Customer Reviews

Superman: Our Worlds at War, Book 1

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Despite what many say this is not a horrible story. In fact, the plot itself is quite good. The problem is that it was written by seven different writers, each doing thier own chunks of the storyline. They all do a fine job, but the end result is a disjointed narrative. If this had been a mini series written and drawn by one creative team(like Crisis on Infinite earths) it would be a classic. As it is, it was not and is just a fun, but mindless and ulitimately forgettable romp.

Let me start off by saying that I am a big-fan of a lot of the writers involved in this project, i.e. Jeph Loeb, Joe Kelly. Individually, these guys have produced some of the most memorable super-hero stories of the last few years. But this massive cross-over leaves a lot to be desired, especially a cross-over so heavily advertised and touted as "Will shatter the DC Heroes forever".

A lot of the reviewers are right when they say that the story makes no sense. The readers are basically bombarded with cast of characters, slug-fest after slug-fest after slug-fest, massive casualties and a vain attempt at being emotional. The story basically revolves around Imperix probes landing on Earth and for some cliched reasons wants to destroy Earth. Of course Superman, the JLA and every major DC heroes are going to try and stop them. There is one battle after another...people die (Aquaman, Steel, Wonder Woman's Mom, The Kents etc.) There is also a Supergirl story thrown in there for no reason...and the story is pretty bad. The idea however had a lot of potential but the pacing and the particular focus of different writers drag it downhill. A better story is created out of the aftermath of Our Worlds at War, which is JLA: The Obisidian Age (see my review).

Superman also teams up with Darkseid to stop Imperix but the nature of their relationship escapes me...one moment they are advicing each other and the next moment, Darkseid is beating on Superman to get him to wear a suit?!

The art is pretty bad also. I never was a big fan of manga and Ed. McG mostly draws manga. There are other artists whose work is sub-par. The best of the lost being Doug Mahnke.

My advice is to skip over this arc. It is pointless, confusing and you'll soon wish for a refund (anybody want to buy mine?). Trust me when I say you won't miss a thing. This money is better spent on JLA: Trial by Fire or JLA: Obisidian Age.

One of the staples to Supes personal history is the fact that he's held to standards that other superheroes might not be able to match ... until now. Reading Superman say the words, "I'm going to kill him," is perhaps the most startling revelation in the two-parter trade paperback OUR WORLDS AT WAR. Despite some negative reaction from a large part of the Super-fan base, OWAW is a good read but far from great. It presents a Superman that readers largely haven't seen before, one driven by a passionate instinct for revenge. While the books do possess some continuity issues, there are parts of the story important to our time: acts of terrorism, good surrendering to evil, the loss of life in times of war, etc. However, these two books do suffer from one crucial shortcoming that appears to be a growing trend in crossover / trade paperbacks, and that's the fact that the reader might be told of pivotal events several times from differing perspectives ... once from the Superman installment, once from the Young Justice installment, and once from a Wonder Woman installment. Whereas the end result should be interesting, it's far more confusing here, as some events toward the climax are reviewed slightly out-of-sequence. That said, a Darkseid story is always welcome at my house, and I enjoyed the pure escapism of a reasonably entertaining Superman story for what it was worth.

Would I recommend purchase? Erg. These two books are rather pricey for a story that isn't as tightly woven as it could've been. I would have rather seen the publishers create one volume, with a reasonable price, than two with a slightly higher than necessary pricetag. Damn capitalism. Damn commercialism. If you can get your hands on copies to borrow, I'd take that route first.

Every so often, it seems the DC bigshots decide to scale up the traditional superhero battles between good and evil. Usually, this involves a sort of "mega villan" where every superhero, their cousin, the army, and their arch nemesis have to pitch in to avoid universal destruction. As Doctor Evil would say, pretty standard really. This is basically a in continuity version of Crisis on Infine Earths (which is great as well). Our Worlds at War part I & II continue this fine tradition of throwing out a huge, evil pinyata for our heroes, and villians, to wail on.

The two books are loaded with great action, but there are some very good character moments as well. Superman has to overcome his doubt and uncertainty in the wake of his (supposed) parents death. Surpisingly, some of the best moments are between Supes and his long time enemy Lex Luthor. While they still hate each other's guts, both men realise they have to set aside not only their rivalry, but their preceptions of each other to save the world. They actually have to *trust* each other and work together as a *real* team. The two might still hate each other by book's end, but you get the feeling they understand each other better. Lets just say by the end of the story, Superman gets mad, REALLY mad. People who value their lives should learn not to do that. Kudos to the team for bringing back a lot of interesting supporting characters back into the limelight. World War II veteran Frank Rock and telepathic British badass Manchester Black both make cameo appearences (with a pretty important impact on the war's strategy).

I find it a little silly people criticise these books because they're "rip offs" and "unorigional". Hello? The entire history of comic books is ripping off other people's work. The only good ideas are the ones you steal. These trade paper backs lose a star for not including the JSA issue of Our World's At War (which is a pretty important part of the plot) and for some inconsistency in the art work. Overall though, if you want to see some old fashion superhero smackdown, you really can't go wrong with Our Worlds At War.

what a mess...really i sat down with this and barely understood a single thing that was going on...does aquaman die, for real?? wonder woman to?? is steel dead?? whats doomsday doing here...whys there a random supergirl story (with awful art) chucked in there...why is superman fighting with darkseid one moment and then with him the next...whys zod there...whos the random ghost girl luthor keeps seeing...

non of this makes sense...

not the way to do crossovers at all

the best work ive seen done with superman in recent years has been on JLA by grant morrison...buy some of that

avoid this unless you enjoy being confused to the high heavens

This is a great story. The only real problem is that DC decided to call this collection "Superman" Our Worlds At War. By making it a Superman book, they chose to collect only the issues that feature him or Supergirl, Superboy, Wonder Dog. Since this was originally a story that crossed over into all kinds of DC comics, not every issue was reprinted here. Which is fine being that Superman IS that main character in the story and all that's important is in here.

So what might seem confusing to some, is really a great story of awesome proportions.

This book is a collection of one of the worst "earth shattering" DC events in a long time.

I'm not sure if it's the story or the way it's presented (maybe parts are missing) but it absolutely makes no sense whatsoever. It's boring, convoluted and confusing. The art is passable, and even good in certain issues, but that's not enough to keep me interested.

What a mess. This is why I stopped collecting comics on a regular basis and started buying TPBs/Graphic Novels. This is a waste of paper.