Books : The World's Greatest Super-Heroes

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- If you love the DC Universe and/or JLA this is a must have!
As the title says this book is a must have if you are a fan of the staple DC heroes at all.

The World's Greatest Super-Heroes is part comic, part encyclopedia giving you a good story as well as the background on some of the oldest super-heroes in the industry.

If you haven't yet seen the book in person let me make sure one thing is abundanlt clear: It...is...big. It comes in a hard-cover sleeve (the same sort of system you get full season TV shows on DVD) that measures in at 9.5" x 13". This information is readily available but people may still be in for a shock when they receive the book.

Once you pull the book from it's housing you will find a fantastic hard-cover book with an artistic sleeve over it. Why do I bother commenting about he artistic sleeve? Well, because it is painted by Alex Ross, a man who I think should be heralded as one of the "World's Greatest Comic Artits".

My first fun in with Alex's work was the Kingdom Come series. If you have ever picked up and read a comic in your life then you know the medium (style and materials of art) has changed over the last century. Modern comics are actually computer shaded and coloured for the most part. Before that was the great days of the sketch artist, inker, colour artist system. Jump way, way back and we had the basic sketch artist to colour-dot print colouring system.

Well, Alex Ross doesn't use a single one of those systems. No, the man uses oil paints. Having as many artists around me as I do in my life I can appreciate the skill required for this sort of work. In fact, I have watched Alex paint real-time on a few television shots. He brings the comic book, which is really a hard set of words to use when it comes to Ross' work, characters to a new photo-realistic quality. Seriously, if you are reading this and you have never seen a single piece of Alex's work stop reading and Google the man. You just might be impressed.

It's funny, I own over 700 comic books myself, some 40+ years old. I was a Marvel fanatic when I was younger, but I find as I age that the DC universe actually holds more for me. I blame this partly on Alex Ross, Paul Dini, Marv Wolfman, and Mark Waid for bringing me such deep stories with true emotion then presenting them in brilliant form. I know I have harped on Alex Ross' work but the authors mentioned above should be lauded for their work as well (with the respective works being The World's Greatest Super Heroes, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Kingdom Come).

Either way, if you love anything DC you should own this book.

Rating:

- GREAT!
I am not a knowledgable comic person but the art work and the information for me was just outstanding.

Rating:

- Ross and Dini's Finest DC work
Ross and Dini did a fantastic job in delivering powerful and heartfelt stories surrounding these great characters. Its A+ work from some of comicdoms most fantastic creators. A must own.

Rating:

- This book is incredible
Alex Ross is an incredible artist and this is the type of book that really showcases his art. If you are a dc comics fan and a fan of incredible art work get this book.

Rating:

- This is a must have- buy it.
This collects the large format stories put together by Paul Dini and master artist Alex Ross- Ross' photo-realistic artwork is absolutely incredible. The stories feature Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and the Justice League- however, these are no ordinary superhero stories. Rather than fighting villains with death rays or armies of killer robots, the stories focus on the superheroes' frailties and failures, making them feel more accessible and 'human'. Superman takes on world hunger, Batman attacks the root cause of crime- poverty, Wonder Woman fights for women's rights, Captain Marvel reconciles the child and adult sides of himself, and the Justice League fight an alien virus- which the world thinks they might have created.

This is fantastic value- much cheaper than buying the stories individually. Plus you get to see some of Ross' original sketches and photo-references. Highly recommended.

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