Comics historian and retailer Robert Beerbohm died on March 27 at his home in Fremont, Nebraska, after battling colorectal cancer. He was 71.
As the New York Times notes in its obituary, Beerbohm was one of the co-founders, along with Bud Plant and John Barrett, of what is considered to be the first comic book retail chain, Comics and Comix. The store initially opened in Berkeley, California, in 1972, but later expanded to seven locations. After parting ways he opened his own store, Best of Two Worlds, in 1976.
That alone would merit an impressive mark in any chronicle of the medium, but Beerbohm was also something of a scholar, toiling away on mailing lists, message boards and other online forums (as well as perpetually working on his unfinished book, Comic Book Store Wars) to challenge conventional fan wisdom and champion a broader view of comics history. To that end, he is credited with discovering what is now considered to be the first comic printed in America, The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck, an 1842 bootleg version of Les Amours de monsieur Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer.
In the wake of Beerbohm’s passing, we reached out to a number of notable comics academics, writers and historians, and asked them to share their memories about Beerbohm and their impressions of his influence.
–The Editors
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