Broken Frontier

Last week, I drove from Denver to Omaha to give an academic paper on Douglas Rushkoff’s Testament at a meeting of the American Academy of Religion.  My paper was one of a panel of three concerned with theology and popular culture, the other two being concerned with the religious manufacture of meaninglessness (like “Jesus Loves Me” pillowcases), and the usefulness of Sandman to the Christian churches.

It was a good panel, in that all three of us were concerned with a critique of religious fundamentalism.  My paper didn’t contain a basic argument, or even a scholarly agenda.  I went to the meeting assuming that the dedicated scholars of religion assembled there had not read Testament.  I used interviews, and copies of the comic books, to let Rushkoff and his comic speak for themselves.

I’m pleased to say that the scholars assembled to hear the panel were riveted by Testament, and by Rushkoff’s positions on the questions of reading, interpreting, and using the Bible.  The President of the Rocky Mountain-Great Plains region of the academy was present, as was the Executive Director of the national academy.  But more interesting to me was the fact that everyone else who got out of bed at 8:00 am on a Friday morning to hear my paper was a graduate student.  It is crystal clear to me that the future of the study of popular culture lies in the hands of the next generation – although I’m not planning to slow down anytime soon!

As refreshing as the meeting was, the real scholarly experience was waiting for me 40 miles north of Omaha, in pretty Fremont, Nebraska.  I drove to Fremont to meet Robert Beerbohm, the World’s Most Knowledgeable Comics Retailer.  A noted comics historian, Beerbohm has published numerous articles on Victorian (1700s – late 1800s) and Platinum Age (1880s – 1930s) comics, and for the last 10 years has been one of the principal authors of the history articles in The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.  Beerbohm’s name has appeared on the acknowledgements pages of so many scholarly studies and reprint collections that he hasn’t been able to keep track of them all.

With such interests, and such formidable knowledge of the entire history of comics, I rather thought Beerbohm would be old and frosty, perhaps in need of a good dusting.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  From the moment I arrived at his home, I was swept up by a dizzying combination of hospitality and kinetic energy.

Beerbohm had just returned from the grocery store when I arrived, and with grocery bags covering every available kitchen surface, he immediately offered me food and a bathroom – usually the first things on a road tripper’s mind!  Then he began dashing from kitchen to living room, back and forth, showing me books and other treasures while putting strawberries and juice into the fridge… 

A French Polly and Her Pals collection!  Groensteen’s System of Comics!  Victorian Age illustrated almanacs!  A picture of his gorgeous daughter Katy!  Ornamental weapons from Ethiopia!  The history of Aramco!  (The history of Aramco?  Beerbohm’s father worked for Aramco, and Beerbohm had lived all over the world by the time he was 12 years old.) 

I think I had a pretty good picture of this vigorous man within about 20 minutes.  But then we had his warehouse to visit.  I had an image of a large, open-plan building with exposed metal beams and rows of fluorescent lights, but Beerbohm’s warehouse is literally a house in which he keeps his wares.  He gave me a tour of his workroom, a large sunny room where he plays West Wing DVDs while performing surgery on damaged vintage comics. 

We went to his Platinum Age room, and looked at boxes and boxes of Big Little Books, pamphlets from the 1930s, files of prints, and a warm thank-you note from Chris Ware (who has lovely handwriting).  We went to the basement, where rare comics of every conceivable genre are neatly organized in labeled boxes.  I learned that Betty and Veronica have not always been such total saps when it comes to Archie, and laughed over all kinds of horror comics.

And then, over mugs of cranberry-apple juice, we relaxed in his big sunny workroom while Beerbohm told me stories.  He knows everybody, has unique insight into the history of comics retailing in the United States, and seems to actually know everything that has ever been published, and how it all connects.

Feet up on his table, chain-smoking, charming, funny, and blunt, Robert Beerbohm reminisced, one story bleeding into another, most unfinished as each remembered event suggested multiple tangents, which we followed wherever the mood took us.  I saw a copy of the ad that 13-year old Beerbohm placed, launching his retail career.  I heard the stories of his California retail business, and how it grew.  I learned how he dissuaded shoplifters (free comics outside the shop), how he survived riots (crowds of customers surrounding the store, a human shield against rioters), and how the death of Rick Griffin was a valuable object lesson in the dangers of dying intestate. 

I heard the famous story of the ultimate comics car crash straight from the horse’s mouth (and recounted in Comics: Between the Panels).  I nearly wept over Beerbohm’s memories of the terrible loss of his inventory – and his way of life – in the California floods of 1986.  I confronted the ups and downs of my own life as Beerbohm described how he moved back to Nebraska, regrouped, and then moved his retail business to the internet and the Cons.  I think I fell for him mostly because he told me all of this with a wry smile and laughter that spilled right out of his eyes – a remarkable approach to life, learned perhaps from the comics he so obviously loves.

Bustling, active, lively Robert Beerbohm exceeds the gold standard for productivity in research and writing.  He is a living – and very lively¬ – resource for young scholars, like those grad students who got out of bed in Omaha to hear my paper.  Beerbohm’s dream is to teach graduate students about the history of comics.  Pending a proper University appointment, students are urged to seek him out.

Find out more about Robert Beerbohm on the web at www.BLBcomics.com.