The Hero Initiative & Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Last night, I attended the monthly will call event held by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (BPAL). BPAL is a “purveyor of fine esoteric goods, perfumes, and potions.” My goal is to go every month, but I end up attending more like every other month. It’s a luxury to visit the will call and get to smell dozens of carefully designed oils in person. The scents available range from delicate to decadent, but each bottle of oil has multiple intertwining smells. They are all woven together with some sort of magic and crazy talent that makes the oils emulate places, characters in books & comics and evoke strong feelings.

As if that wasn’t enough to entice you, they have lines based on the works of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and even Hellboy inspired scents. Geeky perfume oils! How could you resist?

My primary objective last night was to get something from The Graveyard Book series and the new Neverwhere series. For me, it’s mostly about the scent. But. The design on the labels of these special lines plays a part in the decision to buy too. As I was wrapping up my purchases, I noticed the new Witchblade line on display. I had to try every one and ended up buying Witchblade. One, it smelled musky with nice spicy notes on my wrist and two, BPAL partnered with Top Cow Productions to donate proceeds for the Witchblade line to The Hero Initiative.

The Hero Initiative is the first federally recognized not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping comic book creators, writers and artists in need. It was founded in 2000 by several comic book and trade publishers. The charity provides a net for those creators that need support – emergency medical aid, financial aid, etc.

I was able to give a small something back for the endless enjoyment I get from comics, and I have a wicked cool scent. Not a bad deal.

BPAL also donates proceeds to The Hero Initiative for their Sachs and Violen line.