As Neil Gaiman explains in his Journal, several authors are participating a benefit for the First Amendment Project:

So I called Michael Chabon and told him about the cruise-ship-name auction and suggested that if we could mobilise a few writers and get them to take part in a character-name auction, we could raise the money they needed. Michael went off and contacted a bunch of writers and set the wheels in motion, and the plan worked (I auctioned a name on a gravestone in the upcoming Graveyard Book, which went to the magnificently named Miss Liberty Roach, bid for on her behalf by a parental unit) and we raised over $150,000.

Now this year’s auction has begun — like last year’s it will run in three stages.

If you’ve ever had a yearning to be in a book, or if you’ve ever wanted to give someone a gift that is about as unique as unique comes, now is your chance. You could be a stuffed rat in a Carl Hiassen book or a character in a Chris Ware comic or… well, go and look at the complete list yourself. And pass it on, mention it in your blog. Tell your friends. It’s for a good cause…

Here’s the direct link for bidding on getting your name in a strip by Chris Ware. The bidding is at this moment up to $3,350.00, by far the highest grosser. Perhaps the thinking is that by getting your name in a Ware strip you guarantee being in a timeless classic that will be analyzed by museum and literary critics until the end of the Graphic Era, as your character’s foibles and follies and weaknesses are examined as a lens through which the transient nature of all human interaction can be seen. Maybe.