Rory Root, R.I.P.

This day began like the others all have, here at my computer. I heard the familiar startup sound of my Mac, saw the comforting image of my wallpaper and then opened up my e-mail.

Spam… joke… spam…. annoying forward… reminder on work I need to do… spam…

And then a pile of e-mails in a row –  all on the death of Rory Root.

Rory wasn’t a writer, an artist or editor, yet I am certain he brought more comics into people’s lives than a lot of folks who hold those titles. Rory was a retailer – a comic book guy with a store in Berkley, California. And he was one of the best.

Over the days to come, you will read a lot of things about Rory and the way he loved the industry. Wonderful tribute sites are already taking shape here and here. Still, I welcome the chance to briefly share my little “Rory Story” here on ComicMix.

Although we hadn’t seen much of each other in the past few years, Rory was still my friend. In my comic retailing days, we grew close as part of a network of like-minded store owners that went by a number of organizational titles. No matter what the reason, we had to get together, and it was great. We shared ideas, bitched about all the things we hated and longed for the days when comics would finally get the mainstream attention they deserved. Most of all, though, we argued. Nothing malicious, just the good-natured, free-thinking debate of which Rory was a master. Rory could take a side and beat you down with it, then take your side and beat you down with that one as well, all while holding this enormous urn of coffee that was seemingly never empty. It gave him great joy to be right in these exchanges, and usually he was.

Today, I am re-running so many of those matches in my head and I even remember one (just one) where I think I came out on top.

Then again, I bet Rory had it planned that way.

Here’s hoping that coffee cup is still full and hot, old buddy.