Auction for John Ostrander On Comix4sight

Over on Newsarama, Gail Simone is plugging a good cause, a web site where people can donate money to help comic scribe John Ostrander in his battle against glaucoma. Here is the link to that plea on the Rama: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/070931-Ostrander-Simone.html

One thing that is great about the comic's creative community is that they really seem to be interested in helping each other out when times are tough. I can remember similar outreaches for William Messner-Loeb and Gene Colan recently. Even something like Brad Metzler's efforts to save the Siegel house shows how the writers and artists can come together for a cause. Of course, The Hero Initiative is specifically set up to help the older creators who may not be reaping the benefits of their prior labors.




Now I'll admit that most of my exposure to Ostrander's work has been his DCU stuff. But I loved Legends and the Suicide Squad book that sprang from that. In particular, his Deadshot mini-series from 1988 is a spectacular book which is underappreciated to the point of being near-forgotten. So I can understand Simone's respect for the man.

The actual website to donate as here: http://www.comix4sight.com/

Much like Metzler gathered goodies to auction off for his Siegel house efforts, this site has accumulated some really great pieces to help raise some money. Unfortunately, the auction is not on-line (not that I could afford any of these things) but is a live auction at Chicago Comic-Con. Here is the release:

At the 2009 Chicago Comic-Con, we’ve joined forced with Wizard Entertainment to hold a charity auction the evening of Saturday August 8th. 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.

Now the list of pieces in incredible: a Dave Sim Cerebus page, a Joe and Andy Kubert Batman/Hawkman commission, a classic Howard Chaykin American Flagg page, a Terry Moore Echo cover, a Jim Lee Batman/Wolverine commission, a Neal Adams Captain America ... on and on.

But here are some Supergirl pieces.

Well Supergirl:Cosmic Adventures might be gone but it is not forgotten. Look at the great piece of Kara flying above the Earth by Eric Jones. What a great piece! So this would probably be what I would bid on if I was there.

I thought this was an interesting piece by Bo Hampton. Supergirl channeling Marilyn Monroe?

This isn't quite my style but should garner some bids.

And then this cute Agnes Garbowska piece of JLA kids running a lemonade stand. I like how Supergirl and Superman are in charge of advertising.

And there is even a Jamal Igle Firestorm splash page as he braces for a fight with the Secret Society of Super-villains.

As for Ostrander and Supergirl, there was a character named John 'Johnny O' Ostrander in The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl. I have always assumed he was at least named after Ostrander the writer.

Hopefully the auction goes well.