Jim Lee, the founder of Wildstorm Productions and one of the most popular artists working in comics today, is participating in an auction beginning on November 5 on eBay with all proceeds going to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  The auction offers a benefit signing by Lee, who will fly himself to the winning comic book store at his own expense.  The retailer who submits the highest bid will also be profiled in CBLDF News and Busted!, the Fund's online and print newsletters.  The only cost to the retailer is his or her winning bid, which will count as a tax-deductible donation to the CBLDF.  Beginning on November 5 retailers will be able to enter bids by going to eBay and using the 'Search' function to locate the CBLDF or by clicking on the 'Community' tab on the eBay home page and then clicking on 'Charity'-- but perhaps the easiest way to access the auction will be by going to the CBLDF website at cbldf.org, which will have a link to the auction.

 

In addition to the signing, the winning retailer will also receive a Jim Lee sketch and a dinner with Lee and a small party of the retailer's guests.  At the signing Jim Lee will sign the first two items from any fan for free, with additional signatures and sketches available for a small donation to the CBLDF.   Lee is serious about his commitment to the CBLDF. 'If we don't want the exposure of comic books to be limited by a retailer's fear of a local prosecutor,' he said, 'then we need to get behind the CBLDF.' As the artist on Batman #608, one of the best-selling comic books of the year, Lee is in a position where he can help defend 'the breadth and diversity of the comic book marketplace' and he is doing so by participating in this auction (at his own expense in both dollars and time), and by doing additional work for the CBLDF in the coming months.