You know, you wouldn’t have thought that mixing two different styles of storytelling would work. After Kingdom Come’s release as a miniseries in 1996 which depicted a bleak futuristic world of superhero brutality, Alex Ross instantly became one of the classics. His artistic style of painting created an ultra-realistic appearance for his stories, but often his true talent was visible on variant covers which he continues to produce to this day. But meanwhile, on the alternate side, there was a writer of a series presenting a far less realistic world, but a more simplistic and noir one. Batman: The Animated Series was one of DC’s biggest successes outside the mainstream comics market and as it expanded into a universe of hundreds of heroes, Paul Dini became a household name for launching the company’s successful animation line. So, how are these two very different creators linked? Starting in 1998, DC launched a yearly series of sorts. The aim was, with Dini’s modern writing and Ross’s realistic paints, to rejuvenate and transform the stories of DC’s main heroes. Superman: Peace on Earth
is the first and is considered a classic Man of Steel story. But what makes it different from all the other Superman stories?
Superman: Peace on Earth was published in 1998 as an oversized longform graphic novel. It was written by Paul Dini with art by Alex Ross. I’ve read the story in The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes paperback compilation, and I’ll also be covering the tales of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain Marvel in the following weeks.
There are countless stories out there that readers can digest to understand Superman, DC’s most famous superhero. Often among your usual recommended reading list are stories like John Byrne’s Man of Steel, or Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Both of these focus on different elements of Superman, his origin, and what it means to be the Man of Steel. Peace on Earth may be another in the list as it does just that, but with a twist. Before we get into the story, it must be said that the art is the main feature of the graphic novel, and rightly so. Undeniably, Alex Ross’s ultra-realistic art gives this story a believable yet mystical appearance. His impressive layouts and paints leap from the page and impress immediately. As for the writing, Paul Dini writes it always from Superman’s point of view and instead of word balloons, his thoughts are written with regular text. Essentially, it’s a glorified illustrated story. It begins, as ever, back in Kansas. Superman recalls his childhood on the Kent farm and as the memories flow, in the present the hero delivers a large Christmas tree for the people of Metropolis to celebrate the festive season. He then rescues a starving homeless girl from the streets and places her in the care of Dr Rebecca Mason, a friend of Superman who looks after the deprived community in the sprawling city. But then, Superman must turn to his other identity. He takes up his guise of Clark Kent to visit Dr Mason’s centre to write a story for the Daily Planet newspaper about the girl Superman rescued. Her name is Jodie. She ran away from home to find safety and opportunity in Metropolis. However, her malnourished state nearly killed her, but she was very lucky that Superman found her in time. The point is that Superman, with all of his powers, can’t be there all of the time. In fact, there are millions out there who Superman cannot save. This is something which isn’t covered much in other Superman stories. Batman has his fair share of stories where his failure is obvious by the sheer fact that murderers and criminals continue to haunt Gotham. But unlike Batman, Superman is an alien. There’s something hugely human about this angle and it works because Dini immediately reminds us of Superman’s human upbringing in Kansas. Anyway, Clark’s realisation of his alter-ego’s limitations results in his researching of the worldwide homeless pandemic. Once again, memories of his farm and his Earthling father Jonathan Kent are important here as he learns from a young age of the world’s problem with sharing. Jonathan is a fierce critic of the hoarder mentality of first-world countries, blaming their selfishness for the woes of the third-world. Some might argue it makes Jonathan Kent and Superman into communists for beliefs like that, but Dini’s use of social issues which continue to be relevant is surprisingly refreshing. It’s sometimes glossed over now, but in 1986, two years after the successes of Band Aid and Live Aid, DC produced a one-off comic titled Heroes Against Hunger. Famous for its Neal Adams cover, it was a charitable gesture to aid in the fight against famine in Africa. While it’s difficult to work out how much of an impact this one-off had financially, DC quickly forgot about the issue and it was mainly ignored for years to come. Not only is it good to see Dini bring back the concept, but it’s an excellent plot device to depict Superman’s greatest weakness. While he continues to fly around the world and save children from fires and passengers from doomed trains, the people of Africa are still starving. Superman tries to rally support from Congress, who reluctantly support the hero in its ambitious aims. In the real world, perhaps this would be true, but first the government would have to pass about 800 different laws. Either way, Dini cuts all that nonsense out and we watch as Superman uses his powers, skills and determination to compile towers of (continued)
grain. He presents them impressively to the poorest countries of the world and they shine with happiness as food apparently no longer becomes a problem. But then, one boy asks if Superman will come back tomorrow. Superman is forced to say nothing. The tragedy is that Superman, for all of his might, can’t end a problem of this scale in just one day. It requires a lot of grain and a lot of time. And what makes things even worse is that, in most of these countries, despite a very welcoming public, dictatorships were not fond of Superman’s aspirations. He fights for the people against a military coup government in one of the countries where food is being delivered. He becomes the people’s hero. Again, commie! However, all good things must come to an end. With much of the food eaten, Superman delivers yet another boat-load (literally) of grain to the people of Africa only for the military to fire their chemical weapons. The missile hits Superman’s collection explosively and as the Man of Steel awakens on the African soil, he finds that all the grain has been poisoned. “My mission”, he says, “ends here, incomplete and in failure”. Superman may have been an idol for the poorest in not just society, but the world, but he failed in his task. The ideals of the Man of Steel, a self-expressed human and Earth-lover, is defeated by the worst of humanity. Idealism is what fuels Superman and indeed this story. But it also proves, sadly, how ideals clash against both reality and evil. In the end, Superman ends up becoming more recognised as a force for good, but only temporary good. Dictatorships and military governments fuelled by greed win the fight and Superman keeps his purity. He could just as easily take over the whole world and transform it into an egalitarian one for all just as he did in Mark Millar’s Red Son Elseworlds (another fine reference to communism). In fact, it might have been intriguing to see a sign of that. In rage, Superman could have confronted the military and come extremely close to unleashing his full power before coming back to his ultra-sane values. But that’s not the point of Superman: Peace on Earth. As the title suggests, Dini makes that Superman’s prime aim. But often, he is too pure to fight for it directly or in any meaningful way as he acts not as a leader, but helper. Dini’s use of the class system and hunger to convey this story makes a character assessment of Superman even more in-depth as we realise how much power he has and how little of it he is willing to use. Unlike other Superman origin stories, Peace on Earth doesn’t delve too deep into the Man of Steel’s highly documented past. That makes the story far more memorable and unique because, let’s face it, how many more times do we need to see Krypton blow up? The use of Jonathan Kent as a guiding light is also done exceptionally well here, but I do think that Clark Kent is probably too absent here. Sure, Dini made some use of him, but it would have been interesting to see more of Superman’s good come out through his journalistic persona. As for Dini as a writer, he captures Superman’s inner-thoughts very well and while it may be more of a fault with the Man of Steel’s lack of distinctive character that some dialogue is plan, it does contain emotion. It doesn’t feel like reading boring text, something which would have been utterly dreadful on the same pages of Alex Ross’s brilliant paints. In essence, Superman: Peace on Earth has a good message and is certainly a powerful and successful character study of the Man of Steel.
That all said, would this story be as notable or great if it wasn’t painted by Alex Ross. If you’ve read Kingdom Come, then you’ll know exactly what to expect. His ultra-realistic style is infinitely impressive as every detail looks to be completed with precision. Visually, it’s a very attractive story and it’s made better by the large graphic novel format which allows Ross to throw in more detail and present a much more remarkable picture. I’ve never known another artist, apart from Superman classics such as Curt Swan and Jerry Ordway, who captures the Man of Steel so effectively as a character. Not only does he appear very heroic, but also human and, at times, soft. Ross creates a brilliant world for this story, and it never ceases to be amazing. With all of its effort and majesty, it’s very challenging to criticise such a masterpiece.
VERDICT
Overall, Superman: Peace on Earth is a very different character study of the Man of Steel. Dini’s use of the world’s biggest problem and featuring Superman’s attempted fight against it is a moving read. Superman tries desperately to be a human, but Dini places him against the worst of it. However, at the end of the day, his pure ideals remain the same. Really, it sums up Superman perfectly. It’s obviously told excellently by Alex Ross’s paints. Like Dini, he captures Superman’s character incredibly effectively and beautifully conveys the story with some of the best storytelling ever seen in modern comics. As a whole, Superman may not be one of my favourite superheroes of all time, but Dini and Ross have made him into a far more interesting character. Therefore, Superman: Peace on Earth is unforgettable.
Story: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Next Week: Batman: War on Crime. Written by Paul Dini with art by Alex Ross.
Comments