IDW Presents A fundraiser for The Cartoon Art Museum and the Hero Initiative
Celebrating From Bloom County to Mars: The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed
with Special Guest Berkeley Breathed

Cartoon Art Museum Event:
 Saturday, April 2, 2010 from 8pm to 11pm
Ticketed Event:
 Sliding scale from $10 to $100

SAN FRANCISCO, CA:  The Cartoon Art Museum and The Hero Initiative proudly present the museum’s Annual WonderCon Weekend Party and Silent Auction, which will be held on Saturday, April 2, from 8pm to 11pm.  Tickets for this event will be sold on a sliding scale from $10 to $100. Special incentives will be given for higher-level donations including membership, signed catalogs, and special limited edition prints.  Advance tickets may be purchased through this link:  http://guestli.st/48612.  Capacity for this special event is limited, and advance reservations are recommended.

Please visit The CAM and Hero Initiative booths at WonderCon on Friday and Saturday to get a sneak preview of the featured original artworks for Saturday night’s auction.

Many top comic book creators will be in attendance as special guests of the Cartoon Art Museum and the Hero Initiative.  We are pleased to announce that our featured guest will be Berkeley Breathed, creator of Bloom County, Flawed Dogs and Mars Needs Moms, courtesy of WonderCon and IDW Publishing.

Sponsorship for this fundraiser has been generously provided by IDW Publishing, the publishers of Bloom County:  The Complete Collection, a five-volume series that reprints Berkeley Breathed’s classic comic strip in its entirety.  Please visit www.idwpublishing.com <http://www.idwpublishing.com> for more information on this and other collections in IDW Publishing’s Library of American Comics series.

Additional sponsorship has been provided by Guestlist Ticketing, which is facilitating advance ticket sales for this event.  For more information about Guestlist, please visit guestlistapp.com <http://guestlistapp.com/>

Ticket Pricing:

$10:  General Admission for Saturday night's party featuring Berkeley Breathed and other special guests

$25:  General Admission plus a copy of From Bloom County to Mars, CAM's new exhibition catalog featuring the original artwork of Berkeley Breathed; $5 from this ticket goes to The Hero Initiative

$50:  General Admission, catalog, merchandise, plus exclusive CAM merchandise; $10 from this ticket goes to The Hero Initiative

$75:  General Admission, catalog, merchandise,  plus your choice of a CAM membership or a Hero Initiative membership; $25 from this ticket goes to The Hero Initiative

$100:  General Admission, catalog, merchandise, Cartoon Art Museum membership and a Hero Initiative membership; $40 from this ticket goes to The Hero Initiative

On display at the Cartoon Art Museum:

From Bloom County to Mars: The Imagination of Berkeley Breathed is an exhibition of original artwork featuring one of the most popular cartoonists of the past quarter-century! This exhibit features pieces from his acclaimed comic strips of Bloom County and Outland to Goodnight Opus, Pickles and Pete, A Wish for Wings That Work, and other childrens’ books to feature film proposals from Breathed, including Mars Needs Moms!, released as an animated feature film from Walt Disney Studios.

Overture: Looney Tunes Behind the Scenes examines the works of pre-production art of the Looney Tunes world. Featuring character designs, model sheets, advertising artwork, animation pencil art, Looney Tunes comic book art and other rarely seen illustrations, this exhibition provides an exclusive look behind the scenes at the creation of the cartoon shorts beloved by generations. Artists include famed Looney Tunes Director and Animator Robert McKimson, and his brothers Charles and Tom McKimson; and animator Sam Nicholson, who was renowned throughout the animation industry for his skill as a caricaturist; and legendary background painter and designer Maurice Noble.

Drawn from The Economist: The Editorial Art of KAL explores over 40 of KAL’s favorite cartoons from his time with The Economist, during which he has published approximately 3,000 cartoons, including 120 covers.  Kal has used his wit and his pen to expose political hypocrisy, illuminate crises in the environment and the economy, and deconstruct complex international events.  His art has captured the faces and foibles of US President’s and world leaders, using caricature to create a window into their personalities. The works featured in this exhibit focus on national and international political satire and cover a broad range of social issues.

Please visit http://www.cartoonart.org <http://www.cartoonart.org/> or call (415) CAR-TOON for an updated list of special guests and events, as well as additional information about the museum.

About WonderCon:

WonderCon, the first major comics and pop culture convention of 2008, takes place April 1-3, 2011 at San Francisco's Moscone Center South.  For more information on WonderCon, please visit Comic-Con International's official website, http://www.comic-con.org <http://www.comic-con.org/>

About The Hero Initiative:

The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strict to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterday’s creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

Since its inception, The Hero Initiative has had the good fortune to grant over $400,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. For more information, visit www.heroinitiative.org <http://www.heroinitiative.org/>  or call 626-676-6354 <file://localhost/tel/626-676-6354> .

About IDW Publishing:

IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro's The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount's Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC's Doctor Who; Toho’s Godzilla; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for EA Comics and ComicMix. 

IDW's original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com. <http://www.idwpublishing.com>  

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Cartoon Art Museum € 655 Mission Street € San Francisco, CA 94105 € 415-CAR-TOON € www.cartoonart.org <http://www.cartoonart.org/>
Hours:  Tues.  Sun. 11:00 – 5:00, Closed Monday
General Admission:$7.00 € Student/Senior:$5.00 € Children 6-12:$3.00 € Members & Children under 6: Free

The Cartoon Art Museum is a tax-exempt, non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the collection, preservation,
study and exhibition of original cartoon art in all forms.