Jim Lee Benefit Signing Redux

Over 500 fans came through the doors of the Mile High Comics Mega Store in Thornton, CO to meet Jim Lee last Saturday. The signing was the payoff of last winter’s Jim Lee benefit auction, wherein the wildly popular artist auctioned himself off to do a signing to raise money for the CBLDF. Lee signed for 5 hours all the while shaking hands and answering questions about his work on Batman, WildC.A.T.S., upcoming projects, and his commitment to the Fund. Rich Koslowski, cover artist of Busted #14 and author of Three Fingers and The Three Geeks was also signing. The day’s event raised approximately $2,600 for the CBLDF, bringing the total fundraising from the Lee benefit above $11,000!

“This is unprecedented,” raves Fund Director Charles Brownstein. “Between Jim’s original auction and Chuck’s subsequent support, this signing has proved to be the among the most successful one-day benefits in Fund history. In fact, it’s probably the most successful fundraising signing in comics history!”

Following the signing Jim Lee went back to his hotel to give his signing hand a rest while frequent CBLDF volunteer Rowan Rozanski took Brownstein over to the Mile High warehouse to meet up with the winners of seats at the Jim Lee Dinner Party. The Mile High Warehouse is a collector’s dream filled floor to ceiling with important comics from the medium’s century long history. Along the walls one sees some amazing original art, most notably a suite of Pogo drawings by Walt Kelly and an early Cerebus page by Dave Sim. Apart from comics it also boasts one of the most impressive private collections of Native American pottery in the United States. The Mile High warehouse is not open to the public, so this was a rare treat.

When all parties had met at the warehouse, the group was off to the Palm restaurant where the winners of the seats at the dinner party – Mark Gould, and his 10-year-old son Harvey, from Liverpool, UK; Charles (Chuck) Daly of New Jersey; Jeff Herman; and Arv Donovan of Colorado met Lee, Koslowski, Mile High VP William Murakami, Chuck and Rowan Rozanski, and Brownstein – had an extraordinary steak and seafood dinner at the Palm in downtown Denver. Before the entrees were brought out, the waitress tied a lobster bib around Jim Lee’s neck which he promptly removed and began drawing on – a picture of a certain caped crusader with a lobster bib customized to his particular specs. Across the table 10-year-old Harvey took the cue to start drawing on paper he’d brought with him. He capably drew his own version of Batman. “That’s pretty good,” Lee said. “Just make sure you have all the proper trademark and copyright information on there,” he joked.

If you couldn’t make it to the signing there are still some artifacts from this memorable day floating around, including 500 Batman issues Lee signed for MileHighComics.com, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the CBLDF; and some original drawings and signed comics upcoming in CBLDF eBay auctions.

The CBLDF extends its thanks to Lee, Koslowski, the Rozanski family, and the entire Mile High Comics staff who made the signing a memorable, well-run success that raised much needed funds for the CBLDF’s legal work on behalf of the First Amendment in comics.