Timothy Davis of Alternate Reality in Chicago, Illinois was moved by the Katrina devastation (see 'First Gulf Coast Retailer News') to suggest industry-wide support from the comic industry:

Here are a two suggestions for how our industry can help out with Hurricane Katrina relief:

- Diamond (and its vendors) should forgive all outstanding orders to stores that have been destroyed by Katrina.  This may already be SOP at Diamond (if so I've not heard of it in the past) but if it's not it should be.  Besides if you own a comic book store that is under ten feet of water and it is your sole source of income, what are the chances of Diamond or its vendors ever collecting on that account.  If nothing else, forgiving all future orders is a good PR move on many levels.

- How about an industry wide benefit comic.  The 9/11 benefit comics were great but fragmented between the 'BIG 2' and Indy's, Perhaps DC & Marvel (and other creators/companies) could all set aside their differences in this one instance and create something akin to either a 64/100 page Shonen Jump type newsprint comic or a slicker trade paperback.  The easiest and quickest option I would think would be individual stories under one cover (a crossover just gets messy and time consuming all the way around).  Maybe it could be produced as a 24 HOUR comic by creators brainstorming and knocking out short stories at stores across the country.