The World's Greatest Super-Heroes
| The World's Greatest Super-Heroes | |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Publication date | July 6, 2005 |
| Main character(s) | Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Justice League of America |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Paul Dini and Alex Ross |
| Artist(s) | Alex Ross |
The World's Greatest Super-Heroes is the name to the oversized slipcased hardcover collection, consisting of six oversized graphic novels all created by writer Paul Dini and artist Alex Ross. The graphic novels are; Superman: Peace on 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 own photorealism, and the books themselves were created after the success of Ross' and writer Mark Waid's famous Kingdom Come.
After helping to start the Christmas season in Metropolis; Superman finds a starving young woman that leads to him look up the topic of world hunger. Wanting to help, Superman proposes to the United Nations to help to end world hunger through the gesture of spending a day delivering as much food as he can to settlements that need it anywhere on the planet, an idea met with significant controversy but ultimately given the go-ahead. With tankers filled with food, Superman flies to starving and impoverished locations all over the Earth, and is met with varying levels of gratitude, praise, fear and frenzy. Eventually, Superman arrives in a country whose militarized government warns against his help. In response to his persistence, they fire a chemical-weapon missile at where he is, with civilians below. He attempts to save the people by sending the cloud of poison into space, but the tanker is damaged and the food is poisoned. In the end, Superman makes a statement to the press, 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.
The story in Peace on Earth was conceived based on the Superman stories from the 1940s, specifically, the World War II-era stories where Superman would go out and fix the world's 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: a stand-in for Jesus Christ.
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