I don’t know John Ostrander at all. If I’ve met him at a convention, I’ve surely forgotten it just as he’s surely forgotten me. I’ve only read his comics.

And I’ve really liked the comic books he’s written. His Grimjack – with artist Tim Truman - was one of the Top 10 independent comics to explode out of the Direct Market back in the 1980s. And a long run on The Spectre with artist Tom Mandrake remains a favorite, topping the Michael Fleisher run for me. Star Wars: Republic and Wasteland are just a couple of his other works. John was one of those early First Comics creators who seemed to come out of nowhere and then moved over to DC, Marvel and Dark Horse afterwards.

Now, the word is that he’s struggling, fighting off glaucoma and doctors are rallying to save his eyesight. But like most people these days, he lacks both insurance and the money necessary to pay for the continuing treatments out of pocket.

Some friends of his – and some of them are friends of mine as well like Mike Gold and Mike Raub - have geared up help him out. They’ve started an organization to benefit John called Comix4Sight. If you would like to help – and who wouldn’t? – click over there and see what you can do to help out. Every little bit helps and it all adds up.

There are a large number of uninsured folks in this country, and I’ll bet a lot of them are in the comics industry – if you’re working for page rates as a freelancer, insurance becomes a luxury instead of a necessity, especially when there are a lot more freelancers than there are pages to create. Do what you can do help a guy out, okay?

(h/t: Comicmix)

[Artwork: Cover to Grimjack, written by Ostrander and illustrated by Truman]