''The World's Greatest Super-Heroes'' is a

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...

anthology collection of six oversized

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

s published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

and created by artist

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book creator, comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which ...

and writer

Paul Dini Paul McClaran Dini (; born August 7, 1957) is an American writer, animator, and comic book artist. He has served as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros. Animation/DC Comics animated series, most notably ''Batman: The Animated Series' ...

. The collection was released on July 6, 2005.

Publication history

Beginning in 1998, DC published special one-shot oversized graphic novels to celebrate the 60th anniversary of some of its main characters: '' Superman: Peace on Earth'' was the first of these in 1998, followed by '' Batman: War on Crime'' in 1999. These first two works won Harvey and

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

s for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (Ross) and Best Graphic Album. In addition, ''Peace on Earth'' also won a

Reuben Award The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

for best Superman comic. Following these, DC released ''Shazam!: Power of Hope'' in 2000 and finally ''Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth'' in 2001. The following year, DC Comics also published one extra book: ''JLA: Secret Origins''. The work presented the origins of the four main characters already published in the previous books as well as the origins of other Justice League members:

Atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' No. 73 on September 19, 1941 (cover dated November 1941), th ...

Black Canary Black Canary is the name of two superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As one of the earliest female superheroes in the DC Comics universe, the character has made numerous appearances in prominent team-up titles, ...

Martian Manhunter The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in ''Detective Comics ...

Hawkman Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...

Hawkgirl Hawkgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original Hawkgirl, Shiera Sanders Hall, was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, and first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' ...

and

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero featured in American comic books first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole (artist), Jack Co ...

. Every origin was present in two-pages layout based on

Joe Shuster Joseph Shuster ( ; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992) was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938). Shuster was involv ...

's origin of Superman from ''Action Comics'' #1. The final book, published in 2003, ''JLA: Liberty and Justice'' presented a full story featuring the entire group, the first time that Ross was able to use all characters in the current timeline. The artwork is of Ross' very own

photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can b ...

, and the books themselves were created after the success of Ross' and writer

Mark Waid Mark Waid (; born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles ''The Flash'', '' Kingdom Come'' and '' Superman: Birthright'' as well as his work on ''Captain America'', ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Da ...

's famous '' Kingdom Come''. ''The World's Greatest Super-Heroes'' was released on August 1, 2005 on dust-jacket slipcase hardcover edition (9.6" x 13") and got paperback reprint (8.2" x 11") on September 28, 2010. Both collected versions are smaller than the original Treasury Editions (10" x 13.5"). The book was rereleased in 2017 as ''Absolute Justice League: The World's Greatest Super-Heroes''.

Collected issues

* '' Superman: Peace on Earth'' #1 * '' Batman: War on Crime'' #1 * '' Shazam! Power of Hope'' #1 * ''Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth'' #1 * ''JLA: Secret Origins'' #1 * ''JLA: Liberty and Justice'' #1

Reception

The work was critically lauded for its realistic depiction of the heroes as well as Ross' photorealistic art.

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

critic Hilary Goldstein, however, noted that the writing was "dry" and "monotone", especially in the Superman story.

References

External links

''The World's Greatest Super-Heroes''
at DC Comics {{DEFAULTSORT:World's Greatest Super-Heroes 2005 books 2005 comics debuts Batman titles Comics by Paul Dini DC Comics graphic novels Superman titles Wonder Woman titles Justice League titles