Like Batman forming the Justice League of superheroes, or Iron Man helping to assemble the Avengers, comics editor Scott Dunbier needed to assemble an all-star team.

The call went out and Dunbier, who lives in San Marcos, quickly enlisted the biggest names in the American comics industry to collaborate on a special anthology to raise money for Ukrainian war refugees.

The result is “Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds”, a 96-page book produced by the best writers, artists, colorists, letters, designers and editors Dunbier could find.

Proceeds, estimated at $200,000 to $500,000, will go to Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based disaster relief agency that raises money for Ukrainian war refugees.

More than five million Ukrainians have fled abroad since Russia invaded the country on February 24.

Thursday, three days after its launch, the cause had raised nearly $ 85,000 on the crowdfunding site Zoop. The release date remains uncertain, depending on the amount of pre-orders after a month, said Dunbier, director of special projects at IDW Publishing, located in San Diego.

Like many comics, the Ukrainian Project has an origin story.

“It was basically me being glued to my TV watching the horror, the atrocities unfold and just felt like I had to do something. And, you know, then it clicked. I thought maybe in some way it would help,” Dunbier said.

The project does not claim to be impartial, portraying Ukraine as David taking on the Russian Goliath.

Russia calls its incursion a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine.

The front of the hardcover edition, which retails for $60, was painted by Alex Ross, one of the industry’s best-known cover artists, with a Ukrainian man dressed in blue and yellow standing in front of a giant sans face wielding a hammer and sickle.

Three different soft covers, on sale for $40 each, were designed by three fellow heavyweights: Arthur Adams, Dave Johnson and Bill Sienkiewicz. Interested persons can also purchase signed copies.

“If I can put my finger in the eye of a bully, or step on the bully and trip them up, I love that kind of stuff,” Sienkiewicz said. “I despise Putin.”

Its cover shows a Ukrainian wielding a shield and sword in front of a giant bear with a bloody nose, which is surprised to meet resistance. The sword impaled a teddy bear resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Brent Anderson, Sergio Aragones, June Brigman, Kurt Busiek, Howard Chaykin, Joshua Dysart, Mark Evanier, Emil Ferris, Dave Gibbons, Rob Guillory, John Layman, Gabriel Rodriguez, Stan Sakai, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, Chris Sprouse, Jill Thompson , Matt Wagner and Mark Waid.

While some of the stories are set in Ukraine, others are allegorical. For example, Dunbier said, Sakai — creator of the “Usagi Yojimbo” comic book, about a bunny warrior set in feudal Japan — created a story depicting villagers hunted by an evil warlord.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, with additional reporting by Norma Galeana in San Marcos and Rollo Ross in Los Angeles; Editing by Richard Chang)

– Reuters