We’re a little late running the news of this benefit anthology, but better late than never. 


American-Israeli Publisher, Mahrwood Press Ltd. has announced a special project to benefit children suffering from the situation in northern Israel.

BALM IN GILEAD will be a prestige anthology featuring the top names in comics and genre literature. All proceeds go directly toward feeding, clothing and housing children via the Levuneshama (Heart and Soul) Organization in Tzvat, Israel (http://www.levuneshama.org).
BALM IN GILEAD combines the efforts of Neal Adams, Jon Bogdanove, Dave Cockrum, Jack Dann, Peter David, Colleen Duran, David Gerrold, Harvey Jacobs, Jeffrey Jones, Michael William Kaluta (cover), Joe Kubert, Stan Lee, William Messner-Loebs, Dan Mishkin, Robin Riggs, Joe Rubinstein, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn, and Len Wein. Additional creators will be announced in weeks to come. The anthology will be edited by Clifford Meth.

“The only bright spots in the wake of all this destruction are the unselfish acts of people who just want to help other people,â€? said Clifford Meth. “In light of that sentiment and the talent we’ve assembled, we anticipate an eventful book.â€?

Neal Adams added, “As a comic book artist, there is a certain guilt factor because we are paid money to draw pictures. Therefore when an opportunity to contribute to society arises, we take it up.â€?

Jerusalem Post has a news story on the effort:

“I had been contacted by an American Jewish publisher to do an insert to solicit funds for children in the North, but I wanted to do something bigger, something in the US,” said Eric Mahr, Mahrwood’s president, who enlisted for the project the help of artists including Stan Lee, the creator of Spiderman and The Fantastic Four, and Neal Adams, a leading contemporary comic artist most famous for his work on the Batman and X-Men series. Other participants include Marv Wolfman, the creator of Blade, Robert Silverberg, a popular science fiction writer, and Dave Cockrum, a co-creator of the X-Men series.