Jim Lee Benefits the CBLDF
Share:
Productions and among the most celebrated and popular comic book artists, is
going to be lending his extraordinary talents to support the Comic Book Legal
Defense Fund. Starting November 5, Lee will be spearheading a series of
auctions and fundraisers that will benefit the CBLDF’s ongoing mission to defend
the First Amendment rights of comic book retailers.
The first auction
will begin on eBay, with the Fund offering a benefit signing by Lee. Lee will
fly to the winning comic book store, where, at the signing, he will give them
one of his sketches followed by dinner and a small party of the retailer’s
guests. Fans attending the signing will be able to get their first two books
signed for free, with additional signatures and sketches available for a small
donation to the CBLDF. The store will also be profiled in CBLDF News and
Busted!, the Fund’s online and print newsletters. The only cost to the
store is their winning bid, which will be a tax-deductible donation to the
CBLDF. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Fund’s
casework.
“Retailers need to be able to display and sell all kinds of
comic books without fear of prosecution,” Lee says. “The CBLDF is the only
group whose mission is to support retailers when they come under attack…so I’m
stepping up as a creator to help the Fund help those retailers in
need.”
Throughout his career, Lee has been a champion for excellence and
diversity in comics. Fans are wildly anticipating his run as artist on the
iconic series, Batman, with writer Jeph Loeb. Their debut issue,
Batman #608, is among the top selling comic books in America and one of
the best-selling issues of the year. As Editorial Director of WildStorm
Productions, he continues a decade-long commitment to bringing audiences great
comics by the field’s most innovative creators.
According to Lee, “The
breadth and diversity of the comic book marketplace keeps growing every year.
If we’re serious about continuing that growth, retailers need to be safe to
display, promote, and sell that diverse product. If we don’t want the exposure
of comic books to be limited to a retailer’s fear of a local prosecutor, then we
need to get behind the CBLDF.”
ge’s Director, negotiated the exclusive
arrangement. “We are just delighted,” said Petty, “to be
working with such a talent. Al is a living legend. What an honor to be chosen as
his exclusive auctioneer!” <br><br>Born in New York City, Al Feldstein
studied painting at the High School of Music and Art, and the Art Students
League under a scholarship. After school and during the summers, he worked in a
studio servicing the comic book industry. During World War II, he was a Special
Services artist. Upon his discharge, he returned to the comic book industry,
packaging magazines for publishers.<br><br>At E.C. comics, he created, wrote,
illustrated and edited a popular line of titles - titles which are now
collector’s items. They included horror (such as <i>Tales from the Crypt</i>),
science-fiction, suspense, and many others. In 1955, he became editor of MAD
Magazine, one of E.C.’s titles, where he took the magazine’s circulation from
375,000 to a high of almost 3 million. He did this by gathering a staff of
talented artists and writers, supervising every phase of the magazine’s
operation, editing and re-writing virtually every word, designing layouts and
creating a new format - including the adopting and christening of MAD’s
trademark, the freckle-faced, grinning Alfred E. Neuman.<br><br>In 1984, Al
retired from MAD and returned to his first love, painting. He later moved to
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and spent three years painting the Tetons and their
wildlife, placing two paintings in the Top 100 Arts for the Parks.<br> <br>In
199