Our Worlds At War Question

[Sharcque]

Was this just a bunch of 1-shot specials? Or did it also run thru the regular comics as well? Aside from the one shots, if there were specific issues, does anyone know of anywhere where it's easy to get a list of the crossovers?

[Bat-Mite]

It ran through the comics too. Mostly Superman comics.

I could give you the list with all the issues, but I can't. Reading "Our Worlds at War" counts as cruel and unusual punishment. Sorry dude, can't help you with that.

[Sharcque]

Thanks --- I guess I'll avoid it, then. I picked up the JLA special issue in a quarter bin, and it was ok. Glad I asked....

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It ran through the comics too. Mostly Superman comics.

I could give you the list with all the issues, but I can't. Reading "Our Worlds at War" counts as cruel and unusual punishment. Sorry dude, can't help you with that.

Thank you Bat-Mite. You've done a good deed this day.

Our Worlds At War had the misfortune of coming out at almost the exact same time as 9/11 and, on top of that, the story stunk to high heaven. A convoluted mess of a story that even multiple TPBs couldn't even make sense of. Will Phiefer once had to sum up Our Worlds At War for one of those DCU Secret Files stories and he just couldn't. Its a mess.

The story is ambitious and there are a few great stories that came out of it, most notably the All-Star Squadron story from the JSA Special. And Phil Jiminez did use it to tell a fairly important Wonder Woman story.

[PatrickG]

It was intended to be a Superman storyline but then, as is often the case with big stories, the DC Brass approached Eddie Berganza and the Super-teams and said they wanted it to be a universe-wide crossover and provided their death list.

Keeping in mind that I really love Paul Levitz's writing and I'll always be thankful to Jenette Kahn for greenlighting Krypto's return, I think the execs hurt this story by pushing for oneshots and big name deaths... and the creators goofed by hyping it as Crisis-level.

The story running through the Super-titles is a nice yarn, if a bit inconsistent.

But I think it illustrates the problem with how crossovers at DC are often driven by the company's desire to kill certain characters. It seems like most of the character deaths at DC happen because somebody approaches a writer or an editor and is basically, "Uhm... I know you're doing a story about Superman but you're gonna have to off Guy Gardner, Sugar & Spike and Airwave. We have BIG CHARACTER RELAUNCHES planned next year and they need to die."

[ApexPredator]

you are exactly right. They do kill characters based on market needs. That was the point and Didio and the gang showed you that by offing Blue Beetle. He was saying to you and to me and to all of the little itty bitty comic book characters in the DCU that if you do not sell books you die. And I assure you that was also a message to the comic book fans out there. OK if everyone "loves" Ted Kord why didnt they buy his comics. Where was the demand for a solo series? These are soap operas fellas-get used to it. DC's strongest suit is that someone had the foresight to make it focus on the legacy aspect of some of their heroes, this allows the illusion of change. They need to embrace it and exploit it and when done right, there is nothing in popular literature as grand as it.
So get your head out of the sand and admit that you love DC Comics!

[Apathy Boy]

Most of the one-shot OWAW spin-offs were actually fairly decent. They were never reprinted fully in trade, but if you see 'em for cheap in the back issue bins, they're worth picking up.

The core storyline that ran through all the Superman books, on the other hand, was utterly horrible and should be avoided like an ex-girlfriend. As with most Jeph Loeb stories this decade, the story's essentially a wank-job about how much better Superman is than the rest of DC's heroes.

[marshal99]

OWAW is a superman lovefest , keeps rubbing people in to the fact that superman is so superior to the rest of DCU and you also get a double helping of Jeph Loeb special brand of cheap deaths.

[DCKar2nist]

keeps rubbing people in to the fact that superman is so superior to the rest of DCU

But in the DCU Superman is superior to most (all?) of his fellow heroes, this is how it's always been right?

[K'Nort]

But in the DCU Superman is superior to most (all?) of his fellow heroes, this is how it's always been right?

The problem is that there's a difference between superior as in more powerful and superior as in just a better all-round more virtuous nifty person. And the whole paragon of virtue thing gets old, especially when you happen to prefer other characters.