While comic book store owner John Berry walked into his store early in the morning, to surf the internet before the rush of buyers stormed in, he came across an article concerning a fellow “Brony,” a male My Little Pony.
The article told the story of an 11 year old North Carolina native, Michael Morones, who was a fan of the comic book, “My Little Pony.”
Morones was heavily bullied to the point of suicide for being a fan of “My Little Pony.”
Although the boy’s parents saved him from suicide, the story moved Berry and he raised awareness in his store by setting up a fundraiser which all proceeds went to the Michael Morones Foundation.
“We decided to do something about it,” Berry said. “Even though he’s a boy that lives in North Carolina, it still really affected me.”
Berry’s store, Metropolis Comics, has hosted parties before in which the theme was “My Little Pony” and countless Brony’s attended, according to Berry.
“I got a hold of seven artists,” Berry said. “I said ‘hey can you guys come to this event?'”
The event was organized within three weeks.
The artists that appeared were: Todd Nauck, Bill Morrison, Brian Buccellato, Drew Johnson, Tone Rodriguez, Brett Nance and the “My Little Pony” artist, Tony Fleecs.
Artists and guests competed in ‘sketch-a-thon’, a game in which guests would pay the artists for a specific drawing and the money for that event would all go to the Morones cause.
“My Little Pony” illustrator, Tony Fleecs, was struck by the news that a young boy was heavily bullied for liking his artwork.
“Getting picked on for something you really like is not cool,” Fleecs said.
Workers of the store were very pleased with the support and were a little overwhelmed but were able to interact with the people in the store.
Sunny Falcon, clerk at Metropolis Comics, was happy to see the great turnout to the event.
“It’s usually my day off,” Falcon said. “Because it’s such a big event, we are all volunteering here.”
Money will not be counted until later, prices for the fundraising sketch-a-thon range from $5 to $20.
