T-shirt #232 - We Can Be Heroes - a DC OrgDC comics has launched a campaign to raise money for the hunger crisis in the horn of Africa. Partnered with Save the Children, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and the Mercy Corps, DC Entertainment has been running a campaign since around the time I started my blog to raise money to help with the hunger crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. According to the website, WeCanBeHeroes.org, over eight million people in those countries are starving and in need of critical intervention.
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In 2011, the United Nations declared the first famine in 21 years in these areas of the world. Though the U.N. lifted the famine rating in 2012, the crisis continues. DC Entertainment is using this crisis to re-brand its new Justice League team as it gears up public awareness of its franchise heroes as Warner Brothers readies its blockbuster Justice League movie for premiere in (tentatively) in 2015 (though no sooner and maybe not that soon), according to Cinema Blend.
And so, the campaign suggests that donors and those wishing to help can "fight side-by-side with the Justice League and DC Entertainment" to raise awareness and funds for the three humanitarian partners working to help the starving people of those nations in the horn of Africa. Check out this screen shot below about those organizations and of course the web site:
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For $10, you can buy enough peanut paste to keep a child alive for over a week. $25 buys clean water for three families of six for a month. $50 buys two weeks of food for a household of six people for a month. And $100 funds mobile health teams working to reach the malnourished. In terms of the merchandise, 50% of the proceeds from the sales of the merchandise is donated to the charities.
As you can see I bought one of the two t-shirts. However, this is not the shirt I wanted.
The one I really wanted is no longer available in XL with no news on when it will be available again in XL size as I wrote and asked. I also bought the phone case for my Samsung Galaxy S4. There's also a mug, a water bottle, and a poster, but I held off on those for now.
The campaign recently sold off more expensive swag, including cookouts with comic creators and other special features, on a weekly basis, using one Justice League hero each week as the center piece of the campaign.
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The Flash phone case is not part of the campaign. But it just arrived in the mail, so I wanted to show it off.
YES, I have two phone cases...
Doesn't everyone?
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I love the silhouette look of the Justice League in these images for the campaign. The ads are very striking, and after seeing enough of them, I was convinced to buy some of the products and donate money.
Marvel may out sell DC comics month-to-month, but Marvel is not doing anything quite as noble and cool as this campaign, even if, as I mentioned, there's branding and movie franchise ulterior motives.
The campaign seems to have helped DC to consider the defining attribute of each character and use this as part of an iconographic logo-branding system. It's smart work, and it plays into the rich history and the iconographic status that DC heroes have over Marvel heroes. Many of them (though not all) are more deeply embedded in the cultural psyche. I know I used "iconographic" twice in a short paragraph. But what better word is there for these images?
I am a bit bemused by the addition of Cyborg, a clear ploy for diversity, to the very white and very male set of heroes in the Justice League. He serves as a replacement for the Martian Manhunter, which is not the best choice, and considering he was a Teen Titan, he seems out of place on this team. Why isn't a green alien a sign of diversity? Go figure. I like Cyborg, always have, but his inclusion on the new Justice League seemed forced and not set up by any pre-story or back story history.
WEEKLY COMICS LIST
The top four comics this week are basically interchangeable. I could re-arrange them all and read anyone of them first. The rankings came down to the Night Crawler factor, first. I am curious about the return of Night Crawler the X-Man to the Marvel Universe, so the new X book takes first place. Superman Unchained is a bit easier to read than Forever Evil, as the latter is a bit more dense and so it (SU) takes second. Green Arrow is always an enjoyable read since Lemire took over the comic. It only takes fourth because I may want it to be first up in the second night of reading. Some time in exhaustion, I only make it through two or three comics in a night.
I am typing this list and my reasoning on Thursday for posting on Friday's blog entry, and so my first night of reading these books will be the day before this post appears.
As I reported in the text above, since I am writing some of my content a day ahead, I did manage just the top three comics in the list on Thursday night, so that Green Arrow will be my first read tonight. Amazing X-Men was good though not perfectly good. I am always troubled by depictions of Heaven, especially as something out of a fairy tale. I trust Jason Aaron's writing, but I am hoping this "Heaven" proves to be a figment of Nightcrawler's imagination. Also, when Wolverine is openly solicitous of sex with Storm, I was very troubled. Wolverine can joke, but this went against his honorable nature.
Superman Unchained #4 was very much a let down after the first three issues. The wrap up of this part of the story just does not compare; however, the instigating factors for the next storylines, involving Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, were very well done. Not the right inker on Jim Lee's art, which looked far too sketchy and unfinished.
Forever Evil #3 contained many good elements. It's going to hold near the top of my weekly stack simply for the David Finch art. But the story could be better developed.
COMICS FOR THE WEEK OF 1311.06
Amazing X-Men #001
Superman Unchained #4
Forever Evil #3
Green Arrow #25
Mighty AVENGERS #003
Heist #002
Iron Man #018
Daredevil: Dark Knights #006
Captain America #013
Cataclysm: The Ultimates Last Stand #001
Uber #7
Green Lantern #25
Earth 2 #17
Batman: Detective Comics #25
Superman: Action Comics (Zero Year) #25
Alex + Ada (Image - Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn) #1
Protector's Inc. (Image - JMS - Joe's Comics) #1
BACK LOG
Ten Grand #5
Trillium #4
God Is Dead (Avatar) #s 2 and 3
- chris tower - 1311.08 - 9:20
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