WINCHESTER — The little blue comic shop in Winchester is making waves internationally with its annual auction of unique comic book covers.

“Year One was 62 items,” said Erik C. Jones, manager of Four Color Fantasies at 80 Weems Lane. “Now we’re at 152. A record amount of items this year, record single bid and record amount raised so far.”

Jones was referring to the sixth annual Four Color Fantasies Covers Literature auction, a fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area that, as of Wednesday, had generated $9,740 in bids with two weeks remaining before auction winners are announced.

Andy Gail, executive director of Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area, said his nonprofit is hoping the online auction will exceed its goal of $11,300 by the time bidding ends at 5 p.m. May 4, which happens to be Free Comic Book Day.

“We’re in spitting distance,” Gail said Wednesday, noting that the previous five auctions have netted a total of about $40,000.

Jones and the owner of Four Color Fantasies, Mike Kwolek, explained how the auction works.

Starting in late spring or early summer, Jones and Kwolek start reaching out to people in the comic book industry and ask if they’ll draw a comic book cover for charity. If the person agrees, Four Color Fantasies sends them a blank comic book with a plain white cover. The artist creates whatever he or she chooses and sends it back to Four Color Fantasies, where it is put on the auction block several weeks before bidding closes.

At first, Jones and Kwolek had trouble getting people, especially professional artists, to draw a cover for free.

“There was a lot of pushback,” Kwolek said. “Some of these people, for the stuff they’re doing, could get paid $200 just to do a sketch.”

As years have passed, though, the online auction has garnered attention and respect from comic book artists and lovers around the world, including Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator Matt Bors and “The Walking Dead” artist Charlie Adlard.

“We’re talking to people at [comic book] conventions and they say, ‘Oh, I know someone else who has done that,’” Kwolek said. “We’ve shown we’re not going away with this.”

Submissions are now coming in from as far away as Spain and Croatia.

“We’ve had every continent except for Asia and Africa,” Jones said.

Social media has also helped spread the word. Four Color Fantasies often discusses the auction in the weekly videos it posts to announce the arrival of new comics, and people from as far away as California and the United Kingdom have responded.

Several of the covers in this year’s auction come from some of the biggest names in the comic book world. For example, artist David Finch contributed a cover featuring Batman’s nemesis, the Joker, that currently has the highest bid of all the items at $600.

There is also a lot of impressive artwork in this year’s lot from amateur illustrators, such as the one submitted by Mark Reznicek, drummer for the nationally known band Toadies.

One of the most appealing covers in this year’s lot was drawn by the assistant manager of Four Color Fantasies, Angie Kretzer.

“I drew a Daredevil cover,” Kretzer said, referring to a popular Marvel Comics character. “I spent, like, 15 to 20 hours on it. It’s a character that I care a lot about and this is a charity that I really carry about.”

Kretzer, who developed her talents under the guidance of her mother, an art instructor, said the highest bid on her pencil drawing is currently $120.

Many of the covers created for this year’s auction were drawn by children or people who have 9-to-5 jobs.

The Four Color Fantasies Covers Literacy auction has also grown to include other items such as miniature figurines, wall hangings, a crocheted supervillain and more.

“Anybody that contributes is awesome,” Jones said. “It’s my favorite thing we do.”

The entire lot of items for this year’s Four Color Fantasies Covers Literacy auction can be viewed at the store’s Facebook page, facebook.com/FCFComics. Look for the photo album titled FCF Covers Literacy 2024.

Bids are currently being accepted by messaging Four Color Fantasies’ Facebook page. Bidding will end at 5 p.m. May 4, and winners will be notified beginning May 6.