For a while now, writer Gail Simone has been tirelessly collecting items for a benefit for writer John Ostrander.
Ostrander faces expensive treatment for glaucoma, which his insurance doesn’t cover. The alternative is losing his sight.
Simone has set up a benefit auction for Ostrander at this weekend’s Chicago Comic-Con.
At the 2009 Chicago Comic-Con, we’ve joined forced with Wizard Entertainmentth. Our goal is to raise sufficient funds to help cover the costs of John’s treatments and it is John’s expressed wish that should we raise funds above his needs, that excess money is to be donated to The Hero Initiative to help them continue their great works aiding comic creators in their times of need. to hold a charity auction the evening of Saturday August 8
You can see four HUGE galleries of items that have been donated, and read more about it at the comix4sight.com site. Here’s a few pieces just to give you an idea of what’s available.
It’s a great cause, and if you’re going to Chicago Comic-Con, we urge you to participate.
Hole shaMOLEY! I now have a good reason to attend a Wizard con…
There are some beautiful and delightful pieces in this auction (love the Munden’s Bar t-shirt!)… I hope they collect some new pieces at the show and continue the auction online!
Actually, while Gail has been incredible in her zeal for this project, the auction was set up by Comix4sight (http://comix4sight.com/). And, yes, there are some amazing pieces available.
Absolutely, Martha, thank you for this. I keep getting credit for creating comix4sight.com and for the auction, neither of which I deserve even slightly. I keep correcting this error whenever I see it but I missed it here.
Full credit for the website and organizing the auction goes to the wonderful Mike Gold and Adriane Nash, long-time friends of John’s. It was all their brainchild, and in fact it was me stumbling on their site that made me get off my rumpus mcgoo and start soliciting donations and trying to raise awareness. I appreciate the kind words but it’s really those two who got the ball rolling and are doing all the difficult organizational stuff that I would suck at. They really are heroes to me and incredibly sweet folks, as well.
But the IMPORTANT thing is that the auction is tomorrow and they’re going to continue the auction online after as we just ended up with too many amazing contributions to auction off in one evening!
I am absolutely humbled by the response of the industry and it’s all going to help one of the best guys in comics, AND Hero Initiative.
Thanks for helping spread the word, Heidi!
because your eyes are not part of your body so they need their own insurance.
It’s so nice that there’s always some fun raiser for these people who need help, but it would be even nicer if they weren’t necessary. Bring on the socialized medicine.