman
Green Lantern
Hawkman
SERIES 2
Kid Flash
Shazam!
Batman
Red Robin
SERIES 3
Deadman
The Flash
Magog
Armored Wonder Woman
Two exclusive figures and one "special" set were released to coincide with the line. The two exclusive figures were both Toyfare exclusives. The first, Red Arrow, and the second, Wonder Woman (which was the same as the one from series one, but displayed the all new series 2 figures on the back). Both also sported the Toyfare logo at the top of the package.
Released as a special set was the "Alex Ross's Superman". The three pack was produced in very low quantities, and right from the start was priced much higher than it should have been. We are personally not a fan of toys (or anything for that matter) being produced for the sole sake of being valuable. So when we see high priced items like this, we immediately pass. We call them, "Expensive for the sole sake of being expensive," or "Forced rarity." This particular item fits into both of those categories.
The set includes three variations of the same Superman figure. The first represents the original sculpture. The second represents the test shot prototype, and the third and final is the completed figure as released to the mass market.
As mentioned above, the figures actually debuted in 2000 as part of the Elseworld series of figures, which happen to be these here. As you can see, the packaging is no different from the one released with the actual series related figures. This was generally the case with the Elseworld figures. None of them (regardless of which series they were from) ever fell under the banner of Elseworlds. Instead, each figure was always packaged in unique packaging to the books they represented.
Series two and three contained a total of five figures, one of which was a two pack;
ELSEWORLDS SERIES 2
The Spectre and Norman McCay
Jade
ELSEWORLDS SERIES 3
Nightstar
Aquaman
Blue Beetle
Of course, none of these figures would be around if it weren't for these amazing books below.
The four part mini series took the comic world by storm when it hit shelves in 1996. At the time, the books were some of the most expensive "off the rack" books at $5.99. This however was nothing compared to what the secondary market would see them sky rocket up to. While those prices have since dropped considerably, collecting all four books can still cost you two to three times more than purchasing one of the many collected trade paperbacks of the series which have been released in the past 10+ years.
If you haven't read this series, we highly recommend it.
Join us next Monday for our look at CHiPs!
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