On Valentine’s day, Comic Relief, one of the best-known and most highly regarded comic book stores in the country, closed its doors permanently after twenty-four years in business. I have to admit, I rarely go to comic book stores, but if I had a comics shop that was “my” store, Comic Relief was it. When I bought graphic novels at conventions, it was usually from the Comic Relief booth.
I live too far from Berkeley to have been a regular at the store, but when I went there, I was thrilled to find such diversity of stock and inevitably spent way more money than I intended. Once, I even attended a birthday party in Comic Relief’s back room after hours. And in May 2008, I was one of hundreds of people who came to the store to memorialize Comic Relief’s owner, Rory Root.
Comic Relief survived its founder and owner by less than three years. The reasons are a complicated mixture of probate law, alleged mismanagement, loss of loyal employees, financial problems, and a lot of things we in the public will probably never know. A simpler way of looking at it is that Comic Relief closed because Rory Root—whose passion for comics and force of personality gave life to the store—died.
Comic Relief was like a lot of small businesses—and therefore like a lot of comics businesses, whether they be small press or stores—in that it was the vision of a single person. Because of their determination and zeal, proprietors like Rory can build a business and make it a success, but it’s a success that can unravel very quickly. The obvious case is when the single person passes away or loses the spark they once had for the business.
Over the years, I’ve seen a few cases where rumors and gossip (boy, does the comics industry love gossip!) attribute the fall of promising publishers to the bad behavior or business policies of a strong central leader—from Mark Waid’s accusations against CrossGen founder Mark Alessi to the current controversy surrounding TokyoPop’s CEO Stuart Levy in the wake of continuing layoffs at that publisher. As with the case of Comic Relief, there is a lot we don’t know in these cases, but observers are always quick to point out when a business leader’s ego seems to outsize his (or her) commitment to their company—or becomes conflated with it—and they can quickly lose support of readers and customers.
Comics is a business of personalities. Marvel had Jack Kirby and Stan Lee at Marvel, Image had Todd McFarlane. Comics fans interact with artists, writers, and editors more closely than in any other industry I can think of. It is an asset, it makes for strong loyalty and a feeling of personal connection with fans, but it also can be a liability if personality becomes more important than product.
[Jennifer de Guzman is editor-in-chief at the independent comics publisher SLG Publishing. She also writes fiction—mostly in prose, occasionally in comics—and holds an M.F.A. in literature and creative writing from San Jose State University. The opinions expressed are her own and not necessarily those of Publishers Weekly or PW Comics Week.]
