- The World's Greatest Super-Heroes
Supercbbox | title = The World's Greatest Super-Heroes
comic_color = background:#8080ff
format =
publisher =DC Comics |date=July 6 ,2005
main_char_team =Superman ,Batman , Captain Marvel,Wonder Woman ,Justice League of America
past_current_color=background:#5be85b
writers =Paul Dini andAlex Ross
artists =Alex Ross |"The World's Greatest Super-Heroes" is the name to the oversized slipcased
hardcover collection, consisting of six oversizedgraphic novel s all done by writerPaul Dini and artistAlex Ross . The graphic novels are; "Superman: Peace of Earth", "Batman: War on Crime", "Shazam!: Power of Hope", "Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth", "JLA: Secret Origins", and "JLA: Liberty and Justice". The artwork is of Ross' very ownphotorealism , and the books themselves were created after the success of Ross' and writerMark Waid 's famous Kingdom Come.This shouldn't be confused with "
The World's Greatest Superheroes ", the syndicatednewspaper comic strip that ran fromApril 9 1978 toFebruary 10 1985 .uperman: Peace on Earth
After helping to start the
Christmas season inMetropolis ;Superman finds a starving young woman that leads to him look up the topic ofworld hunger . Wanting to help, Superman announces at theUnited Nations his help to end world hunger, something everyone considers "thoughtless". Withtankers filled with food, Superman brings each of them to every starving location on Earth. But when Superman arrives at one country who doesn’t want his help, they fire a nuclear missile at where he is, with civilians are below. He makes work at saving the people by sending the nuke's poison into space, but the tanker is damaged and the food is poisoned, ending Superman’s mission in failure. In the end, Superman makes a statement quoting the old phrase "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he eats for a lifetime." His message to the world is for everyone to share their knowledge to anyone in need. He asks for the world to inspire others in hopes for true peace to live on.Batman: War on Crime
Bruce Wayne is in a business meeting with corrupt Randall Winters, as he proposes to "replace" the Bayside area. That night in Bayside,Batman hears gunshots in a store and captures the mugger. When he checks the bodies, he notices something familar and unexpected: a boy who saw his parents die. The boy, Marcus, is seen by Batman as a mirror to his eight-year-old self. The next night, Batman takes care of a gang with Marcus as one of them, and he runs off. The very next night, Batman stops a drug location and confronts a gun weiding Marcus. Talking him down, asking him not to become what killed his parents, and he lowers the gun. With Marcus having hope in his future, Bruce Wayne decides to make changes without the mask by helping rebuild Bayside, not replace it. Randall is not so happy, but due to other things going on, Randall is arrested. Batman knows he is fighting a war he cannot completely win, but the small victories encourage him to keep trying, and hopes that soon he'll move on from his pain.hazam!: Power of Hope
Billy Batson 's baseball plans are shot when he is asked to check out a mailbag filled with letters to Captain Marvel. One letter asks if Captain Marvel could stop at a hospital for sick children, and then, asCaptain Marvel , meets with the Shazam Wizard who tells him about a child who will need his help. Arriving at the hospital, all the kids are happy to see their hero, except for one in a wheelchair who Marvel thinks is the kid who needs his help. Captain Marvel decides to talk to the kid as Billy, and the kid asks if his father would ever hurt him. Later, Billy meets with the kid's father, and after getting nothing, threatens him as Captain Marvel, telling him not to hurt his son anymore. After his visit is over, Marvel learns from the Wizard that it was himself who needed help, and it is himself and the children that he has given hope towards. Happy as ever, Captain Marvel continues his adventures with Billy Batson playing ball with the kid in the wheelchair.Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth
Stopping a terrorist attack, and other heroic deeds, sends
Wonder Woman to return to her homeland ofThemyscira . Following that visit, she attempts to end the civil war in Asia, where Wonder Woman stops a tank when it carelessly almost kills a woman. The woman looks at Diana, and after asking who she is, disagrees that Diana is like her or one of them. This continues in the Middle East where rocks are thrown at her when she asks for their help. Talking to Clark Kent, she decides to work with humanity instead of above them, and learns things she wouldn't have as herself. Returning to the Middle East, she poses as one of the muslim women before stopping the men from using women as shields. Freeing them, the reactions are better and she is accepted as one of them. Wonder Woman notes that she is a heroine,demigoddess , and a warrior, but only in part, as she is like everyone else; a human being. She then prepares herself to be more part of the human world.JLA: Secret Origins
The origins of The Flash, Green Lantern,
Martian Manhunter ,Aquaman ,Green Arrow &Black Canary , andHawkman andHawkgirl , among others, are all told, ending with the origin of how Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter, follwed by Superman & Batman, formed theJustice League of America .JLA: Liberty and Justice
Wonder Woman comes to
Martian Manhunter with the urgent news fromThe Pentagon . With the other members with them, the heroes learn of a virus in Africa that led to a seize in communications. In Africa, the JLA find out that the virus is alien and has made the victims alive but prisoners in their own body. Flash races back only to fall ill from the virus. He is saved byAquaman , but he falls ill too until Diana saves them both. With panic over the news, Superman and J’onn prevent jets from bombing Africa. In the Batcave, Batman and The Atom find a cure after a voyage into Flash's body: the virus adapts the brains impulses, but can't if they are increased. by increasing the impulses, it can't adapt. Flash helps in making more of the cure while the entire JLA handles the panic across the globe. Back in Africa, thanks to the powers of Flash and Green Lantern, the virus successfully goes back into space. By J'onn addressing theUnited Nations , trust is restored between the humans and the superhumans, and J’onn and Superman take what's left of the virus and send it off. Even with differences, J'onn knows Earth sees the JLA as their hope and strength, because that's what Earth gives to the JLA as well.Trivia
*The story in "Peace on Earth" was conceived based on the Superman stories in the
1940 s. Specifically theWorld War II -era stories where Superman would go out and fix the worlds problems. In explaining the reason why he fails,Alex Ross said that the lesson Superman learns in "Peace on Earth" is that he leads by example, instead of becoming the brawn that humanity doesn't and shouldn't have. The artwork gave Superman another nod to which he has been alluded to: a stand-in forJesus Christ .*In creating his Batman, Ross based his take from the
1939 version by having him not have his vechiles like theBatmobile , and have him just appear on the scene. The reason was, at the time after the release ofBatman & Robin , Batman had gone too hi-tech, and Batman is scarier if he just appears. For the mask, Ross came up with the concept on having the mask act as a "second skin" by having the eye holes come right up to the upper and lower eyelids, so the mask "becomes the face".*Alex Ross faced a challenge in designing Wonder Woman by making her feminine and psychically imposing at the same time because she is an Amazon. Ross says that the only person he can identify with Wonder Woman is
Lynda Carter , just as much asChristopher Reeve is how he identities with in regards to Superman. The story in "Spirit of Truth", dealing with theMiddle East , was conceived beforeSeptember 11 ,2001 . The story was also done, not only to show the character as a real ambassador, but to make her real to the world.*Writer
Paul Dini and Alex Ross clearly are fans of Captain Marvel, which explains why they did a book on him next to DC's "Trinity" of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. The story, "Power of Hope", was conceived in order to show that, while superpowered, Captain Marvel was still a mortal man.*Alex Ross' inspiration for his Justice League of America came from their
Bronze Age of comic books version, as he grew up reading this version of the team. This is clearly showed as the lineup includesZatanna ,Phantom Stranger , Green Arrow & Back Canary, Hawkman & Hawkgirl, who didn't become members until that time. Ross would continued using this version in his Justice maxi-series from2005 -2007 . The same reason is applied as to why Barry Allen is The Flash and why Ross’Supergirl 's costume is of thehotpants version.External links
* [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=3002 "The World's Greatest Super-Heroes at DC Comics"]
* [http://www.alexrossart.com "Pages from the books are at Alex Ross Art"]
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