Bill Messener Loebs is homeless fundraiser

[palitoy]

I spent some time with this man and his lovely wife back in 1991 when I was working a circut of (terrilbe) comic shows with them. I really enjoyed their company and I'm sorry to see them on hard times.

https://www.gofundme.com/billmessnerloebs?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_dn_postdonate_r&fbclid=IwAR3GfW-9QPXGXUy_Fal16M_pvVI3DCi867ssyCvePpNnWx736q4Wty9Ot4A

[Confessional]

Thanks for sharing… Bill is kind and indeed worthy of our help.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I've never met the man, but I have had hours of enjoyment out of his writing, and I hate to see another human being suffer like this, especially through no fault of his own. I was sad to hear about this new turn of events AFTER we recorded a podcast covering his Christmas Flash and Green Lantern tale, so I added an addendum to the show about it. The best thing we can do is spread the word like this, and of course give a little.

Chris

[MRP]

This story first surfaced earlier this year (late spring I believe). I had just met a bunch of guys from the Hero Initiate at Gem City Comic Con and bought a bunch of stuff from them that went to the charity (they had a booth plus the charity auction at the con went to Hero Initiative). After I saw the article, I contacted them, and they said they were on it and trying to get Bill some help. They said the best thing people could do to help Bill directly is buy new copies of his trade sand such that he gets royalties for or donate to the GoFundMe set up to help him, but donations to Hero Initiative would help them help creators in situations like Bill's. I had the privilege of meeting Bill at an earlier Gem City con and he is a great guy. After I talked to the Hero Initiative guys, I ordered a couple of trades of Journey (Bill's creator owned series) and some other books and made some calls to con organizers I knew to see if they could help publicize this in our comic con community and maybe get Bill a few appearances where he can sell stuff directly and get more people aware of his situation. I also set up my Amazon Smile to have Hero Initiative benefit.

-M

[Blue Meanie]

I don't particularly care for Neal Adams...but he did have one really great idea that didn't go anywhere and that was a union for comic book artists/writers/creators. It is really sad to see a lot of these artists/writers/creators hit hard times or have difficulties paying for medical insurance etc. Thank God for Hero Initiative and for everyone that spreads the word either through media or word of mouth. When you see greats like Dave Cockrum, Norm Breyfogle, Messner Loebs and others having these issues it really breaks your heart. I think the time for a union for these artists/writers/creators has long gone, especially in these days of independent books. I wonder if it would have gained ground had it succeeded in the early 70's with ACBA??!!?? Again, donate if you can when you go to a comic book show and meet these artists like Walt Simonson, Joe Staton, and many others that have donation jars on their tables. They don't charge for autographs like some do (Yup...looking at you Neal Adams...Ironic isn't it??!!??) but they ask that you consider a donation to the Hero Initiative. I'm all for that.

[bleit1701]

Bill is local to me. He mentioned a story Fox 2 did about him.

This is the link: http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/322972238-video

Derek is one of the meteorologists for the station.

Here is the print story:

http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/one-armed-comic-book-artist-worked-on-wonder-woman-now-homeless-in-michigan

[MRP]

Some folks are doing a benefit comic for Bill via Indigogo, Bleeding Cool did an article about it and how to support it- https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/12...messner-loebs/

-M