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SPACENITE was a great success here at the store. The art opening on December 6th brought over 300-400 people to see over 130 prints of ROM Spaceknight, illustrated by over 100 artists across the world.
The show was a tribute to comic creator Bill Mantlo, who wrote every issue of ROM, as well just about every other Marvel title in the 80’s. This show was organized as a fundraiser for Mantlo, who was injured in a hit and run accident 15 years ago. Severe brain injuries left him without motor functions, and he will live the rest of his life in a brain damage institute. This show was organized with the blessing of Bill’s brother and caregiver, Mike Mantlo.
We sold over $600 worth of posters that evening, but the turnout for the silent auction did not meet our expectations. With the blessing of everyone who bid that evening, we decided to extend the auction online until the end of the month.
This gives an opportunity to all the ROM fans elsewhere to get a chance to own an original illustration of their favorite character. And best of all, all the proceeds go towards Bill Mantlo’s medical care.
The following original pieces are all available on ebay until the auctions end Friday, Dec. 28th. Click on the artist’s name to link to their corresponding auction where you can place your bid. The auctions end on Friday in the order that they are listed below:
GUY DAVIS (11×17, illustration board) (more…)
FLOATING WORLD COMICS PRESENTS:
“SPACENIGHT – A TRIBUTE TO BILL MANTLO”
NON-PROFIT FUNDRAISER FOR BILL MANTLO FEATURING OVER 100 ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF ROM SPACEKNIGHT BY ARTISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.
(illustration by Renee French)
Thursday, Dec. 6th, 6-10pm. Show runs through Jan. 1st.
This December our First Thursday show is a tribute to my favorite comic character of all time, ROM Spaceknight, and the man who brought his adventures to life, Bill Mantlo. There will be over 100 contributors including: Jeffrey Brown, Sal Buscema, Guy Davis, Renee French, Simon Gane, Ken Garduno, Brandon Graham, Maureen Gubia, Kevin Hooyman, Corey Lewis, Al Milgrom, Jeff Parker, Ron Rege Jr, Zack Soto, Peter Thompson, Gordon Wiebe, Danijel Zezelj and more! A silent auction will be held for original art, and 11×17” poster prints of every contribution will be available for a suggested donation of $5 or more.
(l to r: Jeffrey Brown, Jonathan Case, Jim Rugg, Pete Toms, Jeff Lemire, Ricardo Venancio, Hyeondo Park, Simon Gane)
The first comic I ever read was ROM Spaceknight, a silver cyborg fighting evil monsters throughout the universe. I collected every issue until the series was cancelled at #75 (when I asked the comic clerk why it was cancelled he kindly replied, “Well, they just ran out of stories to
tell.”). Years later I learned that all of these incredible stories were written by one man, Bill Mantlo. At the same time I learned that he had been injured in a hit and run accident in 1992. Due to the severe injuries, Bill currently resides in a Brain Injury Rehabilitation Nursing Home, and will probably do so for the rest of his life.
This show will serve as a fundraiser and celebration of the stories Bill has given us. All of the artwork and more will be compiled in a tribute comic next year that will be sold as a non-profit benefit book for Bill’s brother/caregiver, Mike Mantlo, to provide funding to enable Bill to enjoy
somewhat of a quality of life.
Based off an unsuccessful Parker Bros. toy, Bill Mantlo turned ROM into a series that ran for 75 issues and has since become a cult favorite. It has been an honor to connect with ROM fans all over the world and share their feedback and contributions with the Mantlo family. Due to licensing issues with Hasbro, Marvel Comics is unable to reprint any ROM stories or do anything new with the character. This show will mark the first new ROM material fans have seen in over 20 years.
Earlier this year, Publisher David Yurkovich and Mike Mantlo collaborated on a 72-page magazine, Mantlo - A Life in Comics, that was also designed to raise money for Mantlo. Copies of this magazine will also be available at the show and private donations for Bill Mantlo can be sent to his
brother, Mike, at 425 Riverside Drive, Apt. 12-E, New York, N.Y. 10025.
Special thanks to Mike Mantlo, David Yurkovich, Steve Duin, Brian K. Vaughan, Hero Initiative, Dark Tower Comics, Isotope Comics, and everyone who helped spread the word.
Thanks to Greg Pak for interviewing me on the Broken Frontier website. Read the interview here.
Make a private donation to the SPACENITE - BILL MANTLO FUND directly from your Paypal account. 100% of the funds go to Mike Mantlo:
Read about our upcoming ROM /BILL MANTLO TRIBUTE SHOW HERE.
(illustration by Renee French, a friend of ROM & Bill Mantlo)
“Floating World is the most innovative and art-conscious of (Portland’s comics shops).”
-Steve Duin
The Oregonian A&E, Oct. 9, 2008
(photo by Arthur Smid)
Floating World Comics is the record store of comics stores. By that, I mean that there’s a different type of vibe here. We’re a bookstore that just happens to carry the coolest books of all - comics. But also art books, international art magazines, graphic design, illustration, animation, music and movie related items, anything that might serve as inspiration for creative folks looking for something new. We’re also a gallery with First Thursday art openings and we’ve just branched out into publishing. I’ve started publishing a quarterly art comics newspaper and just released my first comic, a reprint of Jeff Lint’s hyper-sane 70’s action book, THE CATERER. Dream projects.
We’re a store for readers. This may sound strange coming from a retailer, but when people ask what’s a good comic to buy? My advice is, buy one that you’re going to read more than once. There’s enough good comics out there that you don’t need to waste your money on crappy ones. What am I saying? Of course crappy comics are fun too. But we do focus on the reading experience, rather than, say, collecting every issue that comes out. So we organize the shelves by writer, by publisher, by genre. So if you know you like this, you can go down the shelf and find something new you might like too. There’s good comics, and then there’s the real gems. Ones that you want on your bookshelf at home, that will continue to entertain and enlighten for years to come.
We’re a store for artists. I love searching the net to find new and interesting artists all over the world. I go out of my way to contact different distributors and curate a selection of books that are inspirational and exciting to discover. People who know what they like and what they want spend a lot of time in bookstores. They’ve seen it all and they’ve already collected most of what they want. These customers want to find something new, and Floating World caters to this desire. Imagine all those great books you’ve seen online, all in one room. Visitors from around the world come in all the time and remark they wish they had a store like this back home.
I opened the store in 2006 because Portland is the greatest comics town in the country and we deserve a great comic store. From the start, my goal was to provide excellent subscription box service for the regular Wednesday customers, and also, to create new readers - expose them to the best that comics has to offer. I’m very proud of everything the store’s done so far. Our monthly art shows have brought some amazing cartoonists to visit: Al Columbia, Jim Woodring, Nicholas Gurewitch, Christophe Blain, Peter Bagge, the Spacenight Bill Mantlo benefit, artists from Serbia and many more. Each of our yearly animation fests has featured a retrospective on an important avant garde animator: Adam Beckett in 2007 and Bruce Bickford in 2008. My love and thanks to the Portland art community, the global comics community and you the customer. Continue giving love, the universe has an endless supply to give back.
“They write about our raids in the paper…”:
“Comics Shop Confidential” The Oregonian, 10/9/08
“Comic Shop Focus” Daily Crosshatch, 12/3/08
“Not Just For Geeks” Portland Tribune, 12/19/06
“Trash Days” Portland Mercury, 8/14/08
“All Rom, All The Time!” Broken Frontier, 11/30/07
“Al Columbia to Resurface in Floating Word Comics Exhibit” Alarm Magazine, 9/07
“Ten Geeky Places to Visit in Portland” Wired, 3/10
“Interview with Jason Leivian, owner of Floating World Comics” Wejetset Magazine, 7/10
