The Hero Initiative officially has announced the Wolverine 100 project, which will feature 100 original covers of Marvel Comics’ most famous mutant.   The Hero Initiative is a charity that helps comic-book creators in medical or financial need.

Marvel Comics has donated 100 blank-covered cardstock copies of the Wolverine: Weapon X #1 to Hero.  Artists including Neal Adams, J. Scott Campbell, Frank Cho, Gene Colan, Ron Garney, Dale Keown, Adam Kubert, Leinil Yu, and John Romita Sr. and Jr. will create a cover for the issue.

“Marvel fully supports the Hero Initiative and its mission, and is proud to offer one of our premier characters in Wolverine to help their efforts,” said Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley in a release. “The amazing outpouring of support and creativity we see from the artists in this is a wonder to behold as well.”

All 100 original Wolverine covers will be published in a book set for release in November. A public viewing of all covers will also be held.

“Fasten your seat belts. From what I’ve seen, this is the craziest 100 project to date,” said Hero Initiative Board member Brian Pulido in a release. “The artists are very good at what they do and what they do is very awesome! They are pulling out all stops to deliver the goods on Marvel’s marauding mutant. You won’t be disappointed.”

Marvel is also hosting an informational video on the Hero Initiative, which you can see here.

- Matt Price

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A special signed edition of the “Berserker” comic will be distributed to comic-book retailers who sign up to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund through Diamond Comics.  The promotion was announced by Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik at the ComicsPRO annual meeting of direct-market retailers.

The issue will be signed by Milo Ventimiglia (”Heroes”) and the creative team.  Ventimiglia brought the project to Top Cow;  the team creating “Berserker” is made up of writer Rick Loverd (”Friday Night Lights”), artist Jeremy Haun (”The Leading Man”) and cover artist Dale Keown (”PITT”).

The preview issue of “Berserker” is available now; the first issue is set to ship in June.  Sablik said the violent series should appeal to fans of “Wanted.”   In the story, the two lead characters discover they have incredible strength when they become filled with rage.

– Matt Price

Embedded below is a “Berserker” promo video, which debuted at New York Comicon.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Comic Book Legal Defense Fund executive director announced changes to the board of directors for the Fund while speaking at the ComicsPRO annual meeting.

Chris Staros of Top Shelf is stepping down as president of the board to focus more time on his publishing company, Brownstein said. Larry Marder, creator of Beanworld,” will join the board. Chris Powell of Lone Star Comics was named the new president of the CBLDF board.

Powell, also a member of the board of ComicsPRO, spoke to the assembled retailers.

“We value everybody in this room as one of the groups we’re here to protect,” Powell said. “The Fund is vital, because we don’t just protect you; we protect your customers and we protect your suppliers.”

Powell spoke to ways retailers could continue to support the fund: through memberships that are solicited through Diamond Comics Distributors; through eBay auctions that designate some funds to the CBLDF through MissionFish; through a donation jar on the counter; or through signings and events benefiting the Fund.

“Besides monetarily, one of the things you can do … is to help us continue to get the mission out,” Powell said.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community.

– Matt Price

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Marvel’s most popular mutant is set to become a fund-raising hero.

Steve Borock of the Hero Initiative, speaking at the ComicsPRO annual meeting, said a “Wolverine” project similar to the “Spider-Man” and “Hulk” 100 Covers project is in the works.  About 100 top-level artists will be approached to create Wolverine covers that will be printed in a book to benefit the Hero Initiative.   Borock indicated that creators including Frank Cho were interested in being involved with this project.

Borock also announced “Hero Comics,” a benefit comic book organized by Scott Dunbier, which will include a new “American Flagg!” story by Howard Chaykin.   This 32-page anthology will also feature contributions from Gene Colan and Josh Medors.

The Hero Initiative raises funds for comic-book creators in need.  The Initiative has benefited more than 50 creators, Borock said, with more than $500,000 cumulatively.

The Hero Initiative also provided an informational DVD to the attending retailers with information about the Hero Initiative.  The one-minute version of the video is embedded below.

– Matt Price

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Image Comics will release a second “Liberty Comics” to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, announced Joe Keatinge, the public relations and marketing coordinator for Image.

The first “Liberty Comics” raised more than $30,000 for the fund.

The second “Liberty Comics” is planned for October.

In addition, Keatinge announced a series of variant covers that will be tied to some of Image’s biggest releases.   These covers, which will cost $1 more than the standard cover, will raise money for the CBLDF.

– Matt Price

From the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: 

Jeff Smith’s ComicsPRO Auction Raises $4,650 for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

Concord CA-based Flying Colors to Host Jeff Smith Appearance

Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff of Concord, CA will host Jeff Smith, creator of the best-selling BONE and RASL series, in his only North American book store appearance of 2008 & 2009 on Saturday December 6.

The exclusive appearance was bid on as part of a fundraising auction available only to members of ComicsPRO, the trade association for comic book specialty retailers. The winning bid amount of $4650.00 will be donated in its entirety to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

“I’ve known Jeff Smith and both admired and been an enthusiastic retailer of his work for more than 15 years, but this will be the first time his legions of fans will be able to come meet him at Flying Colors Comics,” said Field. “Knowing Jeff has also admired the work ComicsPRO does on behalf of all comics specialty retailers coupled with the splash this makes for the CBLDF makes this even more special.”

The auction idea was conceived at the 2008 ComicsPRO Annual Meeting, of which Cartoon Books, publisher of BONE and RASL, was a sponsor. After praising the effort of comics specialty retailers in selling out the initial 20,000 print run of RASL #1, Smith offered to make his only comic book shop appearance this year a benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund via the ComicsPRO auction.

“I owe everything to the comic shop owners who continue to believe in Cartoon Books and my work. The membership of ComicsPRO are among the best of the best,” said Jeff Smith. “Any retailer dedicated to selling comics in the specialty market needs to seriously consider joining ComicsPRO, as well as support the important work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I’m also excited to finally do an event at Joe Field’s Flying Colors Comics.”

“The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is moved by the generosity of Joe Field and all the other ComicsPRO members who bid on this unprecedented auction,” said Charles Brownstein, executive director of CBLDF. “We’re also grateful to Jeff Smith, Vijaya Iyer, and the team at Cartoon Books for going above and beyond to support the Fund and the membership of ComicsPRO. This effort will go a long way towards helping us perform our important work in this season as we support the defense of Iowa collector Christopher Handley.”

Jeff Smith is the award-winning creator of the beloved BONE series, originally published by Cartoon Books and now being published in color by Scholastic Books. Time magazine selected BONE as one of the 10 greatest graphic novels of all time. Cartoon Books will publish the first collection of Smith’s new sci-fi series RASL, titled “The Drift,” this winter. Recently for DC Comics, he wrote and drew SHAZAM! Monster Society of Evil.

Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff of Concord, CA is a proud recipient of the Will Eisner “Spirit of Comics” Award for Retailing Excellence, a “Hall-of-Fame” award recognized internationally among comic book professionals. He is also President of ComicsPRO and the founder of Free Comic Book Day, the comic industry’s only concerted outreach event.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. They have defended dozens of Free Expression cases in courts across the United States, and led important education initiatives promoting comics literacy and free expression. For additional information, donations, and other inquiries call 800-99-CBLDF or visit http://www.cbldf.org or http://www.myspace.com/cbldf.

ComicsPRO is the only retailer trade and advocacy group for comic book specialty retailers, providing group benefits and an industry voice for its constantly growing membership. Information and applications for membership are available at http://ComicsPRO.org. For further inquiries, please contact ComicsPRO’s Communications Coordinator Amanda Emmert at info@comicspro.org.

Rare Tori Amos Items Benefit CBLDF on eBay This Halloween!

Starting this Friday, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is auctioning off several rare and one of a kind Tori Amos collectibles from the personal collection of Comic Book Tattoo editor Rantz Hoseley!

Items up for bid include signed tour programs from the Under the Pink and Boys for Pele tours and Comic Book Tattoo posters signed by Tori Amos, Rantz Hoseley, and the creative team behind the book. Most excitingly, we are offering Rantz Hoseley’s signed, sealed, and numbered file copy of the sold out,limited edition slipcased hardcover of Comic Book Tattoo–signed by Tori herself!

The auctions will go live at 12pm EST on Friday, October 31st!  To bid on these items, please go to: http://www.cbldf.org/ebay

All proceeds will benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

“I just wanted to thank you for what you unleashed — especially in the efforts to save the house where Superman was created,” said Meltzer. “As you know, the goal was to raise $50,000 just to work on the outside of the house. Instead, we raised $101,000.”

Now, work will begin on the renovations.

– Matt Price

BOOM! Studios and iFanboy.com are running auctions to benefit David Pirkola, the comic-book retailer recently shot during a robbery.  

Artist Jeffrey Brown (”Clumsy”) is a friend and customer of Pirkola, of Kentwood, Michigan.  Brown is auctioning off Warhammer 40,000 tribute art to benefit Pirkola here.  Brown is offering the piece in conjunction with iFanboy.com and BOOM! Studios.  

Brown directed Death Cab For Cutie’s “Your Heart Is An Empty Room” musical video and has also appeared on NPR’s “This American Life.”  His latest book, “Little Things,” was released last month

“I became a father a year and a half ago, so it’s been a while since I’ve had the time to field my Ultramarines force or let my epic scale ork gargants rampage across the battlefield,” said Brown in a release. “I keep up with the comics, novels, and White Dwarf magazine, but spend more time playing with buses and trucks now.  It was a great experience to work on this page and get back to the game that I love, and it was even better knowing I could help David by doing it.”

In addition to the artwork, iFanboy.com will also auction several rare BOOM! comics.

“This is why I love comics,” said Chip Mosher, BOOM! Studios’ Marketing and Sales Director, in a release. “They are exciting, escapist fantasies that take us to new worlds, but in a split second used to help people in ours.  Hopefully this page will raise money to aid Mr. Pirkola and give fans of WARHAMMER 40,000 something exciting to look at as well.”

The auction starts today at http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/David_Pirkola_Charity_Auction. So far, fundraising campaigns have raised $7,000 for Pirkola’s medical and business expenses.

– Matt Price

This year we are launching a new reading program that we think will complement our endowments of graphic novels but also allow schools and libraries to directly influence youth with the power comic books. In order to help The Foundry Titan Comics, and The Hero Foundry are joining forces to put on a Live Art Show, Art Auction and Music Event.

To accomplish this though we are looking for artists who would like to participate in the live art show and/or donate some of their art for the auction. Can you draw, are you creative, do you paint then we need your help! We are looking any artists that create comic books or create fine art on the canvas then we want you to come help a worthy cause during a night of creative philanthropy or people who own original art and want to generously donate a piece from their private collection for the cause.

If you are interested in helping spread the word or participating in the Live Art and/or donating original art for the auction then please email Brian Warthen at brianwarthen@theherofoundry.org or Paul Milligan at thesuperleezard@yahoo.com.

This September, Boom! — in partnership with Dan Taylor — is releasing a one-shot anthology, PULP TALES, 100% of the profits of which will be donated to artist Josh (30 DAYS OF NIGHT ANNUAL, FUSED) Medors, who’s fighting a losing, health-insurance-light battle against cancer.  Steve Niles, B. Clay Moore, Josh Fialkov and Tony Fleecs are just a few of the artists and writers who’ve donated their time and effort to this project, and they’re all bringing their “A” game.

Mike Wieringo snuck up on us.  The suddenness of Michael Turner likewise surprised us.  Josh isn’t as well-known as those two guys, but he’s a talented man with a good heart who’s done well by us all and has been a great spokesperson for comics with the way he treats his fans–and while our donations can’t make his cancer go away, they can make life easier for Josh and his family in a way we didn’t get a chance to provide to others.

We’ve got two editions of this book shipping–a $3.99 edition with a Ben Templesmith cover and, for those readers who’d like to kick in a bigger donation to the cause, a $9.99 cover by Josh himself.  I’m a terrible shill and a lousy salesman, so I’m not going to hard-sell anyone on this–but if whoever’s reading this can help us make a difference to a fellow professional and his family while we still can, while it still counts, I’d be very grateful.  Thank you.

Fans, friends and organizations are working to help out Gene Colan, the classic artist of books including ”Daredevil” and “Tomb of Dracula” who is was hospitalized for liver failure earlier this month.  

Writer Clifford Meth is running a benefit auction; more information at his blog.

The Hero Initiative is making available a series of prints and posters to benefit Colan.

From the Hero Initiative release:

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.

“Gene Colan,” said Roy Thomas, longtime Marvel Comics writer and Hero Initiative Board member, “is one of the most amazingly talented comic book artists in the history of the field. When I was scripting one of his stories, there was no one-not even Neal Adams or John Buscema-whose pencils could make me feel more strongly as if I were looking into a real world. He combines often-photographic realism with dynamism worth of a Kirby…and that makes him unique.”

– Matt Price

Clifford Meth will be handling a tribute with proceeds going to Gene Colan:

Aardwolf Publishing will be publishing Meth, Colan & Other Theologians, the proceeds of which will go directly and immediately to Gene and Adrienne Colan. The new book will include everything that was in Perverts, Pedophiles & Other Theologians (the short-fiction collection that Gene and I did together for Aardwolf in 1997) plus two never-before-published stories illustrated by Gene. This will be a limited edition (aprox. 100 pages) of only 500 copies, all signed and numbered. You can order it NOW by sending (via PayPal) $20 plus $3 shipping to: sales@aardwolfpublishing.com

Daniel at 2oth Century Danny Boy provides an address for postcards and Get Well Cards:

Gene Colan
2 Sea Cliff Avenue
Sea Cliff, NY 11579
USA

Colan’s work on “Tomb of Dracula” made for one of the best comic-book runs of the 1970s.  Colan was also involved with “Daredevil,” “Batman,” “Captain America” and dozens more.

– Matt Price

To donate, go online to iFanboy.com.

By Matthew Price

Assistant Features Editor

WORD BALLOONS
LAS VEGAS — Comics publishers gathered at the 2008 ComicsPRO annual meeting to share information about upcoming plans with comic-book retailers.DC Comics’ vice president of sales Bob Wayne talked about DC’s upcoming crossover “Final Crisis,” and the prelude to the series, “DC Universe Zero.”“DC Universe Zero” is a 50-cent comic set for May release that is written by Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison, with art by George Perez, Tony Daniel and J.G. Jones.“When you finish reading ‘DC Universe Zero,’ you’re going to say, ‘Wow, I really wish I had ordered more copies of this,’”
Wayne said. “It does set up some of the things that appear in ‘Final Crisis,’”
Wayne said.“Final Crisis” is a seven-issue miniseries, with issue No. 1 set for a May release.
Wayne said “Final Crisis” is “Grant Morrison telling stories the way Grant does.”“It starts with Anthro and goes to Kamandi. From the first boy on earth to the last boy on earth, and everything in between,”
Wayne said.In addition,
Wayne announced a sequel to “Plain Janes,” the best-selling title in their “Minx” line of young adult graphic novels for girls.
“Plain Janes: Janes in Love,” from Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, is shipping in September.“The comic shop market has surpassed all of our expectations at DC on how many copies you would be able to sell of these titles,”
Wayne said.
Wayne talked about DC’s newest weekly comic book, “Trinity,” following in the footsteps of “52” and “Countdown.” The lead story of the book each week will be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Mark Bagley.“Mark Bagley has shown he’s a guy who has consistently been able to produce a high number of pages,”
Wayne said, “and we feel very comfortable that Mark can continue to do this on this particular project.”
The first issue of “Trinity” is 40 pages for $2.99. Back-up stories for “Trinity” will be written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with rotating artists.
ComicsPRO is the largest organization of comic-book retailers in the world, with more than 100 members. Other representatives at the conference included Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Cartoon Books, Top Cow, the Hero Initiative, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and Graphitti Designs.

More notes from the ComicsPRO conference:

* Top Cow outlined plans for their “Witchblade” property, including keeping the creative team of writer Ron Marz and artist Stjepan Sejic on the book for 34 issues.
“This creative team is going to be on the book until issue 150,” Top Cow’s Filip Sablik said. “We’ve heard that you want consistent shipping, you want a creative team you can rely on, you want a book that can turn and make money for you month in and month out. We’re going to do that for you with ‘Witchblade.’”

* The nonprofit organization, the Hero Initiative, which helps comic-book creators in need, will collect the “Stan’s Soapbox” columns from Marvel Comics as a fund-raiser.

* The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is planning a retailer resource guide, to help comic-book retailers to be aware of good retailing and legal practices.

* In May, “Stupid Stupid Rat Tales” and “Rose” will come back into print from Cartoon Books.

A Thrall Harvest is a charity event in support of a local food bank/pantry. The event is a fantasy table-top miniatures tournament using the popular WARMACHINE and HORDES game systems. 

As an entry fee, players bring donations of canned and staple goods to be donated to the local food bank/pantry.  A unique tournament format is used to encourage donations during the event.  Privateer Press, the creators of the WARMACHINE and HORDES game systems and miniature lines, provides unique award support for the event including special prizes for the tournament winner and the most generous donor.  Additionally, a prize will be award to the location that hosts the most successfully event in terms of goods donated.   

The Thrall Harvest is national in scope with charity tournaments happening all across the country annually from November to January.

 More information about STAT Gamers is available at http://statgamers.7.forumer.com/.