Heroes For Hope Starring The X-Men #1

   A couple of days ago, I reviewed DC's Heroes Against Hunger, a benefit comic book released in 1986 to raise awareness and funds for famine relief in Africa. Unbeknownst to me until after reading Heroes For Hunger, it turns out DC was following suit after Marvel published their benefit comic a year earlier. Maybe had I known this, I would've read Marvel's offering first. But I was really looking forward to reading Heroes Against Hunger and chose it first instead. But hey, in the spirit of fairness, I went on and read Heroes For Hope afterwards.

    In this benefit special, the X-Men are facing their worst fears and they are trembling in terror and defeat. With the help of Rachel Summers and Storm, the mutants are able to regain their confidence. After the attacks, the X-Men determines that the offender is stationed in Africa and race to the region to prevent further damage. 

    Landing in Ethiopia, the X-Men come face-to-face with the horrors of hunger and famine and volunteer to unload planes laden with relief supplies. But the mutants will have to act fast because every minute they spend helping their fellow man, the unseen terror that assaulted them back at the X-Men mansion grows ever stronger.

    Geez- this was a stinker. I gave Heroes Against Hunger a solid rating, trying to be as impartial as can be. I tried to do the same with this book but Marvel didn't make it easy for me. Yes, dozens of legendary writers, artists, and editors got together and worked pro bono for this project- including Berni Wrightson, Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and The Man himself, Stan Lee. Why even the master of horror, Stephen King contributed 3 or 4 pages! But no matter how hard I tried, I just hated this book. 

     The plot was a mess. There was very little cohesion between the assortment of writers. Plus, I thought this book was supposed to be about hunger relief. But honestly, the famine in Africa seemed like an afterthought. Plus, most of this story takes place in the deepest darkest recesses of the minds of several X-Men, including Magneto and man was it dark! 

     I know that people dying of starvation isn't joyful stuff. But unlike DC's publication, this special was a giant downer. For a title called Heroes For Hope, the main characters sure are hopeless.

Sorry folks, but I just ain't on board with this one. Like they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the intentions behind this landmark comic were very genuine. However, I found that attempting to get through this rambling mess was hellish to say the least.

    Not Worth Consuming.

    Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.

Heroes Against Hunger

   The year was 1986. In the course of the previous 24-months, a group of British Rockers under the name Band Aid released a Christmas record in hopes of raising funds and awareness for famine relief in Africa. Shortly, Hollywood and Motown's hot stars did the same with 'We Are the World.' Then rockers from around the world conducted a series of concerts in both London and New York for the cause. Finally the entire nation got into the act and attempted to raise awareness by symbolically holding 'Hands Across America.'
    In the mid-80s, you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a fundraiser for hunger and famine relief in Ethiopia and the surrounding areas of Africa. Everyone wanted to get involved with the project, even those in the comic book industry. In late 1985, Marvel was the first to issue a comic with proceeds going to famine relief. (I'll be reviewing that book in the next couple of days.) But the book that got my interest was DC's version- Heroes Against Hunger.
    I was 8 or 9 when I saw in the back of some long forgotten DC title an advertisement for Heroes Against Hunger. The ad listed over 50 of the industry's best writers, artists, colorists, and editors and on the cover was Superman, Batman, AND Lex Luthor! I was hooked and I never found it!!!
    Let's jump to Winter of last year. At a comic book shop in Asheville, NC I was trolling the bargain bins when I found Heroes Against Hunger and I didn't just find it, I found 24 pristine copies of Heroes! I guess that's where my copy went, it just took me 29 years to get a hold of it.

   So let's look at Heroes Against Hunger...

   Superman is hard at work trying to make the fields of Ethiopia fertile again. But torrential wind storms are making the effort nearly impossible. In disgust, Superman flies off in search of help and comes across Batman. The Dark Knight is investigating the wanton destruction of several Wayne Foundation planes that were carrying relief supplies to aid camp. The World's Finest heroes decide to help the other with Superman investigating the source of the crashes while Batman is tasked with approaching a brilliant scientist who might have formula for making things grow again in Africa: LEX LUTHOR!
    Heroes Against Hunger was an interesting mix of sci-fi and reality. While the fantastic was quite good, the best parts of this book involved the horrors of the famine in Africa. I'm not saying that I reveled in the plight of others. Rather, the parts of this comic that explained the factors behind the famine in Ethiopia as well as the scenes of rage that not only Batman and Superman has against the atrocities experienced by the starving refuges but Luthor as well were superior and very much Worth Consuming.
    
   Oh, one more thing- I didn't really mention much about the writing and the artwork. It's kinda hard to say that one guy was better than another in a work like this. This was a total group effort done by individuals that weren't even in the same state, much less the same room,  with each other. The fact that this got made at all is a little bit of a miracle. 
   While the entire book told a story, it's not 100% cohesive. The writers seem to have different themes that they are trying to put across and some times it seemed like the action got repeated from time to time. Why even Superman looks completely different from page to page as does Batman. It's varying styles and voices and sometimes they don't segue well That's mostly an editing problem. But with superstar talents like Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, George Perez, and many more doing this for free, I can't really find much fault with the errors and nits. So, I'm going to rate this pretty conservatively.

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 
    

Flashpoint: Grodd of War One-Shot

  Without the Flash around, Gorilla Grodd easily overthrew the rulers of Gorilla City and eventually all of Africa fell afterwards. Grodd should be ecstatic but something's missing. Without a challenge to his leadership, being the despotic leader of the world's second largest continent isn't as worthwhile as he thought it would be! Who would've thought that Gorilla Grodd would actually be happy without the World's Fastest Man to give him fits??? 

    Grodd of War is another entry in the Flashpoint universe but unlike the other tie-ins that I have read set in the Flashpoint, this issue is a one-shot. I hate that! This story was so good, so intriguing, and so original, I didn't want it to end. I really wanted this storyline to be a 3-part miniseries. 
    New Suicide Squad's Sean Ryan really outdid himself with this tale. There was such a level of pathos and gore in this one-shot. The third season of the Flash is supposed to take place in the Flashpoint and if producers of the CW show are mining the comics for ideas, I really hope that they strip this issue clean!
     It's that good! And the artwork by Ig Guara (Blue Beetle) is quite exceptional as well!!!

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.