Chicago Comic-Con To Host John Ostrander Benefit
An auction will be held at the Chicago Comic-Con (nee Wizard World Chicago) the evening of Saturday, August 8, 2009 to raise funds for comics veteran John Ostrander, who is undergoing a series of operations and medical treatments to fight off blindness.
A 27-year veteran of the comics field, Ostrander, has long
been suffering from glaucoma. Recently, John underwent a series of operations that might have saved his remaining eyesight. Progress has been made but he faces considerably more treatment in the months ahead.
To help Ostrander cover his costs, a committee has been
organized called Comix4Sight. Solicitations for the benefit auction have gone out, and the response from the comics community has been overwhelming.
“The cost of these John’s procedures has been astronomical, and are only partially covered by insurance. And by ‘partially,’ I’m being polite,” committee co-chairperson Mike Gold disclosed. “John has to
go up to Boston repeatedly for treatment, and on two occasions thus far he had to spend a week there for the actual surgery.
“Like so many other Americans John is without sufficient
medical coverage to cover these types of expenses; sadly, his insurance will
expire in about a year,” Gold noted. “With the assistance of Peter Katz and
Wizard Entertainment, Adriane Nash, Mike Raub and I have organized a benefit auction to raise funds for John’s medical expenses. We will be having this auction Saturday night at the Chicago Comic-Con to be held at the Rosemont Convention Center near O’Hare Field on August 6th through 9th.”
Original art, signed scripts, comics memorabilia,
autographed books and similar items are being donated to the auction. “Within the first 24 hours we’ve received pledges of contributions including original art and signed books by Howard Chaykin, David Lloyd, Dave Sim, Norm Breyfogle, Dick Giordano, Dennis O’Neil, Hilary Barta, Kevin Van Hook, Mark Badger, Michael Davis, Rick Stasi, Paul Gulacy, Joe Landsdale, and, of course, John’s GrimJack collaborator Timothy Truman. We’re getting commitments every day,” committee co-chairperson Adriane Nash stated.
“We’ve set up a website – www.comix4sight.com
– that will be carrying updated information about both the benefit and the
auction items,” Nash continued. “We’ll also be posting the results of the
auction, and any items that came in too late for the benefit will be auctioned off at the site. We will donate any excess revenue to other comics
professionals suffering from major vision issues or to The Hero Initiative.”
Monetary contributions would also be gratefully accepted by check or through PayPal at www.comix4sight.com.
Individuals and corporations interested in making contributions should send them to:
Mike Gold and Adriane Nash
arrogantMGMS
304 Main Avenue,
#194
Norwalk, CT 06851
Thanks for the info and for making donating SO easy. Has the Hero Initiative been contacted about John's condition and financial situation?I have been a fan of John's for years. I had the great fortune to meet him last October. He's obviously a really, really good writer. But he's an even nicer, kinder and more congenial man, truly an undeniably jolly good fellow. My prayers (and more concretely, a bit of my money) are with John Ostrander. May the Force be with you. Or as another Jedi Master once said, "Keep on with the Force, don't stop. Don't stop till you get enough."
Also, How about the 501st, have they been contacted? John is an honorary member! I think they would be excited to help promote this event or fund raise on their own . http://www.501st.com/
This is getting some buzz on twitter. Neil Gaiman wrote:neilhimself RT @evandorkin: Effort to help comicswriter John Ostrander save his eyesight: http://tinyurl.com/nje8tk If you can, chip in a few bucks.14 minutes ago from TweetDeck
HEY!!! SOMEONE NEEDS TO FIX THE PAYPAL LINK ON THE COMIX4SIGHT WEBSITE!!! Tried to donate, but could not.
Drew – we just (re) tested the button from several different computers/platforms and it works fine?What seems to be the problem?
Drew-Don't you think it would have been simpler to use the contact link on comix4sight than posting this here?I believe its an error on paypal's end not ours, since any time we get a note saying the link isn't working & go to check its fine. If it continues to not work for you, please go directly to paypal.com and enter adriane@comicmix.com as the recipient and you'll be able to contribute.Thank in advance!
That reads quite meaner than I meant, and I'm sorry.