Back in the days of Live Aid and “We are the World,” people with a voice and an audience were putting forth the effort to combat famine across the world, but mostly in Africa. Heroes for Hope was Marvel’s contribution. I am positive that comic book store shelves were emptied of this title solely for the benefactors who donated their talents to make this initiative real.
Because it certainly wasn’t because people were raving about the story.
Heroes for Hope tells of how the X-Men came to provide relief to Africa. One by one, Wolverine, Rogue, Colossus, Rachel Summers, Nightcrawler, Storm, Shadowcat, and Magneto, are attacked by an unpinnable enemy. He came to some in a tangible form while others only sensed his presence. He twisted their realities, often pitting them against themselves. Some character arcs addressed the theme of hunger directly and others, like Wolverine’s, for example, focused on collateral topics like humanity, loss, or suffering. In the end, the panels got pretty wordy and they found it in themselves to stand up against their enemy and prevail. The things that humans do that can usher in these plights, such as deforestation, were also touched upon. And at the very end they even managed to squeeze in a bit about the X-Men being accepted for who they were rather than being shunned even in the face of the present tragedy.
And while that all sounds like a good thing, in actuality, it was like one 48-page long LSD trip.