Monthly Archives: March 2011

Cover to the Absolute Kingdom Come hardcover edition (2006). Art by Alex Ross.

In this issue, Ethan, Aaron, and Shea take on a fan favorite when they put Kingdom Come on the Casting Couch.  After that, Shea looks into his deepest fears as he does a Characterization of Pennywise from It.  Finally, we wrap things up with a Confessions of a Movie Snob on the new Family Guy DVD release, It’s a Trap!

About Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come is a four-issue comic book mini-series published in 1996 by DC Comics. It was written by Alex Ross and Mark Waid and painted in gouache by Ross, who also developed the concept from an original idea (although some have claimed that the story holds strong similarities with the 1987 Alan Moore proposal, Twilight of the Superheroes). Set some twenty years into the future of the then-current DC Universe, it deals with a growing conflict between “traditional”superheroes, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Justice League, and a growing population of largely amoral and dangerously irresponsible new vigilantes. Between these two groups is Batman and his assembled team, who attempt to contain the escalating disaster, foil the machinations of Lex Luthor, and prevent a world-ending superhuman war.

When comic book artist Alex Ross was working on Marvels, published in 1994, he decided to create a similar “grand opus” about characters from DC Comics. Ross wrote a 40-page handwritten outline of what would become Kingdom Come and pitched the idea to James Dale Robinson as a project similar in scope to Watchmen (1986–1987) and Alan Moore‘s infamous “lost work” Twilight of the Superheroes. Ultimately, Ross teamed with writer Mark Waid, who was recommended by DC editors due to his strong familiarity with the history of DC superheroes.

It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King.

About It/Pennywise

“It” apparently originated in a void containing and surrounding the universe, a place referred to in the novel as the “Macroverse” (a concept similar to the later established Todash Darkness of The Dark Tower series). It’s most commonly used name is Bob Gray or Pennywise (at several points in the novel, It claims its true name to be Robert Gray) and is christened “It” by the group of children who later confront It. Likewise, It’s true form is never truly comprehended. It’s favorite form is that of a clown (with fangs and large claws when it stalks a child) known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and Its final form in the physical realm is that of an enormous female spider, although It is possibly male (or more Likely has no gender) the Losers Club considers it Female. It’s spider form is closest the human mind can get to approximating It’s actual physical form. It’s natural form exists in a realm beyond the physical, which It calls the “deadlights.” As such, the deadlights are never seen and It’s true form outside the physical realm is never revealed, only described as writhing, destructive orange lights. Coming face to face with the deadlights drives any living being instantly insane (a common H. P. Lovecraft device). Bill comes dangerously close to seeing the deadlights, but successfully defeats It before this happens, though during their first confrontation with It, Ben believes that he nearly sees It’s true form, and nearly panics as a result. The only known person to face the deadlights and survive is Bill’s wife, Audra Phillips, whose encounter with the deadlights nevertheless renders her temporarily catatonic.

It’s natural enemy is “The Turtle,” another ancient Macroverse dweller resembling a God-like deity, who, eons ago, created our universe, and possibly others. The Turtle shows up again in King’s series The Dark Tower. The book suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent creator referred to as “the Other”. The Turtle and It are eternal enemies (creation vs. consumption). It arrived in our world in a massive, cataclysmic event similar to an asteroid impact, in the place that would, in time, become Derry, Maine, where It waited for humanity to appear.

It’s power is apparently quite vast; during the second Ritual of Chüd, It offers the Losers money, power, and supernatural lifespans if they spare It. Of course, It could merely have been bluffing in order to save itself. Nonetheless, It is able to manifest in multiple places at once (at one point, It possesses Alvin Marsh, Beverly’s father, and Henry Bowers at the same time) and choose to make itself and anything related to itself visible to some while invisible to others. When It confronts Richie Tozier in 1985, It threatens to give him prostate cancer, a brain tumor, and turn his tongue into pus, and Richie is convinced that It could actually perform such feats.

Through the novel, some events are described through It’s point of view, through which It describes Itself as the “superior” being, with the Turtle as someone “close to his superiority” and humans as mere “toys.” It describes that It prefers to kill and devour children, not by nature, but rather because the fears of children are easier to interpret in a physical form and thus children are easier to fill with terror, which It says is akin to “salt(ing) the meat”. It is continuously surprised by the children’s victories and near the end, and It begins to wonder if It perhaps is not as superior as It had once thought. However, It never believes that the individual children are strong enough to defeat It; though It suspects the presence of “the Other” working through them as a group, It dismisses the possibility — an error which proves fatal.\

Promotional poster for It's a Trap!

About It’s a Trap!

“It’s a Trap!” is an hour-long episode of the Fox animated series Family Guy released in 2010. It is the sequel and final episode to the Star Wars parodies “Blue Harvest” and “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side“, which all make the three-part Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy.

The episode was written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman and directed by Peter Shin. It retells the story of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as “Blue Harvest” did with Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and “Something, Something, Something Dark Side” did with Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back by recasting characters from Family Guy into roles from the film. The release of this special-length episode thus completes the parody remakes of theoriginal Star Wars trilogy.

RedPhoneZone Issue #42 [ 1:03:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download