I may’ve been a Marvel Zombie growing up, but luckily I opened my eyes (and mind) to some wonderful DC books back in the early ’80s. Just in time for Perez/Wolfman’s Titans, Miller’s Dark Knight and Moore’s Watchmen. Pretty good timing, right?

But it went beyond that. My best friend Ethan was a DC Zombie I guess you’d call it, devouring just about any and every DC book the company put out. So while I’d roll my eyes at books with titles like Animal Man or Swamp Thing, his persistence finally wore me down. And I’m definitely glad it did, because those were some of the best comics I’ve ever read. He also got me into a number of great books written by John Ostrander, mainly Firestorm and Suicide Squad. Later on, I loved his work on The Spectre with the perfect artistic teammate Tom Mandrake.

So why am I bringing up John Ostrander? Because he could use your help. John’s been battling glaucoma for years and recently underwent surgery, as he’s grown resistant or allergic to some of the medications he had been taking to help. The procedure was expensive and John’s health insurance didn’t cover it all. So John’s friends have joined forces to help raise money to cover the cost of John’s treatments. For starters, they’ll be holding a charity auction on Saturday August 8 at the 2009 Chicago Comic-Con. But you can also donate directly to the cause (as well as get more information about glaucoma and John Ostrander) by visiting Comix4Sight.com .

Hopefully John’s friends, family and fans can help him raise enough money to continue the treaments and save his eyesights. And then we can all look forward to reading more of his books for years to come.