2001 Comic Book News Archives
August 6, 2001: Wrapping Up OWAW with Jeph Loeb
Newsarama sat down with Jeph Loeb and discussed "Our Worlds At War" as the conclusion draws close...The end is near.
"Our Worlds at War" has less than a month to go before wrapping up in World's Finest: Our Worlds at War, and the body count continues to climb. The heat of battle has forged some alliances, broken others, and allowed a true enemy to reveal himself in recent issues.
Oh yeah, and Superman may be going nuts.
What better time to talk again with Superman writer and "Our Worlds at War" architect Jeph Loeb about the devastation he's wrought, look back on the War, hint at how things will end, and what's coming up in Superman post-War?
And of course, there's a huge spoiler warning here - do not read any further if you don't want to know who dies and what's coming up...
First of all, Loeb is quick to point out that the War, which was originally a Superman story has grown to strongly involve Wonder Woman as well. As a result, DC's Amazon Princess will change and be that much worse for the wear as Superman when it's all said and done.
"The War, which has already cost Superman, Wonder Woman and the DCU in general so much, will end with a bang, not a whimper," Loeb said. "What we're striving for is something that will echo for some time, beyond the deaths. Again, any team can kill off characters; our job was to make them affect Superman's life and concurrently, Wonder Woman's life. Phil [Jimenez, Wonder Woman artist and writer] takes Diana in a very bold direction - I was both surprised and really delighted since I'm not big Wonder Woman fan and yet he's made me one."
Along with the story running through Wonder Woman and the four monthly Superman series of course, "Our Worlds at War" has also been cause for several one-shot specials, each highlighting one of DC's groups or characters' trials during the War. Overall, Loeb has been very pleased with the majority of the specials.
"Each special had its own flavor," Loeb said. "We gave basic premises to each of the specials and I wrote the 'goal posts' - JLA Our Worlds at War and World's Finest: Our Worlds at War. What I thought made the difference was that Eddie Berganza sought out the monthly writers in almost all the cases to do the specials. Judd Winick on Green Lantern and Karl Kesel on Harley Quinn really took to the idea that they could introduce some fairly major concepts within the overview of the war that would affect their monthly titles. Ed Brubaker got to tell a different kind of story for Batman that he told me in San Diego he really liked, and I think it showed. Chuck Dixon decided to ignore everything we asked him to do and went off and told a story that he wanted and such was his right as the Nightwing guy. Personally, I think that special suffered for it, but Chuck has his fans and they seemed to like it, so what do I know?"
Speaking of the other specials, despite Loeb's growing reputation as being the DCU's new Grim Reaper, the heavy toll "Our Worlds at War" has taken on the characters of the DCU, and the idea that every major beat of the storyline seemingly has been punctuated with a death, Loeb was very pleased with JSA: Our Worlds at War. The story featured the regular rank and file of the JSA, joined by a huge group of reserves, destroying Imperiex's command ship without a single fatality. The special concluded with JSA leader Sand making a rather pointed statement to Luthor about how good the JSA is. Rather than seeing the special as a slap in the face as to how the story could be told without loss of life, Loeb sees it for what he felt was Johns' using the framework of the War to make a point that he's been driving home in the monthly series - the JSA is good at what they do - they're the heroes the JLA look up to.
"Geoff Johns had both Flash and JSA," Loeb said. "He took our platforms and ran with them. There was so much death and destruction, someone had to tell a mission that went almost perfect. That made JSA unique, which in the face of what we were doing, actually in the face of what is currently selling, JSA does month in and month out. I doubt anyone other than Geoff could have pulled that story off and we're glad he did."
Read the rest of this Article/Interview at the Newsarama website.
2001 Comic News
Listed below are all the Comic News items archived for 2001.- January 22, 2001: Superman Teams Go “Up, Up and Away” - For a Month
- March 1, 2001: Berganza on Superman
- March 2, 2001: DC and Marvel announce 'JLA/Avengers' Miniseries
- March 7, 2001: SuperSummit 2001 - The Year to Come in Superman Comics
- March 12, 2001: The New York City Comic Book Museum is throwing a party!
- March 12, 2001: DC Prepares for the Big One
- April 9, 2001: Kelly Coming to JLA
- April 30, 2001: Ed McGuinness in “Sketch” Magazine
- May 14, 2001: Exclusive Interview with Jeph Loeb
- June 20, 2001: New Superman Costume?
- June 29, 2001: Ed McGuinness Renews Exclusive Contract
- July 2, 2001: Loeb Talks “Our Worlds At War”
- July 8, 2001: Wow! Bizarro Comics HC Re-Orders Am Horrible!
- July 8, 2001: George Perez Talks JLA/Avengers
- July 9, 2001: Loeb Talks “Our Worlds At War”
- July 10, 2001: San Diego Comic Con Highlights
- July 21, 2001: Fresh from the San Diego Comic Con 2001
- July 22, 2001: “JLA/Avengers” at San Diego Comic Con
- July 23, 2001: Pascual Ferry in Action
- July 26, 2001: Superman After the War
- July 31, 2001: Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle
- August 6, 2001: JLA/Avengers Update
- August 6, 2001: Wrapping Up OWAW with Jeph Loeb
- August 9, 2001: Action Double-Team
- August 16, 2001: Aluir Amancio Interview
- August 28, 2001: Loeb Talks Pecheco and JLA/JSA
- August 30, 2001: “Our Worlds At War” Guide and FAQ
- August 31, 2001: Mike Manley Interview
- August 31, 2001: DC Comics Diamond Retailer Summit Press Release
- September 2, 2001: WizardWorld 2001 Report
- September 4, 2001: Superman Comics Sales Up 20%
- September 6, 2001: DC Provides “Full Coverage” in December
- September 6, 2001: DC Signs Doug Mahnke to Exclusive Contract
- September 6, 2001: Kiss Joins Forces with Superman
- September 6, 2001: Rick Mays on Possible Up-Coming Superman Projects
- September 6, 2001: Joe Kelly Talks JLA
- September 10, 2001: Exclusive Min S. Ku Interview
- September 12, 2001: DC Comics Offices Safe
- September 12, 2001: Diamond Comics Distributors on This Week's Comics
- September 14, 2001: Superman's Eerie Coincidence
- September 14, 2001: Joe Kelly Talk JLA
- September 20, 2001: DC Poster Salutes September 11th Heroes
- September 28, 2001: Superman's December “Monster Fest”
- September 28, 2001: Duncan Rouleau Interview
- October 2, 2001: DC Comics Benefit/Tribute Project
- October 3, 2001: Superman Coincidence Reported on TV News
- October 12, 2001: Artist Sues Over Superman Comic
- October 16, 2001: Superman Comic Book Up for Auction
- October 17, 2001: Adventures of Superman Hits 600
- October 19, 2001: Exclusive Gary Colabuono Interview
- October 22, 2001: The Plight of Krypto
- November 7, 2001: Updated DC Collected Edition CD-Rom Coming
- November 11, 2001: JLA/JSA Officially Announced
- November 17, 2001: History of the DC Universe in Trade Paperback
- November 20, 2001: Mike Wieringo Leaves “Adventures of Superman”
- November 23, 2001: Marvel Pursued “Smallville” Comic License!
- November 28, 2001: Vertigo Superman?
- November 29, 2001: Pete Woods on AOS
- December 4, 2001: Jeph Loeb Interview
- December 5, 2001: Superbaby?
- December 6, 2001: The Dark Knight Strikes Again - Press Release
- December 13, 2001: Shield/Triangle Numbers... Gone!
- December 14, 2001: DC Comics Advance Preview of “September 11” Comic
- December 20, 2001: Dorkin Talks “Superman Adventures” Finale!
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