Bill Mantlo Tribute and Auction At a small independent comic book store in downtown Portland, Oregon, owner Jason Leivian is holding a tribute. Not as a ploy to get people into his store, or to make money, but to help one of the comic creators of ROM, of one of his lifelong favorite characters. This tribute is for Bill Mantlo, the writer of every one of the ROM comic books that ran from 1979-1986.


In 1992 Bill was struck by a car in a hit and run accident while he was rollerblading. After spending a year in a coma, he awoke, but has lost much of what he once was. He has been institutionalized and is living in a brain damage institute. He will most likely live there for the rest of his life.

Bill’s resume is quite impressive. He wrote many comic books, including Alpha Flight, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Captain America, and much more. For Jason, however, ROM was one of the characters that drew him into comic books and holds a special place in his heart.

To help out with the continued medical expenses, and to help make Bill Mantlo more comfortable in his current state, Jason organized a tribute to help support the man who gave him so much joy as a youth. The amount of work that Jason has put into the project is astounding, and the support of the comic community and other ROM fans has been very cool as well.

When you walk into his comic book store, Floating World Comics you will be inundated with the amount of ROM art and prints that he has put together for the tribute.

All along the top of his store are many different prints of original comic art from the ROM series, as well as original pieces of art from artists all over the world.

In fact, Jason has amassed art from over 100 different artists from all over the world. There are artists from America, of course, but also places like Brazil, France, and Croatia. These are artists that grew up reading ROM as well.

Jason kicked off the event on one of his Thursday night art shows that he puts on monthly. While putting up the prints and pieces of art, Jason stated that he was in “nostalgia overload,” but at the same time it was a sad moment as well, being thankful for being alive and well. He states that we are not “saving him from his condition” but instead are looking for a way to make his life better in his current state.

Here’s how you can help. You can buy a digital print of some of the pieces of art for prices that range from $5-$30. Right now, the only place to get them is to go to Floating World in Portland, Oregon, but Jason is in the process of putting them up for sale through his website. You can also get in on the auctions of original art from artists like Guy Davis, Colleen Coover, Jeffrey Brown, Fred Hembeck, and others. The auction ends December 28th, 2007 so get in on it now. Again, head over to Floating World Comics to see the art and the links to the eBay auctions. The last way is to just send money to help out. You can do this via Paypal at Jason@floatingworldcomics.com or send out mail payments to:

Mike Mantlo
425 Riverside Drive
Apt. 12-E
New York, N.Y. 10025

All the proceeds will go to aid in the care of Bill Mantlo.

Also in the works is a tribute book of the art that has been accumulated, which may be months down the line so Jason is still accepting submissions from professionals and other ROM enthusiasts that want to lend a helping hand. More about this when it comes out at a later date.

I left Floating World with a nice digital print by artist Hyeondo Park, whose work I just kept coming back to. I thought it was very well done and am looking forward to getting it framed, it’s that nice.

If you can’t afford to spend any extra, at the very least send a card or letter to Mike, telling him of the joy that Bill may have spread to your life. I still have my issues of ROM back when I was getting into comics, and am glad I am able to help out a creator that brought some joy to my life and to many others as well.

Update:
The latest figure to come in from the sales of prints and the online auction towers at over $9000. Two pieces in particular by Walt Simonson brought in over $5000 of that money. Jason of Floating World Comics did a great job with the fundraiser and is already planning Spacenite 2 with the hopeful release of an upcoming book of the prints gathered for this auction.