Writer Mark Waid's most significant contribution to comics was unquestionably 1996's DC mini-series titled Kingdom Come, an Elseworld narrative in which superheroes we know and love are retired and a new generation of compromised heroes arise.
And now Waid returns to this world, or Earth 22, in the upcoming World's Finest #20 featuring Batman and Superman as the superhero duo confront their Earth 22 counterparts.
In an interview with CBR, Waid revealed that now was the right time to return to this world but as a prequel, not a sequel. "This gives us a chance to explore all those characters in the Kingdom Come Universe, how they're different from our characters, and [how they] became the Kingdom Come versions that we know," Waid said. "We get to touch on a lot of characters that we didn't get to see in Kingdom Come, which seems impossible because there are 8000 characters in Kingdom Come. But we touched very little on the villains and supporting characters, and there's a lot of room to play there."
While the upcoming issue does not feature artistic contributions from KC co-creator Alex Ross, Waid was very mindful of taking on Earth 22 without him. "The first thing to be mindful of is to not undermine that in any way [and] to try to work within that continuity. We talk all the time about this, and I wouldn't have approached this story at all if it had been a direct sequel to Kingdom Come with those characters. I've already done The Kingdom, and to do it without Alex at this point would seem futile and foolish. Setting it as a prequel, among other things, gives me a chance to carry forth a lot of the ideas that Alex and I talked about that didn't get into the series originally."
World Finest #20 goes on sale on October 17th.