HOPE: NEW ORLEANS' LONG ROAD TO RELEASE

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and other parts of southeastern United States. And as news reports this past week have shown, people affected by the destruction still need assistance.

Hope: New Orleans, a 224-page comic book anthology project created by Ronin Studios, was created to help meet that need and benefit the Southeast Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross, and is finally set for release.

This latest collection features a special cover by David Mack and contains 30-plus short stories ranging from first reactions to the catastrophe, slice of life, humor, horror, the supernatural and superhero fun, original tales as well as those featuring existing characters by more than 100 creators from around the world.

From Dwight L. MacPherson (The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo) on “TCB” and “Atlantean Sanguine,” Vito Delsante (The Chemistry Set’s Stuck, JSA Classified) on “Prayer,” Adam Beranek (Silent Devil’s Dracula Vs. King Arthur) on “Goth Ninja in New Orleans,” Brandon Jerwa (Dynamite’s Highlander, Battlestar Galactica: Zarek) on “Brotherhood,” Milx on “Beads” and “A New Orleans Ghost Story,” Darren G. Davis (Blue Water Productions’ Tenth Muse, Legend of Isis) on “Tenth Muse: Guardian,” Thad Branco (First Salvo’s Danger Dozen) on “Unique Force: A Game of Hosts,” Jose L. Torres (The Hunger) on “Class Clown,” and more, Hope: New Orleans is a book catering to all tastes in genres.

Hope: New Orleans was solicited for direct release in the May edition of Diamond Previews. Instead of seeing its widespread release in July, Ronin Studios is reaching to good Samaritans for help now.

According to Diana Greenhalgh, Editor-in-Chief of Ronin Studios, Hope: New Orleans was printed in a short run of about 200 sale copies for Wizard World Chicago 2006 “with ComixPress' services to help us raise money for our final goal: printing a book that would be solicited and distributed through Diamond, spreading the word through comic book fans and readers about the disaster, creating a wider spread fundraiser for the Red Cross than we could on our own in self publishing.

”We've been discussing this within Ronin Studios for the past few weeks actually and we decided we need public input and assistance,” she continued. “What happened is that we're still trying to raise enough funds to have the book printed. Our hopes were that the book would be available to retailers for the second anniversary of Katrina, but it put a hitch in the final stage which was the printer. Pre-orders weren't as good as we had hoped either... and it was very hard for us to get news sites to post the press release about the book. I think only one of the sites we submitted to actually did use the press release that Russell Lissau wrote for the Hope book.

”[Two weeks] ago we were $1500 US short to print the book. As of today, we're currently only $500 US short of the printing cost of 1000 copies of the graphic novel, which is the minimum we can print. And almost all of the funding to print this book has been donations... but we're just not there yet. As well this was our first book involving creators and writers from outside the Ronin Studios community. Some of them weren't interested in helping out after submitting their stories to be printed in the book, and some that left the community did the same. But there were others that made amazing contributions to the book... guys like Mack, Yost, Lissau, Lark... and others who didn't have stories in it, but still had amazing things to say about the book in its completion.

”Right now we're asking everyone to help if they're willing and able... and anything above the $500 we need to raise now will automatically be donated to the Southeast Louisiana chapter of the Red Cross along with the proceeds already planned for the organization.”

“Since last August, we were working with Diamond to get the book into the Previews catalog,” Hope: New Orleans editor Thomas Mauer explained to Newsarama. "The book has already been printed and our printer is just awaiting receipt of the final payment before releasing Hope: New Orleans to Diamond. That finally worked out for a July release, but then we hit a snag with the funding since printing costs had increased a lot since the fall of 2006 when we got our first print quote and there was a communications breakdown with the printer for a while. We're working all of this out right now and Diamond has been really supportive throughout. The same goes for the printer who's just waiting for the rest of the money to clear before releasing the book to Diamond.

”After trying to fix the money situation internally, we now need the help of others as Diana mentioned. If there are people out there who can and want to help, they should get in touch with her.”

Donations can be sent to Ronin Studios Editor in Chief Diana Greenhalgh, who has been in close contact with Diamond and the printer. Anything in excess of the $500 needed for the printing will be donated to the Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the Red Cross. Her Paypal account is mechangel@gmail.com

”As for the trade collection of Hope: Tsunami, while I have all the print files and can put the book together quite easily, the original editors moved on from Ronin,” Mauer said. “I never really had anything to do with the creation of the book, so don't have contact information for the bulk of creators involved.

“In the case of the Tsunami fund, I suppose that it's been closed for even longer, so Ronin Studios would have to find a suitable alternative cause in the affected Indian Ocean area that could benefit from Hope: Tsunami.”

UPDATE: Just prior to publication, Newsarama received word that, according to Greenhalgh: “While we are still trying to raise the funds to pay for the print cost as before, the books have been released to Diamond and we have an arrival date for retailers: September 6th, 2007.”

Related stories:
FINDING HOPE: TALKING TO THE HOPE: NEW ORLEANS EDITORIAL TEAM

CREATING HOPE: ARCANA & RONIN'S BENEFIT BOOK

[Blackbeard]

So happy to see this book finally hitting shelves!

[mikey_danger]

It is great to see that this is coming out. Kudos to all those that kept fighting to get this out there! It was easy for those of us just to contribute, but you guys never stopped, which is absolutely stunning of you!

[alexotica]

One more day!

[kitty_tc]

Gods, more to the Red Cross??? Everything ever sent seems to have gone to them, and they stopped helping us early on. They ran temporary shelters, which was only helpful until the FEMA trailers arrived, and some food distribution, ant that was largely all. The organization recieved record levels of cash donations, and we only got a single small cash assistance check out of them, ONE TIME ONLY at the very beginning while they continued to solicit donations in our name for the next year. And apparently still are.

Yep, that's right, they took massive amounts of cash in our names and never distributed it to us. And never will. We don't get to see that money. It doesn't help us. It never ever gets here.

Contrast this with the 9/11 tragedy, where the cash collected in the victim's names was actually distributed to them. Those millions of dollars actually reached the people that they were intended for, rather than absorbed into an organization who was never obliged to pass it along to the victims they were using in their advertisements.

I know I never saw the Red Cross again after maybe a month or so in, but I saw their advertisements with our plight in them long after they'd pulled stakes and left. Where'd all that money go? Nobody knows, but it sure as hell didn't come here. We never got it. And we never will. But damn, our tragedy made for a great moneymaker for them.

Get it yet? STOP GIVING MONEY TO THE RED CROSS FOR US. THEY DON"T PASS IT ALONG, THEY JUST KEEP IT.

They even say it openly, when you ask them. Their function is in "immediate disaster intervention", which means running temporary shelters until FEMA takes over, and food and medical distribution in the early stages. They do NOTHING regarding rebuilding or loss reimbursement whatsoever. It's not in their charter, it's not what they do. So any money given to them with the hopes it would help us rebuild our lives and our city and help us replace what we lost, forget it. They don't do that. And since their function is in ":immediate disaster intervention:, and not long term assistance or recovery, they don't even have to hang around. They helped people survive the disaster itself, and beyond that the rest isn't their problem.

Now, don't get me wrong, that initial survival assistance is desperately necessary and greatly appreciated. However, if that is the only function your organization will perform,. then STOP SOLICITING DONATIONS FOR A DISASTER AFTER YOU'VE STOPPED PROVIDING ASSISTANCE THERE. Don't fucking take money for a disaster zone that is beyond the initial survival assistance phase when that's the only service you provide, stop taking the goddamned money when we're in the rebuilding and recovery phase and you don't do that. Pass the money to the victims themselves or to an organization like Habitat for Humanity or any of the other organizations that DO operate in rebuilding and recovery phases. DO NOT PRETEND YOU ARE STILL HELPING US AND TAKE THE MONEY THAT COULD GO TO PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL HELPING US.

If you are giving money to the Red Cross in hopes it will benefit Katrina victims, STOP IT. It does not get here. Find an organization that functions in the rebuilding and recovery phases of a disaster, which Red Cross does not and many others do. Habitat for Humanity is just one. But the Red Cross is STEALING YOUR MONEY if you donate with the intention of helping Katrina victims. And they've been doing it for close to two years now. Please, no more. No more enriching others in our name. Keep your money if it will never get to us anyhow. If we're not going to get it anyhow, you might as well keep it. You can use it far more than that scam operation can.

NO MORE RED CROSS LIES. Tell everyone you can. It has to stop.

[Guy_Gardner]

Originally Posted by kitty_tc

Gods, more to the Red Cross??? Everything ever sent seems to have gone to them, and they stopped helping us early on. They ran temporary shelters, which was only helpful until the FEMA trailers arrived, and some food distribution, ant that was largely all. The organization recieved record levels of cash donations, and we only got a single small cash assistance check out of them, ONE TIME ONLY at the very beginning while they continued to solicit donations in our name for the next year. And apparently still are.

Yep, that's right, they took massive amounts of cash in our names and never distributed it to us. And never will. We don't get to see that money. It doesn't help us. It never ever gets here.

Contrast this with the 9/11 tragedy, where the cash collected in the victim's names was actually distributed to them. Those millions of dollars actually reached the people that they were intended for, rather than absorbed into an organization who was never obliged to pass it along to the victims they were using in their advertisements.

I know I never saw the Red Cross again after maybe a month or so in, but I saw their advertisements with our plight in them long after they'd pulled stakes and left. Where'd all that money go? Nobody knows, but it sure as hell didn't come here. We never got it. And we never will. But damn, our tragedy made for a great moneymaker for them.

Get it yet? STOP GIVING MONEY TO THE RED CROSS FOR US. THEY DON"T PASS IT ALONG, THEY JUST KEEP IT.

They even say it openly, when you ask them. Their function is in "immediate disaster intervention", which means running temporary shelters until FEMA takes over, and food and medical distribution in the early stages. They do NOTHING regarding rebuilding or loss reimbursement whatsoever. It's not in their charter, it's not what they do. So any money given to them with the hopes it would help us rebuild our lives and our city and help us replace what we lost, forget it. They don't do that. And since their function is in ":immediate disaster intervention:, and not long term assistance or recovery, they don't even have to hang around. They helped people survive the disaster itself, and beyond that the rest isn't their problem.

Now, don't get me wrong, that initial survival assistance is desperately necessary and greatly appreciated. However, if that is the only function your organization will perform,. then STOP SOLICITING DONATIONS FOR A DISASTER AFTER YOU'VE STOPPED PROVIDING ASSISTANCE THERE. Don't fucking take money for a disaster zone that is beyond the initial survival assistance phase when that's the only service you provide, stop taking the goddamned money when we're in the rebuilding and recovery phase and you don't do that. Pass the money to the victims themselves or to an organization like Habitat for Humanity or any of the other organizations that DO operate in rebuilding and recovery phases. DO NOT PRETEND YOU ARE STILL HELPING US AND TAKE THE MONEY THAT COULD GO TO PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL HELPING US.

If you are giving money to the Red Cross in hopes it will benefit Katrina victims, STOP IT. It does not get here. Find an organization that functions in the rebuilding and recovery phases of a disaster, which Red Cross does not and many others do. Habitat for Humanity is just one. But the Red Cross is STEALING YOUR MONEY if you donate with the intention of helping Katrina victims. And they've been doing it for close to two years now. Please, no more. No more enriching others in our name. Keep your money if it will never get to us anyhow. If we're not going to get it anyhow, you might as well keep it. You can use it far more than that scam operation can.

NO MORE RED CROSS LIES. Tell everyone you can. It has to stop.

Ain't that the truth, Ruth?!

[voodude]

After they stopped giving out the mops and buckets over that the Mahalia Jackson Auditorium, that Red Cross hit the road!