Pennsylvania comic book retailer Bill Wahl needs help from the comics community to pay medical bills after suffering renal failure last year, a GoFundMe establishing a medical fund reveals. Wahl has reportedly been avoiding needed follow-up visits to the doctor due to lack of money and lack of decent health care coverage, an issue that has long affected those working within the comic book industry, even some of the creators of well-known characters. But it's not just freelance writers and artists who often live without health care coverage and have to foot the bill for their own care. Retailers can be in the same boat.

Novelist and comic book writer Brian Keene, who set up the GoFundMe, writes:

For nearly 30 years, as the co-owner of the Comix Connection, retailer Bill Wahl has brought joy to comic book and gaming fans, and has supported a number of industry professionals such as Mike Hawthorne, Brian Keene, Tim Truman, Joe R. Lansdale, Mary SanGiovanni, and J.F. Gonzalez. Now, it is time for this community to return the favor. Bill, an uninsured single father of two, suffered complete renal failure last year and underwent several procedures on both kidneys, including a nephrostomy, a stent, and two separate lithotripsies. Bill has spent the last 9 months with no follow up visits because he can't afford them. He continues to sporadically pass blood and other detritus. He has been paying the urologist, anesthetist, and other charges as best he can — but it is impossible to keep up. Comic book creators often go without health insurance for ourselves, but we forget that the retailers who champion our work and put it in the hands of readers are often in the same predicament.

The fund is seeking to raise $70,000, but as it just launched, it has a long way to go still. Visit the GoFundMe here if you want to contribute.