With Veteran’s Day happening this week, there are some virtual events set up for servicemembers overseas. In fact, The Hollywood Reporter just revealed that the annual Jawiin Charity Drive for Service Members, which provides comics to those stationed overseas, is having a virtual fundraiser on Saturday, November 14th. The event is “free-to-view” and will feature one of our favorites: Kevin Smith. The director known for various comedies and playing Silent Bob issued a statement about the event to THR:
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“From the first issue of Captain America to the latest issue of Batman, comic books have always inspired many a soldier,” Smith shared. “Serviceheroes reading stories about superheroes has long been a U.S. military tradition, so I’m happy and proud to help Jason Inman get comic books into the hands of our servicemen and servicewomen. Those faced with the harshest realities can always use a little fantasy to lighten the load.”
The event will run for five hours on Saturday and feature some big names in comics, including Tom King (The Vision, Batman), who also happens to be an ex-CIA officer. The event’s fundraising target is $5,000, and the highest donor from each hour will win a prize. There are some exciting prize opportunities, including original art from Death of Superman writer/artist Dan Jurgens. You can learn more about the event and check out the schedule here.
As for Smith, the director recently spoke with ComicBook.com’s Nicole Drum and talked about the impact of the Mallrats shout-out during Stan Lee‘s Captain Marvel cameo.
“This is me presenting this guy who the world doesn’t know, to a new generation be like this is a guy that created Spider-Man, man. And so I felt like I was doing him a solid in ’95,” Smith explained. “So, it was me shining spotlight on him and still the movie that like eventually nobody saw when it first came out. Years later, he goes and does Captain Marvel … there Stan reading the script for Mallrats is by Kevin Smith. You know that to me is my Oscar. They’ll never give me an Academy Award. That’s totally fine. But this, that moment was like my Oscar.”
He added, “Like it was almost like he was paying me back. He gave me back the relevancy that like we thought we were lending him with the Mallrats cameo. But we were never doing Stan a favor. He was always doing us a favor, like that buoyed the movie a decade later.”
You can read more from our Smith interview here.
