Robert Beerbohm
Robert Lee Beerbohm (born June 17, 1952) is an American comic book historian and retailer who has been intimately involved with the rise of comics fandom since 1966. Beginning as a teenager in the late 60s, he became a fixture in the growing comic convention scene, while in the 1970s and 1980s he was heavily involved in Bay Area comic book retailing and distribution. Beerbohm has been a consultant and author detailing the early history of comics in the United States, including rediscovering the first comic book in America, Rodolphe Töpffer's "The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck . He has supplied data and visual aids as listed in the acknowledgements of over 200 books on comics and counting. Early life. Beerbohm attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 1970 – 1972. Career. Robert Beerbohm Comic Art. In October 1966, while still in junior high school, Beerbohm took out his first ad in Rocket's Blast Comicollector" (a.k.a. "RBCC") #47, launching what has eventually become known as Robert Beerbohm Comic Art. The company sells vintage American popular culture artifacts (mostly comic books) via the internet. Beerbohm set up a booth at his first comics convention June 16–18, 1967, at the  first Houstoncon. Traveling 28 hours on a Greyhound bus, Beerbohm turned 15 the first day of that seminal show. Comics and Comix. In late August 1972, with housemate Bud Plant and John Barrett, Beerbohm co-opened Comics & Comix on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California. In April 1973 Comics & Comix hosted the first Bay Area comics convention, Berkeleycon 73, in the Pauley Ballroom in the ASUC Building on the University of California, Berkeley campus. Berkeleycon was the first comic-con that highlighted underground comix. Beerbohm, John Barrett and Bud Plant as Comics & Comix published the first three issues of Jack Katz ' "The First Kingdom" beginning in 1974. They also published comics by Jim Pinkoski and Dan O'Neill during Beerbohm's involvement. Best Comics and the Rick Griffin art gallery. In June 1991, Beerbohm, with partner Edward Walker, opened Best Comics and Rock Art Gallery, an art gallery centered on seminal rock poster illustrator Rick Griffin in Fisherman's Wharf at The Cannery. The store's grand opening party June 1, 1991, featured bands like Big Brother and The Holding Company, New Riders of the Purple Sage, members of Quicksilver Messenger Service, It's a Beautiful Day, the Irish band Phoenix, and  others. Tragically, two and a half months later, Griffin was killed in a motorcycle accident; Beerbohm and Walker were forced to close the gallery in 1992. Historian. As a comics historian, Beerbohm rediscovered the first comic book in America, Rodolphe Töpffer's "The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck", published on September 14, 1842 in New York City, as "Brother Jonathan Extra" No. IX, which is in the same format as a "modern" day comic book, sans staples, which had not yet been invented. Personal life. Beerbohm, retailing partner Bud Plant, Terry Stroud, and Dick Swan were involved in a van  accident in June 1973 coming out of the Houstoncon.