Author: Robert Greenberger

The fourth and final week of the auction to raise funds to restore Jerry Siegel’s childhood Cleveland home has begun. The auction runs through 11:59 p.m. on September 30, 2008.

After two weeks, the $50,000 goal was met and exceeded.  At the conclusion of week three’s auction, organizer Brad Meltzer reported that more than $70,000 has been raised. “In every city I’ve been to, people are throwing in a few bucks, completely unprompted,” Meltzer told Comic Book Resources. “This is the week that will decide the extent of the work we do on the house. So even if you don’t bid on the walk-on part in Heroes, thanks to all who buy a shirt or donate even ten bucks to the cause. It all matters.”

The Glenville Development Corp. has scheduled September 27 as the day they clean the Siegel homestead on Kimberly Avenue. Volunteers are being sought to rake, sweep, plant flower bulbs (in red, blue and yellow of course) and paint and make small repairs to porches and the exterior of some houses.

The top money-earner has been the $14,101 bid for an illustration by Jim Lee to depict Superman and the auction winner. (more…)

What do you do after winding down your comic strip, which you have produced daily since 1979?  You go to Peru to act as an interpreter, of course.

Lynn Johnston, whose For Better or For Worse ended on August 31, told the Peterborough Examiner that she is off to South America.

"I’m on my way to Peru," she told the newspaper. "I’m working with a medical team, as an intermediary between patients and physicians." She got a taste of this by accompanying her dentist husband on a trip to Honduras a decade ago.  Not knowing the language at the time proved difficult for her so she came home and studied Spanish and is now fluent enough to make a valuable contribution.

"This is something I’ve dreamt of and have wanted to do for a very long time."

And she’s doing it alone since her husband of 30 years left her on April 23.  The dissolution of her marriage came at a time she was already planning to wrap up the original material for the strip and plan the rest of her life.

She took the news hard and found herself creating a series of paintings to reflect her evolving mood.  Her children — Aaron, 35, and Kate, 31 — provided tremendous emotional support but it fell to Johnston to assume control of the company that merchandises the strip and its characters.

It was a learning experience for her and she wound up having to downsize the company in the wake of the divorce and the strip’s natural conclusion.

He had also emptied their joint bank accounts, leaving her in a financial hole that came as a rude shock. "I’d been like a little kid, like a five year-old. Tell me how much I can spend this week, Dad," she described. "If I was not astute as a businessperson before, I suddenly had this overwhelming education within a month in which I had to learn how to do everything. It’s empowering actually because you suddenly realize there’s all this stuff you should have been doing all along."

What she does know is art and storytelling and in addition to revising her earliest strips which now run in the newspapers, she is also branching out.  Farley Follows His Nose will be her first children’s book, due out next spring from The Bowen Press.
 

This coming weekend the Baltimore Comic-Con kicks things off in a unique manner as Jim Lee will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Baltimore Orioles game at 7:05 p.m.  Lee, a baseball fan, will toss the pitch to start the con and the Orioles-Toronto Blue Jays matchup at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

"We know how well he can draw Batman — let’s see if he can throw a strike," promoter Marc Nathan said.

Lee will sign autographs, promoting the con, located across the street at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Fans for the convention can witness this themselves, as the Orioles are offering a discounted group rate for visitors coming into town for the Baltimore Comic-Con. Tickets begin as low at $8 for both Friday and Saturday nights’ games. Those who wish to see the artist deliver that first pitch should be in their seats 20 minutes ahead of time, at 6:45 p.m.
 
"The Orioles recognize how many people come to our event downtown," continued Nathan, "and they wanted to enhance everyone’s experience.  All you have to do is mention that you are with the Baltimore Comic-Con group, and the discounts will apply.  They have also made an easy-to-fill-out form to help chose which kind of seat you prefer."
 
Please go to Gate "H", the Orioles Main Box Office, to present your completed form.  See our website for more details about the event and the show, and for copies of the form – http://www.baltimorecomiccon.com/.
 
There will be fireworks at the end of Friday’s game to celebrate the weekend.

The Orioles, who are partly owned by Diamond Comics’ Steve Geppi, have had another dreadful season, with a record of 67-88 as of last night’s game.  They occupy the American League East’s basement, 26 games away from first place.  Their weekend opponents, the Blue Jays, are 15.5 games better off than the O’s.
 

The Sunburst Awards for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic were won by Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx and The New Moon’s
Arms by Nalo Hopkinson. Hopkinson’s previously won in 2003.

Proulx’s Sunburst is the first winner in the new separate category for young adult speculative fiction.

The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a prized  and juried award presented annually. It is based on excellence of  writing and awarded to a Canadian writer who has published a  speculative fiction novel or book-length collection any time during the  previous calendar year. The award consists of a cash prize of $1,000  Canadian and a hand-crafted medallion.