Pleasant journey, Rory Root
Rory Root, a good friend and one of the best comic shop retailers in the country passed away on Monday.
There are numerous memories of Rory and his store Comic Relief in Berkely, CA all over the web. You can see some on the Beat, and over on The Comics Reporter.
(the photos in this entry are from those two sites)
Rory's personality was bigger than life, and he worked hard to promote comics as both recreation and as an art form.
He was also a character in BONE. He was one of the villagers who was always trying to wring Phoney Bone's neck.
Vijaya and I just saw Rory in Vegas during the ComicsPro meeting there and he was looking healthier than he had in while. He'd quit smoking and seemed in good spirits.
Rory was one of the comics retailers who really cared about comics, especially indie comics, at a time when very few others even carried them. His store Comic Relief in Berkley was one of the first that I know of that regularly carried and restocked a full range of graphic novels – - a move that looks prescient today.
Rory, along with Jim Hanley, Joe Field, and a few other big players in retailing were the first people I met in comics, even before I met Neil Gaiman or Dave Sim. Probably at a retailing conference put on by Diamond or Capital distributors. Rory was encouraging, and welcoming to Vijaya and me when we moved to the San Fransisco Bay area in the early 90s, often inviting us to the store and taking us out to dinner back when we were just starting out, and constantly introducing us to other cartoonists and important players in the retailing field.
We would see Rory every year in San Diego at the Con and he always greeted every member of my Cartoon Books staff with hugs and good humor the moment we stepped on the convention floor. Every single year he wanted to be the first person to see what little goodie we were going to unpack from our crates. And every year he put his money where his mouth was, supporting me and many other smaller publishers at the end of the Comicon by taking any unsold books off our hands (at a pretty hefty discount, of course, but that was Rory!). I will miss him.
An era has ended. Good bye, Rory.
I didn’t know Rory well, but it was clear he was one of those people who lived for comics. To me he was part of the graphic novel revolution in public libraries. Today librarians collecting comics have plenty of avenues to help them collect–Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Diamond, etc. Its worth noting that in the 80s & early 90s, the ONLY game for librarians was a comic book store & a sympathetic retailer. Rory was one of the handful of people librarians could turn to. This is very sad news–we lost a big one this time.
Comment by Steve Weiner — May 21, 2008 @ 11:05 am
Aw, man.
That sounds like a really good man.
New part of comic culture I learned.
Comment by Marcus — May 21, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
I never knew Rory but I always stopped at his SDCC both at least three times a year. It was always a great booth with some great stuff! My condolences to his in friends, family and co-workers.
Comment by Chris S — May 21, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
I am so sorry to hear of his death it seems as though it is another bad year. I lost my grandpa earlier this year, a neighbor and a fellow church member among many of the other people my family knew who’ve passed this year. When my other grandpa passed away several years ago many older family member had died that same year two. It seems when life have got you down it hits you pretty hard and gives it to you all at once. I can tell by your words that Rory was a very dear friend to you and I feel very sad for you and Vijaya. I hope that his family, friends and all that knew him even if were just a little bit well be able to come to terms with his passing. The sudden ones always hit the hardest, I know this too well, my grandpa had taken an awful turn for the worse and it wasn’t from the cancer he had but from the congestive heart failure he had developed a few months after the cancer diagnosis. My prayers and thoughts go out to you, Vijaya and your dear friend and his family. I did not know him but any person who has shown such importance to the comic community deserves the respect from the entire comic community including the fans. I will surly think of him now every time I reread Bone. God bless and please take care.
Comment by Jeanette — May 24, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Jeff thank you so very much for the kind words that extol Rory. This loss and then what with mom falling and breaking her ankle on the very next day; has taken an extreme emotional toll on my family. He was such a staunch supporter and lover of all graphic media,comics,and books of all types. Mom instilled a love of reading in each and every one of us. I fondly remember Rory getting into trouble by reading with a flashlight way past our bedtimes into the wee hours of the night. I love the fact that you, Jeff have immortalized him in Bone for all of us. Thank you! Berserker; a battle-frenzied Scandinavian warrior of old. may he sail over us always
Comment by Karen Root — May 27, 2008 @ 6:05 am
My daughter and I are currently reading Dragonslayer. When I got to the page where Rory appeared, I paused and took the time to tell her about my friend Rory. I didn’t know he was in the book until that moment. Thank you for putting him in the book. It was a welcomed surprise.
Comment by Brad Bankston — June 18, 2008 @ 11:56 am