John Ostrander Benefit raises over $31,000, and counting…
“The Comix4Sight.com benefit for comics veteran John Ostrander has raised $31,322.00 thus far,” committee co-chairperson Mike Gold revealed today. “And we still have more than 100 great pieces of original art, signed books and prints, and manuscripts to auction off!”
“Contributions are continuing to pour in, even after the benefit at the Chicago Comic-Con,” program coordinator Adriane Nash stated. “In the past several days, we’ve received material from Paul Gulacy, Jason Owen, golden age great Fran Matera, the cast of The Simpsons, and so much more.”
“The auction held last week at the Chicago Comic-Con raised half the current total in about two hours,” Nash continued. “We wouldn’t have had time to present everything if we had all night.
“Details about the upcoming auctions, including a full schedule of sales, will be posted online at www.comix4sight.com beginning Wednesday August 19th. As we’ve stated, we will donate any excess revenue to other comics professionals suffering from major vision issues or to The Hero Initiative, whose help and assistance has been critical to our success,” Nash concluded.
A 27-year veteran of the comics field, Ostrander is undergoing a series of operations and medical treatments to fight off blindness and glaucoma. “The response from the entire comics community has been overwhelming,” Gold noted. “The cost of these John’s procedures has been through the roof and are only partially covered by insurance.”
The Comix4Sight.com committee includes Nash, Gold, writer Gail Simone, and getthepointradio.com’s Mike and Kai Raub. Auctioneers included WGN-AM radio news director Charlie Meyerson, artist Hilary Barta, comics/movie attorney Ken Levin, and yours truly. Monetary contributions are also gratefully accepted by check or through PayPal at 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
A full list of contributors will be posted at Comix4Sight.com.
In the spirit of coming together, a number of stores are taking Amazing Spider-Man #583, featuring Spider-Man meeting Barack Obama, a comic that they know they’re going to sell out of when it goes on sale today, and are using the money to help others.
A press release from the Hero Initiative:
Devil’s Due Publishing announced that it would partner with Hypergraphia Comics, the American Cancer Society and the Hero Initiative to assist comic artist Josh Medors’ fight against cancer. Hypergraphia will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sales of their graphic novel, Sabbath: All Your Sins Reborn, to the Hero Initiative, to be used directly in Medors’ battle with spinal cancer.
Out in Portland, OR, Floating World Comics is all set to hold their 
To begin, the funeral arrangements from Mike’s brother Matt, reprinted in its entirety:
In the back of Wizard World’s Chicago convention program was a full page ad featuring Paul Jenkins. It read:
Today the Big ComicMix Broadcast is at Wizard World Chicago, where the US Post Office kicked off the way by unveiling the Marvel Stamp Collection, plus the debut of the Ultimate Spider-Man Project from the Hero Initiative which was unleashed here as well. DC dropped a few news bombs which we cover and then there’s a new Venom series to talk about from Marvel and so much more.
My mama told me never to play pool against someone who brings his own cue. I shudder to think what she’d say about someone who brought his own pool table.
