Important news about a new charity comic

Tim Pilcher, Chairperson of the Comic Book Alliance has announced details of a very worthy project to help victims of the terrible recent, and ongoing, disasters in New Zealand and Japan.

"I’m sure, like me, you’ve been horrified at the devastating effects of the two enormous earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan" said Tim. "In order to do some good and help the thousands that have lost friends, family, their homes and entire communities, the Comic Book Alliance is putting together a fundraising comic."

"We are looking for creators to provide some work free of charge so that we can put together an impressive package that will hopefully sell thousands and to raise as much money as possible to help these countries get back on their feet and to rebuild their lives."

"The contributions can be around any theme (earthquakes, tsunamis, loss, hope, survival, manga, NZ comics, what that country means to you, personal tales, whatever...) and could be a pin-up, or a 1-4 page comic strip. We may accept the odd prose piece from writers, but we’d like to like to keep these to a minimum, so please team up with an artist you normally work with."

"If you are not a creator, but a publisher or editor, please spread this message to your freelancers and contact us if you can help with free/reduced rate printing and distribution issues. Alternatively, we need colourists and probably editorial assistance, so every bit helps."

Tim also gave details of the format for each page:

"Can you make sure that the artwork is drawn in pro to fit a standard US comicbook page size (w 17 cm x h 26 cm (6 ⅝" × 10 ¼")"

"Ideally the art should be in colour (I have contacted several colourists if you don't have the time or feel confident). But black and white is acceptable if that is a deliberate artistic choice."

"The final artwork needs to be delivered as a ready for print PDF AND as a layered TIFF CMYK file with the balloons and text on separate layers so that we can translate into Japanese. We will arrange to set up an FTP server for you shortly so you can upload the work."

"Our project editor is Alan Cowsill, who some of you know, and he'll manage the day-to-day running of the project. Please email him on: alancowsill@gmail.com, and copy in founders@comicbookalliance.co.uk, stating what you would like to contribute (page count) and whether you are working alone or collaborating with someone, or whether you need hooking up with an artist, writer, colourist or letterer."

"Obviously, time is of the essence here, so we would like to get the work in within the next two weeks (Deadline of Saturday 2 April). I know that doesn’t give a lot of time considering your busy schedules but I do hope you’ll agree that it’s for an important cause."

"Let’s show the world that comic creators care and how we can galvanise ourselves into positive action."

Creators already committed to contributing include:

Si Spencer & Glyn Dillon
Darick Robertson
Nick Abadzis
Peter Hogan & Adrian Bamforth
PJ Holden
Martin Eden
William Simpson
Cornelius Stone
Donna Barr
Lew Stringer

Those of you in the press, please spread the message on your blogs and publications.