Be a Hero to the Creators Who Brought Your Favorite Comics to Life
Some of the artists and writers who created the characters you love are now facing difficult times. Hero Initiative is a charity for comic book creators, providing financial, medical, and career support when life takes an unexpected turn. When you support Hero Initiative, you help the real people behind the comics you grew up with get back on their feet.
Our Mission As A Charity For Comic Creators
Real Help When It’s Needed Most
When a comic book creator faces a crisis—whether it’s a medical emergency, mounting bills, or the struggle to find paying work—you can be the one who helps. Hero Initiative exists to provide real, immediate support through three key programs: Medical Assistance, Financial Assistance, and Career Support. Your donation restores stability, dignity, and hope to creators who gave us our heroes.
Medical Assistance for Creators in Crisis
Hero Initiative supports writers and artists through critical health crises—covering medical costs, preserving vision, funding cancer treatments, and even making life-changing prosthetics possible.
Financial Assistance for Everyday Essentials
Hero Initiative provides direct assistance to comic book creators facing real-life challenges—helping prevent home foreclosures, keeping the lights on by covering utility bills, and ensuring no one goes hungry.
Career Assistance to Reignite Their Passion
Hero Initiative also helps creators find new opportunities—connecting them with paid work in comics, video games, and unexpected places like product packaging and brand design.
Be The Hero!
Save Comic Creators in Their Time of Need
When you support Hero Initiative, you provide real help to comic creators facing financial hardship. Most importantly, you become part of a passionate community dedicated to helping the people who helped shape comic book history.
Help the real people behind your favorite characters, with immediate impact.
Deliver real, practical support.
Be part of the passionate community supporting these creators.
When creator Taki Soma was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and her insurance wouldn’t cover it, Hero Initiative helped her get the treatment she desperately needed.
If Hero Initiative hadn’t reached out to me, I don’t know if I’d have been around in another year or two.
I had a medical emergency where I lost my foot. I needed a new prosthetic leg, and who was there to get it for me? Hero Initiative.
Joe Phillips
Artist | Wonder Woman, Body Doubles
I cannot thank the Hero Initiative enough. I’ve supported them from the beginning, never dreaming I would need their help one day.
Taki Soma
Creator | Sleeping While Standing, Galaxy of Madness
Hero Initiative takes the sting out of asking for help with a caring, professional attitude that lets you know they do this because they really do care.
Mike Grell
Artist | Green Arrow, Legion of Super-Heroes
How It Works
How Your Support Changes Lives
A creator needs help
Artist John Dell was experiencing joint weakness, brain fog, and more. He had no health insurance and his condition was rapidly declining.
YOU donate
John wound up needing a walker for mobility. Hero was able to get John diagnosed. Turns out his problem was a thyroid condition.
Hero takes action
John needed treatment and medication. He had no way to access that, nor money to pay for it. Hero Initiative got him health insurance and access to doctors.
The Creator is Saved
Within 30 days, John was walking on his own again, and his overall health improved dramatically. He’s thriving and still cranking out art today!
What It Takes
The Need for Comic Creator Support Is Growing
Hero Initiative provides essential, ongoing support to comic creators in crisis—covering the real-life costs of skilled nursing care, food, medical treatment, and housing. And every week, new emergencies demand our help. The numbers here aren’t just statistics—they represent the actual cost of keeping our creators safe, stable, and supported. Your gift goes to work right away, offering hope when it’s needed most.
$363 | Per day
$10,883 | PER MONTH
giving makes you part of the story
Donors often say supporting a charity for comic creators like Hero Initiative makes them feel deeply connected to the creators who shaped their lives. When you give, you’re not just donating—you’re helping protect the people behind the comics you love.
I give because I appreciate what creators do to inspire me. I want to make sure that they’re taken care of.
Evan Billingsley
Tempe, AZ
It feels good to give back to the people responsible for all my favorite back issues!
Brenden McGuirk
Sommerville, MA
Stay Connected to the Mission
If you want to see the real impact your support can make, join our email community. Subscribers receive updates about the creators being helped, stories of recovery and success, and insights into how the comic community comes together to support its own.
By clicking SUBSCRIBE you’re confirming that you agree with our Terms of Service.
What’s the easiest way I can donate to help a comic creator in need?
Hit any ‘Donate’ button on the Hero Initiative website to make an immediate one-time or recurring donation. You can also often get donations matched by employers through payroll deduction. Click here to learn more about payroll deductions.
Can Hero Initiative recurring donations be paused or canceled?
Yes. We’d hate to see you go, but recurring donations can be cancelled at any time in your user account.
How else can I help out the Hero Initiative?
You can buy our merchandise, buy merchandise from our partner, Third Eye Comics, or volunteer.
Who is eligible for assistance from Hero Initiative?
An applicant must have been a working comic book writer, penciler, inker, colorist, or letterer on a work-for-hire basis for no less than 10 years since January 1, 1934.
How do you determine who receives assistance from Hero Initiative?
Hero Initiative’s Disbursement Committee, made up of long-tenured creative professionals who truly understand the needs and nuances of the creative community, vote on all issues.
Is my Hero Initiative donation tax-deductible?
Yes. Cash donations to Hero Initiative are tax deductible in the USA to the extent allowed by law. We always suggest you consult your own tax professional for specific guidance.
Be a Hero to the People Behind the Heroes
Your donation to Hero Initiative, a charity for comic creators, can help an artist or writer pay for medical care, keep food on the table, stay in their home, or find a path back to work. This is your chance to make a real difference for the artists and writers who gave the world so much. Give today and help a comic creator find hope, stability, and a way forward.
