Comic Review
Superman: Peace on Earth
Artist: Alex Ross
Writer: Paul Dini

Summary: It's Christmas time in Metropolis, and after lighting the official tree, Superman comes upon a young girl who appears to be starving. Saving her from further harm, he takes her to the local shelter. In the meantime, Superman begins to research world hunger and starvation. It's not long before Superman sets his powers toward a massive goal- feeding the starving people of the world for one day.

Realizing that he alone cannot eliminate world hunger, he decides it's an example worth setting anyway, and pleads his case before Congress. His plan is simple: take the surplus food and unharvested crops of the United States and distribute them around the world in one day.

Congress eventually approves the plan, and Superman then starts his mission. His first visits to the American Southwest and Brazil give him hope that he has made the right decision, but soon he learns that not everyone wants his help. Certain governments want to control their people, and refuse to let him help. Other countries are so war-torn, that a day's relief is not enough. Soon, Superman sees that his mission will not be as successful as he wanted.

Review
This is an inspiring story that could only be told with a hero as noble as Superman. The premise is a simple one- Superman uses his powers to feed the world for a day. But that is a much more difficult task that anyone could imagine. Here, Superman is faced with the problems of the real world, of government interference and cultural differences.

It's also interesting to note the characterization of Superman. He starts with realistic expectations, knowing that he can never eliminate world hunger fully. But he's also optimistic, and glad to be helping so many people at one time. Over the course of the story, he is confronted with so many obstacles and human cruelty, that his mission seems to end in failure. Only at the very end does he come to peace with his results and what he has achieved.

Of course, the art is fantastic. Alex Ross's Superman is a confident, mature character, definitively rendered. He never looks out of place in any of the backgrounds, yet shines in bright primary colors as if taken from real life. Ross also shifts color palettes to show the four color world of Metropolis, and the subtle, worn tones of the Kansas wheatfields of Clark's youth. He also shows a mastery of characters and locales, people from all over the world are rendered and colored very convincingly.

This is a great book for super hero fans, and Superman fans in general. It spotlights the role that only Superman has in the comic book world: international icon, noblest of heroes, son of the heartland, and the one hero who gets things done. Only Superman has the world-wide recognizability to bring this message all over the world. One of peace, hope and charity.