As the world watches the continuing disaster and human tragedy unfold along America's Gulf Coast, the first news from retailer friends is trickling out, and the first pledges of support for relief from the industry are being made.  Wayne Markley of FM International told ICv2 that he'd heard that the Crescent City Comics & Cards crew in New Orleans (former Capitalistas) made it out of the city alive, at least one after the levees collapsed, and were scattered throughout the South, with everything in the store and most of their personal belongings presumed lost.  'Alfred [Yee] is in Houston with his family and looking for work,' Markley said in an e-mail.  'Kap [Remkes] and his family are in Baton Rouge; Kap is looking for work.  [Store owner] Les [Arceneaux] is in Kinder [Louisiana].'  The whereabouts of Kirby Gee, who ran the Capital City Distribution Kenner, Louisiana warehouse back in the day and has most recently been selling on eBay from his home in New Orleans, are unknown; he was believed to be in New Orleans when Katrina hit. 

The first pledges of industry support are also being made, although the effects of the disaster for those closest to the coast are so extreme it's hard to know where to start.  DC announced that books for retailers in the affected areas would be free, although for retailers such as the Crescent City team, with no store, scattered employees, and customers who are refugees, that will be of little comfort.  Marvel was asked in its press conference on Thursday what relief plans it was making, and it said that it was consulting with Diamond to try to figure out what to do, but hadn't made a decision yet on what type of support to offer.  Peter David, who was on the conference call from Dragon-Con, spontaneously pledged his royalties from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 to hurricane relief on the spot.