Polite Dissent

A year after Marvel Comics published the Heroes for Hope comic, DC Comics published a similar comic: Heroes Against Hunger. Organized by the same two people, Jim Starlin and Berni Wrightson, this is another “jam comic” by dozens of famous comic book writers and artists published to raise money for, and awareness of, the famine in Ethiopia.

The plot is delivered over 48 pages, with every artist and writer handling two pages apiece. Superman is delivering tons of topsoil to famine-ravaged Ethopia, but is shocked when his latest shipment is destroyed. Batman is also in the area looking for clues as to who is shooting down several Wayne Foundation cargo planes carrying food. The two heroes discuss the situation and formulate a plan: Superman will look into the destruction of the planes while Batman heads off to talk Lex Luthor, who has developed a super plant growth formula.

Superman discovers an un-imaginitively named villain, the Master, who derives his power from human misery and despair. He’s the one who’s been destroying the planes and ruining Superman’s efforts. Meanwhile, Batman is able to convince Luthor to help them by pointing out that if his formula works, the world will know that he succeeded where Superman failed.

Working together, Batman , Superman and Luthor are able to defeat the Master. They now work to put superpowers and super-science together to halt the famine. Superman lays down more topsoil and Luthor uses his plant growth accelerant, but nothing happens. A local Peace Corps worker chides them for their efforts, pointing out that it took years of bad faming for the famine to develop in Ethiopia, and it will take years to fix thr problem. The comic claims it ends on an up note, but it’s really more of a downer than anything else.

Unlike the Marvel book, there is an actual villain here for the heroes to vanquish. Of course, he’s not the cause of the famine, he’s just along for the ride, so defeating him really doesn’t accomplish much. In the end — just like the X-Men in Heroes for Hope — Superman, Batman and Luthor are defeated by the famine.

The art is classic and the individual pages of storytelling are well done. Despite this, like its Marvel counterpart, the comic just isn’t that good a read. The villain is rather lightweight and the story seems padded out to reach 48 pages. It’s also a depressing subject. That’s not meant as a criticism, just a fact. Even today, twenty years later, the famine in Africa remains a serious problem with no simple answers. This makes it a legitimate cause for concern and action, but not a very good basis for a comic book storyline.