Comic Book Resources

Straight for the art | Silvestri & Portacio's Philippines flood relief jam piece

Witchblade by Marc Silvestri & Wetworks' Dane by Whilce Portacio

Sure, Image co-founders Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio have teamed up in the past—most recently for the Robert Kirkman-penned mega-crossover Image United—but this is their noblest joint effort yet. The pair is auctioning off the above jam piece, starring Portacio's Wetworks character Drew and Silvestri's flagship heroine Witchblade, to raise money for flood relief in the Philippines.

The Southeast Asian nation was recently hit hard by back-to-back typhoons Ketsana and Parma, and the number of casualties and people left homeless by flooding is grim. But as reported by Comic Book Resources, the burgeoning Filipino comics scene—which includes such world-famous artists as Leinil Francis Yu, Francis Manapul, Philip Tan, and Carlo Pagulayan, plus a thriving national industry--is rallying to help raise much-needed funds for the victims. The effort has been led by Gerry Alanguilan, Yu's frequent inker and a writer-artist in his own right, and the Silvestri/Portacio jam is just one of several items that will be made available through benefit auctions on Alanguilan's eBay page. Go and bid, then check out Alanguilan's blog for photos of the live relief auction he helped conduct this weekend at Manila's Komikon 2009, plus more info on what else you can do to help.

Go help Bob Beerbohm buy a new hip

Robert Beerbohm has been involved in comics since the 1960s, both as a retailer and as a collector/historian. Sadly, his health has not been good in recent years and he is in bad need of an operation to get his hip fixed. I'll let Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth explain in further detail:

Bob could be a poster child for our pathologically dysfunctional and systemically cruel and capricious health care system. He was in a serious car accident while leaving the 1973 Houston Comicon and, as a result, he's worn all the cartilage from his hip joints, which means that when he walks, his hips are grinding bone on bone. Naturally, his health insurance company dropped him as soon as he complained about this because, they said, it constituted a "previously undisclosed condition," and they wouldn't cover the operation he now desperately needs. So, the bottom line is that he's in continuous pain, can barely get around on crutches, can no longer do all the physical labor that his business requires (like lifting and carrying boxes of comics), is broke, and needs you to buy some comics from him so he can afford the $18,000 it'll cost him in cold hard cash for this operation. If we lived in a better world, America's generous socialistic health care would give him the operation he needs, or, at the very least, some rich patron would come forward and write him a check. We do not live in that world, and he needs all the help he can get.

If you have the time and money, please consider purchasing something from Beerbohm, either via his site or his ebay store.

Brevoort trades his way to Fantastic Four #1

Months of effort, 84 trades and more than 500 comics have netted Marvel editor a copy of Fantastic Four #1, which Brevoort will donate to the Hero Initiative so they can auction it off. Check out the video update from Brevoort below:

Brevoort started trading comics in late 2008 with Marvel fans on his Blah Blah Blog on the company's website, all in an effort to see if he could one day get a copy of his holy grail.

"In all honesty, I was beginning to lose hope that we'd ever successfully complete this journey, especially after the previous near-misses," Brevoort wrote on his blog. "And I have to say, the thing that stands out the most for me about this whole Experiment is the vast generosity of Marvel's fans. Not only did most people offer up better books in Trade than what they were asking for, but a number of guys went even further, out-and-out donating items without getting anything in return outside of the feeling of doing something positive. There's no question, Marvel's fans are the best, as this whole experience proves beyond a doubt."

Revisiting the 9-11 benefit books

by Kieron Dwyer and Mark Chiarello

On the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Eye on Comics' Don MacPherson takes a look back at the benefit comic books that came out from comic publishers after those attacks. He spoke with Alternative Comics' publisher Jeff Mason, who said 9-11: Emergency Relief is still available from Diamond, as well as Jamie S. Rich, who contributed to the Oni/Image Comics/DC Comics collaboration 9-11.

I still have those books, as well as the Marvel one, on my bookshelf; I think I might pull them out and read them again when I get back home.

Chris Ware's charity robot T-shirt

Onward Robots!

Cartoonist Chris Ware has created a T-shirt that's currently available at Woot.com's T-shirt site to benefit 826michigan, a nonprofit tutoring and writing center in Ann Arbor. It also features a subject near and dear to our hearts.

The shirt is currently $10 with free standard shipping, and after today the price will go up to $15 if there are even any left. So order fast!

Via The Comics Reporter

Blogging to benefit the CBLDF

Chad Nevett, who blogs over at Comics Should Be Good! and writes reviews for CBR, is participating in a blogathon on his other blog, GraphiContent, to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

He kicked it off earlier today and will post something every 30 minutes for 24 hours. His theme for the day is the Avengers work of Brian Michael Bendis, and he reread a whole bunch of comics in preparation.

So go leave him a comment and cheer him on, and don't forget to donate a little something to the CBLDF today.

ComicsLive | A guide to upcoming comic-related events

Sachs & Violens Perfume Oil

Welcome to ComicsLive, a guide to upcoming signings, conventions and other comic-related events. Information on submitting your event can be found at the bottom of this post.

This weekend

Chicago | Mark Millar, Dan Slott, Jason Aaron and more will be at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center for Wizard's Chicago Comic-Con.

A couple of events are occurring in conjunction with the show that are worth noting. There's a charity auction to benefit John Ostrander, who recently underwent surgery for glaucoma. Also, the Hero Initiative has teamed up with George Perez and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab to help con attendees find love. Not only can they improve their personal smell with a new fragrance based on Perez and Peter David's Sachs & Violens comic, but they can also bid on the opportunity to attend a speed dating session hosted by Perez. And it all benefits charity. What could be better?

Robot 6's Michael May attended last night's preview night and will have additional reports all weekend.

Las Vegas | 2009 Star Trek Convention, featuring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Lloyd, Zachary Quintos and many more.

Continue Reading »

ComicsLive | A guide to upcoming comic-related events

Welcome to ComicsLive, a guide to upcoming signings, conventions and other comic-related events. Information on submitting your event can be found at the bottom of this post.

July 17

Multiple cities | Watchmen returns to theaters with additional footage for a limited run in Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas and Minneapolis. Details can be found here.

July 18

Baltimore | Geppi's Entertainment Museum hosts Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology editor Keith Chow, art director Jerry Ma, artist Alex Tarampi and writer Larry Hama from noon to 4p.m. for a presentation, discussion and signing.

Portland | Cosmic Monkey Comics hosts a 24-hour zine challenge beginning at 10 a.m. and ending, naturally, at 10 a.m. the next day.

Jeffrey Brown's Hulk

Puyallup, Wash. | Comic Evolution will host a March of Dimes benefit that includes a silent auction and several artists doing sketches for donations, including Paul Gulacy, Clayton Crain and many more.

San Francisco | Isotope Comics hosts a signing and party for Geoff Johns, writer of Blackest Night, Green Lantern and various other titles. They'll have free buttons and a selection of Lantern Corps. cocktails. The signing begins at 4 p.m. and the 21+ party begins at 7 p.m.

Continue Reading »

Monsters & Dames charity art auction

by Joe Jusko

Earlier this year the folks at the Emerald City ComiCon put together a benefit book called Monsters & Dames that featured pin-ups by many of the artists who attended the con. The original artwork by Joe Jusko (above), David Petersen, Bruce Timm, Mark Brooks and many others is being auctioned off to benefit the Seattle Children's Hospital; you can find the available pieces up on eBay right here.

Brad Meltzer invites you over to Superman's house July 11

On his blog, Brad Meltzer offers a personal update on the efforts to restore Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel’s boyhood home in Cleveland, Ohio:

As some of you know, our goal was to raise $50,000 to work on the outside of the house. In the end, we raised $101,000. So work is now going on in the inside as well. It's just beautiful.

So let this be my invitation to all: On Saturday, July 11, 2009, in Cleveland, we'll have the official ribbon-cutting and unveiling of the redone Siegel house. The roof, the siding, the cement...so much has been done to this place. They even repainted it back to historic colors (honestly, I kinda liked the red and bright blue), but history won in this one. The only thing that made me crazy was the dark green trim. Green on Superman's house? A bunch of us screamed bloody kryptonite, but again, it's good to have the history. And from what I hear, we'll have a great showing by the Siegel family for the big unveiling. So if you're anywhere near Cleveland, hope you'll join us.

As Kevin noted in today's Comics A.M., the ribbon-cutting ceremony is tied to the Screaming TikiCon happening that weekend.

Last fall Meltzer teamed up with The Siegel & Shuster Society to raise money to restore the house. Meltzer said he's now turned his attention to a new cause called City Year. More information on it can be found at Ordinarypeoplechangetheworld.com, an organization founded by Meltzer.

Hero Initiative book features new stories by Chaykin, Ha and more

Back in March we learned that the Hero Initiative was putting together a benefit book to help raise money for the organization. Not only have they released more information on the contents, but they've also revealed the cover art.

As seen above, one is an Eve cover by J. Scott Campbell, while the other features Grendel by Matt Wagner.

As for the contents, the 32-page comic will include a new American Flagg! story by Howard Chaykin, as well as new stories by Gene Ha, Bill Willingham, David Lloyd and Kaare Andrews. Arthur Adams will recreate three classic Marvel Comics covers, and Hero Initiative beneficiaries such as Gene Colan, Bill Messner-Loebs and Josh Medors will tell their own personal stories and the organization's involvement in their recent struggles.

The book is edited and produced by Scott Dunbier, special projects editor at IDW Publishing, which is donating its publishing services to the project. The book retails for $3.99 and comes out July 29. The Hero Initiative will also have copies at their booth at this year's San Diego Comic Con.

Colleen Doran, other celebrities contribute doodles for charity

Colleen Doran's doodle

May is Neurofibromatosis Awareness month, and long list of celebrities, including A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, have contributed "doodles" for an auction that benefits Neurofibromatosis Inc. The auctions started yesterday on eBay and run through May 17; you can find the complete list here.

FCBD | Hero Initiative/Ralphs promotion in California

In addition to all the Hero Initiative events for Free Comic Book Day listed here, the organization also has a special promotion going on today in Southern California: If you sign up your Ralphs card for the Hero Initiative either in person or online, you'll get a free Mike Wieringo What If? comic. Here are the details, from the Hero Initiative blog:

Continue Reading »

Straight for the art | Full of Pryde art exhibit

Full of Pryde promo poster

Earlier this month I mentioned Full of Pryde, an art exhibit featuring images of X-Man Kitty Pryde that benefits the hemophilia research department at Oregon Health and Science University.

The good folks at Floating World Comics in Portland are hosting the exhibit, and not only have they released the art for the promo poster (by Barnaby Ward, above) but they've also set up a dedicated blog where you can view the art. For more details on the event, which kicks off May 7, check out this post on the Floating World Comics site.

Update on Len Wein and Christine Valada

Giant Size X-men #1

As reported last week, Len Wein and and his wife Christine Valada's home caught fire last week, killing their dog Sheba and destroying much of the house, including Wein's collection of original art and his own work.

Comics writer Mark Evanier is putting together plans to help Wein replace a lot of those comics:

To all those who've asked: We're preparing our little campaign to help our pal Len Wein, who lost much of what he owns in a fire one week ago. In a day or three, I'll be opening a web page to try and collect copies of Len's work for him...extra copies you may have of comics he wrote. A lot of you have already written with generous offers and they're appreciated. The page will tell you how to follow through on those offers.

We'll link to the page here once it is live. In addition, Valada has been writing about the fire on her own blog; she's shared ten things she's learned from the fire here and here.