Heroes Against Hunger is a 1986 all-star benefit comic book for African famine relief and recovery. Published by DC Comics in the form of a "comic jam" or exquisite corpse, the book starred Superman and Batman. [1] Spearheaded by Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson, all proceeds from the comic went to hunger relief in Africa.
Heroes Against Hunger came about in response to the devastating 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. The concept was nearly identical to the earlier benefit comic, Heroes for Hope , published by Marvel Comics in 1985 (which was also spearheaded by Wrightson and Starlin), [2] and was in the spirit of contemporaneous musical fund-raisers like Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", USA for Africa's "We Are the World", and the Live Aid concerts.
In a story called "A Song of Pain and Sorrow!", Superman, Batman, and Lex Luthor try to curtail the Ethiopian famine. While there, they interact with Peace Corps member Lee Ann Layton. Their antagonist is a green-skinned, four-armed giant with a keyboard embedded on his chest called the Master. The Master feeds on entropy, so he is strengthened by the Ethiopian famine.
The story was plotted by Jim Starlin with a plot assist from Bernie Wrightson. [1] The editor was Robert Greenberger. Front cover penciled by Neal Adams, with inks by Dick Giordano; back cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. Logo design by Gaspar Saladino.
There were 100 contributors to the project. In addition to Starlin and Wrightson, a number of Heroes for Hope contributors also donated their creative labors to Heroes Against Hunger, including John Byrne, Howard Chaykin, John Costanza, Steve Englehart, Klaus Janson, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Michael Kaluta, Steve Leialoha, Al Milgrom, Gray Morrow, Josef Rubinstein, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, and Alan Weiss. [3]
Bernard Albert Wrightson was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel Frankenstein illustration work, and for his other horror comics and illustrations, which feature his trademark intricate pen and brushwork.
James P. Starlin is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Nebula, and Shang-Chi, as well as writing the acclaimed miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet and its many sequels including The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade, all detailing Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Gems to court Mistress Death by annihilating half of all life in the cosmos, before coming into conflict with the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, the Elders of the Universe, joined by the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Gamora, Nebula, and Drax.
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Allen L. Milgrom is an American comic book writer, penciller, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of Marvel Fanfare; his long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man; his four-year tenure as West Coast Avengers penciller; and his long stint as the inker of X-Factor. He often inks Jim Starlin's work. Milgrom is the co-creator of DC superhero Firestorm.
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Notable events of 1986 in comics.
Shane Davis is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman and Batman for DC Comics.
Heroes for Hope: Starring the X-Men is a 1985 Marvel comic book designed to raise awareness about hunger in Africa. Proceeds from the comic went to the American Friends Service Committee, to assist in their work on behalf of African famine relief and recovery. Published in the form of a "comic jam" or exquisite corpse, the book featured an all-star lineup of comics creators as well as a few notable authors from outside the comic book industry, such as Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, and Edward Bryant. It also saw a rare Alan Moore Marvel Comics credit outside his early Marvel UK work.
Plotted by Jim Starlin, with dramatic designs by Bernie Wrightson...Heroes Against Hunger featured nearly every popular DC creator of the time.
Horrified by the plight of starving children in Africa, writer/artist Jim Starlin and illustrator Bernie Wrightson convinced Marvel to publish Heroes For Hope. It was a 'jam' book...and all of Marvel's profits were donated to famine relief in Africa.
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