Our Worlds at War

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Cover to JLA: Our Worlds at War #1. Art by Jae Lee.

Our Worlds at War was a crossover in DC Comics universe during the summer of 2001. OWAW was written by Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, Mark Schultz, Joe Kelly and Peter David. Pencillers were Mike Wieringo, Ed McGuinness, Doug Mahnke, Ron Garney and Leonard Kirk.

1 Plot
2 Life imitates art
3 Criticism
4 Issues

[edit] Plot

The crossover, which occurred mainly through the monthly Superman titles, dealt with DC superheroes facing the threat of the cosmic force known as Imperiex, who wanted to destroy the entire universe so that a new one could begin.

Several characters, including Queen Hippolyta, Maxima, and General Sam Lane (Lois Lane's father) died during the crossover. Aquaman, Guy Gardner, Martha Kent, and Mongul (the son of the original Mongul) were all presumed dead, but each was later discovered alive.

[edit] Life imitates art

Our Worlds At War came to a close just before the attacks of September 11, 2001. In a sobering occurrence of synchronicity, Adventures of Superman #596 contained the image of Lex Luthor's twin LexTowers heavily damaged by alien attacks. The book's writer, Joe Casey, could not have intentionally referenced the attacks on the World Trade Center, but DC acknowledged that it mirrored the devastation so vividly that they made the books returnable without penalty to retailers. Many retailers took DC up on this offer, causing the issue to become sought after on the secondary market due to it's rarity and general curiousity towards the real-life synchronicity with the 9-11 attacks.

Though the merits of the crossover itself are debatable (indeed, the storyline was critically panned by many when it was published), the story held a mirror up to post-9/11 America. Superman's new S-Shield, a reaction to the deaths caused by Imperiex, remained black from Adventures Of Superman #596 until the Ending Battle crossover a few years later. Other elements included the deaths of several key characters, including Wonder Woman's mother, Lois Lane's estranged father Sam Lane, and Aquaman, who later was revived under the retcon that he and much of the population of Atlantis had been spirited away seconds before their apparant deaths. More controversially though was Clark's search for his missing adoptive parents in a ravaged Kansas, who were assumed to be killed during the attack on the state.

[edit] Criticism

Critics of this crossover have referred to this as "Our War Against Woman," citing the brutal death of Queen Hippolyta juxtaposed against the less brutal deaths of the male characters in this crossover. It is due to this juxtaposition that the critics have dubbed this a Women in Refrigerators event.