Robert Beerbohm, who within the Seventies helped begin the primary comedian e book chain shops after which, after a flood worn out stock in his warehouse, turned a professed archaeologist of comics historical past, died on March 27 at his dwelling in Fremont, Neb. He was 71.
His daughter, Katy Beerbohm-Younger, mentioned the trigger was colorectal most cancers.
A pugnacious character on the comedian e book scene for many years, Mr. Beerbohm as soon as summed up his profession as “a passion that obtained method out of hand.”
It began in his early teenagers, when he boarded a Greyhound bus in Nebraska for a 28-hour journey to promote comics at a conference in Houston. It ended as he was attempting to complete writing “Comedian Guide Wars,” his eagerly awaited magnum opus concerning the trade.
In between, Mr. Beerbohm waited on Jerry Garcia, Robin Williams and Bruce Lee at his shops in California; found what was believed to be the primary comedian e book printed in the USA; and mentioned comedian e book historical past with the gentleness of a heavyweight boxer.
(On Fb, certainly one of his final posts lamented “daring confronted liars” at comedian e book ranking businesses who would “make stuff up out of skinny air” and prey on consumers as in the event that they have been “rubes unsuspectingly getting into a carnival.”)
“I appreciated the presence he had in comedian e book land as a kind of feverishly enthusiastic followers and students and networkers,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Artwork Spiegelman, a pal, mentioned in an interview. “He was type of manic. He got here with loads of enthusiasm, however that was certainly one of his most lovable qualities.”
As an adolescent, Mr. Beerbohm traversed the nation on weekends and breaks from faculty in his Rambler Basic, promoting comics at conventions. In 1972, he dropped out of school and moved to San Francisco, the place he connected with the comedian e book sellers John Barrett and Bud Plant.
These have been the early days of comedian fandom, when the trade shifted from newsstand and grocery store gross sales to direct retail. As comedian e book shops started opening across the nation, Mr. Beerbohm and his companions opened Comics and Comix on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, close to the College of California.
College students left with their purchases wrapped in brown paper luggage. “After we first opened up, the Berkeley police have been satisfied we have been a significant drug smuggler,” Mr. Beerbohm mentioned in a podcast interview with Comedian Guide Historians, an internet fanzine.
The following 12 months they opened a second retailer, in San Francisco, adopted by shops in San Jose and Sacramento, and Comics and Comix thus turned what’s extensively thought of to be the primary comedian e book retail chain. The corporate ultimately operated seven places in California.
Mr. Beerbohm left the enterprise in 1975 after a falling-out along with his companions. In 1976, he opened his personal retailer, Better of Two Worlds, on Haight Road in San Francisco. Two others shops adopted, together with one a block away from his outdated companions in Berkeley.
He was an evangelist for his passion.
“On the time, comics have been nonetheless type of seen because the bastard stepchild of some other medium that you may consider,” mentioned the artist and cartoonist Invoice Sienkiewicz, who shopped at Mr. Beerbohm’s shops. “He actually type of foretold the acceptance, and actually pushed for the extent of acceptance, that comics at the moment have.”
Conversations with Mr. Beerbohm may stretch on for hours.
“He was like a complete nerd by way of the historical past of these items,” Mr. Sienkiewicz mentioned. “He was type of like a historian who occurred to run a store.”
In 1986, a flood at Mr. Beerbohm’s warehouse pressured him to shut two of his three shops. He opened one other, however with out a big inventory, his enterprise by no means totally recovered.
As time went on, Mr. Beerbohm turned increasingly consumed by comics historical past. He hosted an web chat group and contributed articles to commerce publications, together with The Overstreet Comedian Guide Worth Information, an trade authority that publishes treatises on comics historical past.
One among his specialties was the so-called platinum age, a interval starting in 1897 when comedian strips started showing in newspapers. For many years, historians believed that the primary comedian e book was the gathering “Yellow Child in McFadden’s Flats,” which contained reprints of the caricature “The Yellow Child” that initially appeared in The New York World.
However in 1998, a lady in Oakland known as Mr. Beerbohm. She had a comic book known as “The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck,” by Rodolphe Töpffer, which had been revealed as a complement in Brother Jonathan, a weekly newspaper in New York. It had been in her household for generations. She additionally had a letter from her grandfather that mentioned, “Don’t promote this — it’s the primary comedian e book.”
She wished to promote it.
At that time, the trade dogma was that the “Yellow Child” assortment was the primary American comedian e book. Mr. Beerbohm instructed her that he’d double any provide she obtained. After one other vendor supplied her $100, he purchased it for $200. The publication date: Sept. 14, 1842.
“He actually expanded everybody’s information going again so much farther than anybody would have actually thought,” mentioned Alex Grand, the creator of Comedian Guide Historians.
Robert Lee Beerbohm was born on June 17, 1952, in Lengthy Seaside, Calif. His father, Verriel Beerbohm, labored primarily within the delivery trade. His mom, Jean (Bailey) Beerbohm, managed the house.
When he was 6, the household moved to Saudi Arabia, the place his father labored for Aramco, the state-owned oil and pure gasoline firm.
“That’s the place he began studying comics — not simply American comics, however comics from actually all around the world,” his daughter mentioned.
Six years later, the household moved to Freemont, Neb., the place his father purchased a neighborhood Pepsi distributor. Robert used the refunded deposits from recycled bottles to purchase comedian books.
He was accepted within the pre-med program on the College of Nebraska, however he dropped out after a 12 months to enter the nascent comics enterprise in California.
His observe document was not unblemished: Through the years, he was accused by his enterprise companions and clients of shady dealings — all of which he denied.
In 2014, he was charged in Nebraska with theft by deception after agreeing to promote gadgets for a buyer on consignment. Ms. Beerbohm-Younger, Mr. Beerbohm’s daughter, mentioned the vendor had been attempting to speak with him whereas he was away at a conference and contacted the police after he didn’t reply. In keeping with courtroom paperwork, the case was dismissed.
“It’s true that my dad might be a handful,” she mentioned. “He was type of a cranky man. However he was additionally very, very beneficiant, and he beloved comedian books and all the things about them.”
Mr. Beerbohm married Susan Ward Younger in 1973. They separated in 1981 and have been estranged when he died. Along with her and his daughter, he’s survived by two stepsons, Stephen and Robert Jones.
Mr. Beerbohm didn’t end “Comedian Guide Wars,” however he left behind copious notes. His daughter mentioned she hoped to discover a author to finish the e book.
He deplored the present state of amassing, with consumers treating their purchases as investments and sealing them in onerous plastic instances in order that the pages don’t crease.
“I imply, that’s, like, boring to me,” he instructed Comedian Guide Historians.
He wished comics consumers to maintain turning the pages.
Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
