The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

No, not a writer having a really bad day – this is the latest in a host of charity events to raise money for operations needed to save veteran writer John Ostrander’s sight. Ostrander suffers from Glaucoma and, like so many US comic professionals, doesn’t have the necessary medical insurance cover to meet the costs of an operation to save his sight.

His friends and family have banded together to raise awareness of his condition and have formed Comix 4 Sight to fundraise towards the cost of the vital operations. Part of this fundraising is ending in a couple of days on Ebay. Ed Brubaker has decided to write a part in a forthcoming Criminal story for the three winners of this Ebay auction. Like it says on Ebay:

The eagerly anticipated upcoming story in CRIMINAL features three dead mobsters.  Each of the three winning bidders will not only be donating to this great cause, but will have their name (or the name of their choice) given to one of the dead mobsters in the comic itself!  Ed will also create a ‘mobster nickname’ for each winning bidder, making this one of the most fun and rare comic-related items ever auctioned! Finally, winning bidders will receive a copy of the issue that their dead mobster appears in, autographed and personalized by Ed Brubaker himself! Be a part of comics history forever, AND help a legendary comic book writer with this unique opportunity.

And, as has been pointed out many, many times before – this is yet another example of why the NHS is such an important public service. Every year we hear terrible stories about this artist or that writer struggling to afford major surgery or critical care. And they’re always American. It’s never happened here. And thanks to the NHS, never will.

The auction finishes on Tuesday September 8th – good luck! But don’t stop there – the Comix 4 Sight website has details of many more auctions you could be involved in – and all for a vital cause.