AMBER LOVE 15-AUG-2014 I’ve been at my computer pulling some new plans together for the 2014 SUPERHERO WEEKEND hosted by COMIC FUSION in Flemington, New Jersey. Over the past seven years, Comic Fusion has raised $47,000 for our local domestic violence charity. This has been no small feat and was only possible with all the help we’ve gotten from artists donating sketches, publishers giving us books, and the volunteer cosplayers that make this a spectacular event that grows every year (we don’t count that one year of the Icepocalypse). Get ready for more superhero action on October 4-5!

One of the things planned for this year is to incorporate digital comics with our art auction. I knew there had to be a way to offer digital comics at an old fashioned brick and mortar comic book shop. My friend James from the 501st Legion is always filled with ideas. We brainstormed a lot and between the two of us came up with this. I found reasonably affordable USB drives at VistaPrint which can be custom printed to feature the name of the shop. I emailed all the publishers and creators I could think of from my address book and received some great PDFs to load on the drives. James had the idea of offering the drives as an unlockable reward like you see on crowdfunding campaigns. We can get 10 drives so that means on 10 pieces of art, we’ll come up with milestones for the bidding and when reached, the top bidder will get the art plus the USB with all the comics donated.

So far, I have issues from Vices Press, Oni Press, Gov’t Comics, PLB Comics, Red Stylo Media, Monkeybrain, and Periscope Studios.

I started a small GoFundMe campaign to raise the money for the drives and for other incidentals. I originally was going to run this for 2-3 weeks and then personally match the amount but things have changed as “life happened.” I lost my job when I returned from my successful trip to Boston Comic Con, the day after my birthday. Don’t worry too much. I’m not homeless as long as my parents are alive. However, this means it’s not a wise decision for me to match the funds chipped in by friends for the SHW upfront expenses. In the first day, $245 came in and that’s pretty darn incredible. I’ll leave the campaign open for the weekend to see if any last minute contributions come in but then I’ll close it up because $245 is still more than zero which means it’s $245 I won’t have to take from my savings. The link is below if you can contribute. If not, please save up for the actual fundraiser for SAFE in Hunterdon. That means a lot more if you bid on the gorgeous sketches and pages that we get for the auction. This is simply a bonus that I’m so happy to add for 2014’s event.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.