More Gene Colan Fundraisers and Announcements
Updating our earlier coverage of efforts to raise money for industry legend Gene Colan, Marvel and Hero Initiative recently announced plans for a series of limited print sales and auctions of Colan’s Iron Man art, among other offerings.
From the Hero Initiative announcement:
The Hero Initiative in conjunction with Marvel Comics is launching a series of Gene Colan-themed products, starting with a limited edition print of Gene’s cover art to Invincible Iron Man #1, available at Wizard World Philadelphia, May 30-June 1. Only 200 prints will be available at the show at a cost of $25 each. Net proceeds from sales of these prints by The Hero Initiative will benefit Gene Colan. Another 50 prints will be available at a later date, with plans to have them autographed by both Gene Colan and Stan Lee.
Also at Wizard World Philadelphia, guest writers and artists at the Marvel Comics booth will be signing and sketching two large poster-sized boards, which Hero will auction benefiting Gene at a later date.
And that’s just the start. Wizard World Chicago, June 26-29, will see the release of a second print featuring the cover art to Daredevil #47, the legendary “Brother, Take My Hand” story by Stan Lee and Gene Colan. A third print will be available later in the year, along with other products.
For August, a Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula poster will be available for order via Marvel Previews with proceeds routed to Gene; and in September, a special book reprinting some of Gene’s greatest stories will be made available. In addition to these items, The Hero Initiative will take additional steps to help Gene in his convalescence.
While this is certainly good news for Gene Colan and his family, some have questioned the forethought of restricting the number of items sold or auctioned for such a cause to a "limited edition" run. Over at The Beat, several commenters have done the math and come to the conclusion that the potential funds raised by Marvel and the Hero Initiative through these efforts might not put much of a dent in Colan’s medical bills.
As one commenter writes:
If this is to raise money for Gene, why would you limit it to 250 pieces???
That’s only $6,250!!!! Unless they’re planning on releasing 20 different covers or his illness is only an ingrown toenail, it’s not gonna help too much.
Hospitals charge on average $5,000 just to STAY in the hospital for a week. This doesn’t include doctors fees and surgery costs.
While the effort by Marvel and Hero Initiative is certainly to be commended, the questions raised by observers do provide some food for thought.
On a related note, Cliff Meth has also sent word that he’s kicked off a series of auctions to benefit Colan, though bidding for the majority of items available is being handled informally through Meth himself. There are some really interesting items in this auction, from what I’ve read thus far. I wish he’d run pictures of some of the items, but then again, I wish there wasn’t a need to run all of these auctions to begin with.
Here at ComicMix, our thoughts continue to go out to Gene Colan and his family, and we encourage readers to help out in whatever fashion they are able.