Former Marvel and DC Comics creator William Messner-Loebs has been a significant influence on several of comics’ most iconic characters including Wonder Woman, Thor and The Flash.

Starting in 2001, however, a series of life challenges compounded that sent Messner-Loebs and his family down a path of misfortune.

After seeing success with an MTV series based on his hit comic The Maxx, Messner-Loebs  moved into a nice home with his wife.  Then both his mother and his wife were afflicted by serious illness, and the bills piled up to a point that led to his eviction in 2001.

Messner-Loebs and his wife moved to a small trailer home for the next fifteen years where he managed to continue working in the comic industry. A gas leak in his trailer rendered his home unlivable and it was condemned by local authorities, and his finances were not stable enough to maintain another mortgage. Both Messner-Loebs and his wife were forced to live out of their car.

His wife’s medical bills continued to pile up. This past Winter, he and his wife moved into a homeless shelter run by local church, trying to pay off debt and unable to move too far from his wife’s doctors.

Now Messner-Loebs works as a delivery person for Panera Bread and as a janitor for his church, but he still wants to get back to working on his art again. He set up a GoFundMe page in mid-April with a goal to raise 15 thousand dollars, and so far the community has stepped up in support. At the time of this writing, Messner-Loebs has raised just over 13 thousand dollars.

Certainly many comic creators over the years have fallen into financial troubles, but it’s not every day that comic fans get a chance to give back to the creators who helped shape the industry.

If you would like to donate to William Messner-Loebs’ GoFundMe campaign, you can do so here.

If you would prefer to donate to The Severe Weather Network which assists the homeless in Messner-Loebs’ home of Livingston County, Michigan, you can do so here.

Source: WJBK Detroit