'Batman' artist Greg Capullo auctions Clayface sketch to support struggling comic book stores amid lockdown
With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to sweep across the nation, comic book sales have all but dried up, leaving stores in serious need of help from fans and creators alike.
A number of comic book artists and writers have come together to try and raise funds for stores in recent days and 'Dark Nights: Metal' artist Greg Capullo is the latest to join in.
Capullo, who has worked for both DC and Marvel on a range of titles including 'Quasar', 'X-Force' and 'Batman' as well as his own Image Comics creator-owned title 'The Creech', has completed an extremely detailed illustration of Batman off-again on-again ally Clayface.
He's auctioning the artwork and promises to donate any and all money earned from the auction to help stores that are struggling because of this crisis.
"Calling upon the Capullo Army to help raise funds for comic shops affected by this terrible pandemic. Please bid generously as 100% of your bid will benefit those in need #Creators4Comics," he captioned a picture of the art that he posted on Twitter.
Though uncolored, the sketch is pretty intricate and would be worth a fortune, especially since it's been done by such an acclaimed artist. However, Capullo made it quite clear in a subsequent tweet that there will be no minimum bid and that the goal is to help stores not make money.
"There’s no minimum bid! The winner could be you! Please support the industry that we all love," Capullo tweeted.
Meanwhile, comic book legends Kami Garcia, Brian Michael Bendis, Gwenda Bond, Sam Humphries, Phil Jimenez, Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, 'Arrow' co-creator Marc Guggenheim and a host of other big-name creators are coming together to sell everything from signed comics to original art and more to raise money for the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.
The foundation provides financial support to struggling bookstores, something that is especially important in the present scenario. Over at Marvel, 'Thor' writer Donny Cates has been helping out in his own way by paying for everyone's pull lists at his local comic book store.
It's a difficult time for the industry for sure but seeing all these creators coming together to pitch in what they can do gives one hope for the future. And in the end, isn't that what superheroes are all about?