An ad hoc group of comic creators pulled together a fundraising juggernaut that raised $433,166 for comic and indie bookstore relief in under a week, the group announced (press release via MajorSpoilers).  Creators 4 Comics, organized by Kami Garcia, Brian Michael Bendis, Gwenda Bond, Sam Humphries, and Phil Jimenez announced a campaign of Twitter auctions for which winning bids would be donated to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation on April 14 (see “#Creators4Comics Organizing Massive Fundraiser for Comic Stores”). 

The auctions kicked off on April 15 with a recommended end time of noon on April 20.  The campaign attracted tons of big-name talent in addition to the creators, including Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Patton Oswalt, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Joe Hill, Shannon Hale, Mike Mignola, Brad Meltzer, Mariko Tamaki, Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Marissa Meyer, Danielle Paige, Gene Luen Yang, Tom King, Bryan Edward Hill, Jason Aaron, Marc Guggenheim, Gail Simone, Vita Ayala, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Cassandra Clare, Marieke Nijkamp, Margaret Stohl, Jock, Mico Suayan, G. Willow Wilson, and hundreds of others, with generous matching bids from Seth Meyers, Damon Lindeloff, and Robert Kirkman.

Binc, which grew out of an organization formed by Borders employees, is now the primary organization for bookstore and comic store relief.  The organization distributed over $350,000 in COVID-19 relief in the first month of the crisis (see “ICv2 Interview: We Learn More About Binc and Its Programs”).

As of April 29, the organization has distributed over $150,950 in assistance to 135 comic retailers and their families since March 13.  With a wave of new applications related to the publicity around the Creators 4 Comics campaign, Binc has now received 722 applications for aid from comic stores.

A $250,000 contribution from DC and an earlier $100,000 contribution from Lion Forge were used to form the ComicBook United Fund, a fund at Binc specifically to support comic stores (see “Lion Forge and DC Contributions Rolled Together to Launch ComicBook United Fund”). And DC CCO and Publisher Jim Lee is currently in the process of drawing 60 sketches to be auctioned with the proceeds donated to Binc (see "Jim Lee Donating Art To Help Comic Retailers").  The auctions are currently on pace to raise over $500,000, with each sketch now often attracting bids of $10,000 or more.