Link: How you can help Robert L. Washington III get the burial he deserves.
theouthousers.comOne of tale telling signs of our morality is watching the people that were behind the high-water marks of our hobbies pass on. Last week, Robert L. Washington III joined that all too long list after succumbing to a series of Heart Attacks at the age of 47. Despite not having the most prolific career, Mr. Washington’s contributions to the Industry cannot be ignored, as he was just as important to the creation of Virgil Hawkins (a.k.a Static) as Dwayne McDuffie was. Beyond that milestone, Washington also worked on such titles like “Extreme Justice”, “When Worlds’ Collide” and “Shadow Cabinet.” However, this article isn’t being written to eulogize a man who received much better tributes last week, but to bring awareness to a problem you can help solve.
As for the problem itself, like many creators after the Mid-90’ implosion of the Industry, Washington could not find work in the Industry, which led to extended series of hard times where he find himself homeless on one than more occasion. Without an ability to save money, Mr. Washington could be buried under less than ideal (to put it lightly) circumstances. Fortunately, Craig Hicks (a friend of his) made people aware of the situation on various message boards and what you and I can do to help.
It was 95 years ago today...
…in a tenement apartment on New York City’s Lower East Side, Rose Kurtzberg gave birth to her son Jacob…
…who became Jack Kirby, visual storyteller, comic book genius, more than just a comic book artist, one of the foremost influences on our culture.
We celebrate Jack Kirby every day at the Kirby Museum, even opening on this date seven years ago.
Here are some things we recommend for today:
As I mentioned in my previous blog entry here, Kirby’s granddaughter Jillian has started the Kirby4Heroes campaign, which supports the Hero Initiative in its effort to create a safety net for yesterday’s comic book creators. Additionally, the Hero Initiative has recruited comic artists to “Wake Up And Draw” a birthday card for Jack. Follow the fun at #WakeUpAndDraw on Twitter.
Help us open a Jack Kirby Museum for three months on the Lower East Side, by donating to our Brick and Mortar Campaign. We are thankful for the all of the support that has brought us to 50% of our $30,000 goal.
Read Steven Brower’s “The Genius of Jack Kirby”, posted on The Kirby Effect.
Visit the Kirby portrait gallery that Jason Garrattley has compiled on Kirby-Vision.
Watch videos on the Kirby Museum’s YouTube channel.
If you enjoyed The Avengers, please consider a donation to The Hero Initiative.
heroinitiative.orgFor those who aren’t necessarily familiar with the situation, the comic industry has a historically bad reputation of screwing artists out of the rights to their work. One of the most blatant examples of this is Jack Kirby who co-created a majority of the characters known as The Avengers, but he’s not the only one by far. A lot of people such as Don Heck (co-creator of Black Widow and Hawkeye) and many more artists and writers who helped create and define the world and the characters we love are not benefiting from any of the profit from The Avengers movie.
The Hero Initiative is a charity dedicated to providing comic book veterans (and their families) with essential financial assistance. Because, for decades, the industry did not provide their artists with any financial support in the form of health insurance, unemployment insurance, and retirement plans, many of the people who helped shape the comic industry have been left without a financial safety net in their times of need.
When The Avengers came out, cartoonist Jon Morris proposed that moviegoers consider donating at least the price of a movie ticket to the Hero Initiative, hoping that the popularity of the movie would draw more support for this cause. Though Avengers is still in the theaters, the donations received by the organization have dwindled and they’ve only raised about $5,000 which is not very much considering the millions of dollars the movie has raked in.
Considering the number of people I know/follow who love the everloving crap out of the Avengers I feel like we should be able to do better than this. The Avengers has drawn a lot of new fans, many who are unaware of this controversy. I’m going to do something I hate doing and ask Avengers fans to reblog this link (I seriously only have like 20 followers). And, more importantly, please consider donating at least the price of a movie ticket to this cause.
