Rory Root died Monday. He was the owner of Comic Relief in Berkeley, one of the most revered comic shops in the country. I talked to him on comic book professional message boards, via email a few times, on the phone once or twice, and at the annual meetings of ComicsPRO.  I didn’t know Rory all that well, but over the hours since I learned of his death, I’ve remembered several times that he helped me out with advice in the first couple of years that I owned the shop.

Our last communication was in the comments of this post at the blog at Newsarama, in which we were two of the four retailers interviewed about getting indy comics into comic shops. It was a tiny but positive comment (”Good add Andrew.”), and I’m glad for it now.

Rory and me. Photo by Anna Warren.

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
412 W Franklin St
(Soon to be 316 W Franklin St)
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Those of you who have been dying to read my opinions on getting indy comics into comic shops are in luck!

Comic creator Elizabeth Genco interviewed me (along with three of my friends and colleagues, Alex Cox from Rocketship in Brooklyn, Ben Trujillo from Star Clipper in St. Louis, and Rory Root from Comic Relief in Berkeley) about just that. The interview is up on the blog at Newsarama.com.

There’s a lot of good information in there for folks who are interested in getting their work into comics shops; if you’re putting together a comic, check it out!

Here it is:
How to get your indie book into comic shops

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
412 W Franklin St
(Soon to be 316 W Franklin St)
Chapel Hill, NC 27516