Beginning today and last through January 2, Floating World Comics of Portland, Ore. will host SPACENITE 2, the store's second ROM: Spaceknight-themed art gallery benefiting former attorney and prolific ROM scribe Bill Mantlo. Organized by store owner Jason Leivian, the SPACENITE 2 gallery contains the work of dozens of creators including Mike Allred, Jeffrey Brown, Michael DeForge, Tan Eng Huat, Ben Marra, Luke Ramsey, Jon Schnepp and Matt Timson. Each donated piece will be auctioned on eBay with all proceeds benefitting Mantlo, who was paralyzed by an unidentified vehicle in 1992.

The event is a followup to Floating World's 2007 benefit, which contained more than 100 pieces of original art from both comic book pros and artists from outside the industry.

"I have once again curated artwork from dozens of artists based around the theme of ROM Spaceknight, the first comic that I ever read as a kid in the '80s. It's safe to say that if it wasn't for ROM there wouldn't be a Floating World Comics today," wrote Leivian on the event's official website.

Leivian also has plans to collect art from both of the exhibits in book in 2011, which will also benefit Mantlo.

Check out selections from the gallery below:

Luke Ramsey


Mike Allred


Cuson Lo


David Cousens


Yuta Onoda


Bryan Talbot


Chris Fink


David Velasquez


Shawn Cheng


Farel Dalrymple
[Via Spacenite2]