Superman: Peace on Earth (1998)

$9.95 from DC Comics

Credits:

Written by Paul Dini

Art by Alex Ross

SUPERMAN-PEACE ON EARTH may be the best holiday comic story ever. It succeeds chiefly because it’s so unlike the usual Christmas tale, where the hero stops fighting supervillains and works a soup kitchen for an evening. PEACE ON EARTH takes a similar concept and brings it to Superman proportions, intelligently and thoughtfully exploring the ramifications of just what a hero can- - and cannot- - do.

We begin with Superman at Christmastime, bringing a gigantic tree to the city of Metropolis. Lately, Superman has been plagued by thoughts of hunger, and the vast gulf between the haves and have-nots of the world.

Superman decides he will make a grand gesture for Christmas, in hopes of convincing the rest of the world to follow his example. His plan: gather the surplus grain of the world and distribute it to as many needy people as he can in twenty-four hours.

The story unfolds quickly, as Superman delivers boatloads of grain to tiny villages and war-torn countries. Writer Paul Dini has thought this out: some of the people to whom Superman brings food accept the gift gratefully, but most are more troubling. Many distrust Superman’s agenda, some label him a dangerous activist, and the governments of several nations consider him a threat. The ending is a surprise, and ultimately better than any I've seen in a holiday story.

Never has Superman seemed more like Jesus Christ. Here is a man who has no physical needs, a god-like alien from a distant planet who apparently, if he felt like it, could rule the earth. Alex Ross, the painter behind MARVELS and KINGDOM COME, once again Superman like a beefy Christopher Reeve, as if someone put Christopher Reeve and George Reeves in a transporter together and got in return the one true Superman.

Paul Dini shows a sophisticated conception of Superman. We learn that Clark Kent keeps a low profile, missing out on office parties and the like so that when Superman is needed and Clark isn't there, it’s no surprise. Clark must be a lonely man. At one point Superman makes a comment that he’s thought about solving many of the world’s problems through more decisive means, and frankly, it’s chilling to think of a Superman with a mind towards world domination. But he’s not- - in the end, Superman is a good man and a hero, who can never understand why others cannot be heroes as well.

Dini’s simple parable contains no dialogue, only text on and around the paintings, so the art is unmolested. It has an almost storybook quality, making this a perfect book to read to a child.

I recommend that.