"Planet Karen" reacts to the fire

As was reported last week, "Planet Karen" creator Karen Ellis was the victim of a fire that destroyed her home and nearly all her possessions. Though physically unharmed, the web cartoonist is in dire straits. In support of Ellis, Girl-Wonder.org has organized an art auction, and members of the comics community are appealing to readers to participate in the auction or make a donation to help Ellis in this difficult time.GAIL SIMONEHello, everyone. Last week, the apartment of one of my favorite webcomics arist/writers, Karen Ellis (creator of the wonderful PLANET KAREN webcomic), was destroyed by fire, including almost all of her possessions. A neighbor was tragically killed, and unfortunately, Karen herself lost almost everything, including her home. A couple years ago, when my friend and the co-creator of our graphic novel, Killer Princesses, Lea Hernandez, lost her home, the industry acted quickly to help, and made a huge difference to her, helping, through mostly small donations, to feed, clothe and house her family in the days immediately following that tragic event. Her comments on the Karen Ellis fire are below, as well as the original press release by the good people at girl-wonder. Org, where Karen's strip is hosted. They are asking for donations to help Karen with her immediate needs, and will also be hosting an auction. The details are below. This is a terrific artist doing a wonderful strip that I've been promoting now for ages. I am writing the foreword to the planned collection, I like it so much. Please take a moment and check out some of the strips at: http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org/I am certain you will enjoy them as much as I do. While you're there, PLEASE hit the donate to paypal button on the front page. Donations have already made a huge difference, but again, Karen is without even many essentials yet and rebuilding is going to be hard. ANY amount you can add will help. I know times are tough, but I have seen the generosity of this industry come together for complete strangers again and again, and now is when the need is most dire. Karen's tough and smart, and she'll recover, but we could certainly do the right thing and lend a helping hand until then. I know she'd do it for you!Please donate, or if you have items to donate to the auction, please contact karen.healey@girl-wonder.org.Thank you for reading this, thank you for helping.

GIRL-WONDER.ORGKaren Ellis, creator of diary comic Planet Karen, lost nearly everything in a fire this weekend.The apartment above her own caught fire on Sunday night, and while firefighters fought the blaze for three hours, tragically, the occupant was killed. Karen is physically fine, but most of her possessions, including books, clothes and drawing supplies, are ruined beyond repair. The apartment itself has suffered so much structural damage that she's also been made effectively homeless. Karen is a valuable part of the webcomics community. If you can, please consider making a contribution to her Paypal account to help out. Just head to http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org/ and hit the "Donation" button in the right-hand column. Every donation, whatever its size, really counts!Girl-Wonder.org, the organization that hosts Planet Karen, is also planning a fundraising auction on Karen's behalf. If you have items you think you'd like to donate, please contact Karen Healey at karen.healey@girl-wonder.org for details.

- Hannah DameLEA HERNANDEZKaren Ellis needs your help. Just a little bit. If you think only being able to send $5. won't help, let me tell you a story about Mike Hayes and Bob Greene. Mike Hayes need $28,000 to get through college. Chicago columnist Bob Greene, on Mike's behalf, asked his readers to send in one penny. Just one. "Many Pennies for Mike" was 2.8 million pennies heavier in a month. Miss America 1983, Debra Maffet, sent Mike $25. $28,000 and a letter from Miss America. Anything you send Karen will help. I've said this a lot, because it's true. After my house burned down in 2006, I was flooded with well-wishes, gift cards, a benefit held by Zeus Comics in Dallas, a generous donation by J. Michael Strackzynski, an art sale by Shaenon Garrity, auctions and donations. Many, many donations, some enormous, but most under $10 US, many $5., and too many came with apologies. Like Mike Hayes, I got little monies from a lot of people, and it helped make something big. If you can't help Karen now, but want to, donate later. In a month, or even six months, Karen is likely to still need dosh. I'm not Miss America. I sent Karen $10. and my daughter Summer donated two allowances, which was another $10. So, okay, I'm almost Miss America with a sidekick. I'll gladly share my almost-crown with you, even if you "only" send Karen a penny, and especially if you send it without apologies.