The thoughts and sympathies of all the Multiversity Comics staff are with Wilfredo Torres right now. Torres, artist of the upcoming “Shield” relaunch at Archie Comics as well as “Jupiter’s Circle” with Mark Millar at Image and several titles from Dynamite, recently lost his wife Monica after a long battle with cancer. Brent Schoonover went one step further and organized a rolling benefit to help raise money for Torres and his family:

A group of us got together in Emerald City this past weekend and decided we wanted to do something to help a great guy and his family during a difficult time. We invite anyone who is willing to post artwork onto EBAY for a seven day art auction and give all proceeds to the Torres family. Use the hashtag #TorresBenefit on social media when posting your work. You can send all funds to: wtorres1972(at)yahoo(dot)com

While some of the artist offering commissions slots (like Chris Samnee, Tom Fowler, Gabriel Hardman, Jordie Bellaire, and Phil Hester) have already filled up their lists, there are a lot more art pieces being listed on eBay to raise money for Torres. I’d include a list of all of them here but, frankly and thankfully, that list is quite long and generous. As I’m typing this on Thursday night:

There are covers by Mitch Gerads, Evan Shaner, Frank Quitely, Tula Lotay, and Christian Ward;

Artists like Dave Stokes, Sandy Jarell, and Jarelle Dampier are offering sketches directly, so all money goes right to the benefit;

You can also donate directly using PayPal at the address listed above. (Don’t buy that comic you already know you’re going to hate and are only buying out of inertia or to complete a run. Take that money, send it to Torres, and do something you can feel good about with it.)

By the time you’re reading this, there’s probably more great things out there to open your wallets/purses/bank accounts in the name of a great cause, so search #TorresBenefit to find out what those might be. And remember…

One of the best things, if not THE best thing, about the comics community is that it is an actual community. For every incident you hear about someone being harassed or cheated or generally put through the wringer, there are plenty of instances where creators and fans alike come together to help out someone else in that community in their time of need. And as much as it hurts to hear that the people who bring us so much joy are struggling, that hurt is diminished just a little by being able to help or give back in some way.