Comics and Comix Co. (C&C) was a

comic book retailer The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four major comic distributors: ** Lunar D ...

based in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, that for a short time also had a publishing division. The company was founded by

Bud Plant Bud Plant was a wholesale comics distributor active in the 1970s and 1980s during the growth of the direct market. He also published a selection of comics and zines during the same period. Starting in 1970 as a mail-order distributor specializing ...

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 ...

, and John Barrett. Comics & Comix operated from 1972 to 2004. At its peak, C&C had nine retail locations, making it the first comic book

chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

in America.

History

In late August 1972, while still an undergraduate at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

,Beerbohm, Robert
"Comics Dealer Extraordinaire Robert Beerbohm: In His Own Words"
Comic-Convention Memories (Jan. 6, 2010). Bud Plant co-founded Comics & Comix with John Barrett (1950–2001) and Plant's housemate Robert Beerbohm.Beerbohm, Bob
"Please Consider Buying Some Comics From Industry Icon Robert Beerbohm"
The Comics Reporter (March 14, 2008). The store's first location was on

Telegraph Avenue Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley cam ...

in Berkeley, California. In 1973 Comics & Comix helped organize the first Bay Area

comics convention A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at co ...

, Berkeleycon 73, in the Pauley Ballroom in the ASUC Building on the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

campus. At that show, C&C acquired over 4,000

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

comic books owned by Tom Reilly. The phenomenal sales of the Reilly collection enabled Comics & Comix to open more retail locations, first in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

(May 1973), on Columbus Avenue (down from the North Beach area on the way to Fisherman's Wharf), and later in San Jose and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, making it the first comic book chain store in America. In 1974, Comics & Comix organized ''Berkeleycon 74'', also held at Berkeley's Pauley Ballroom. A 48-page comic called ''Tales from the Berkeley Con'', co-published by local

underground comics Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

publishers

Rip Off Press Rip Off Press Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like '' The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and ''Rip Off Comix'', as well as many other seminal publications from ...

and

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) * ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode * '' The Last Gasp'', a 2007 album by Impaled * ''The Last Gasp'' (novel) * "Last Gasp" (song) {{dab ...

, was produced to promote the convention. Founding partner Beerbohm left the company in 1975, soon opening his own store, Best of Two Worlds, in San Francisco. As part of his distribution business, Plant supplied Comics & Comix with product while also handling distribution for much of the West Coast. In 1987, Barrett founded the Wonderful World of Comics Convention (later known as

WonderCon WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and WonderCon Los Angele ...

), which was first held at the Oakland Convention Center. In 1988, Plant sold Comics & Comix to the company's comptroller; who ran it successfully until c. 1996. Retailer Ross Rojek acquired the chain of stores in 1996, during the speculation downturn, and by 2004 only two Comics & Comix stores remained open, in Berkeley and Sacramento. In April 2004, Rojek was indicted on eight counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and three counts of money laundering, and was accused of cheating 112 investors out of $2.5 million. At that point, the two remaining Comics & Comics locations closed down; Rojek was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison in November 2004.

Publishing

Comics & Comix operated as a comics publisher from 1974 to 1978. The company ventured into publishing with Jack Katz's

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

/ sword and sorcery hybrid '' The First Kingdom''. The company published 6 issues of that title until 1977, at which point it was continued under various publishing names by Plant until 1986. Comics & Comix also published comics by Jim Pinkoski,

Dan O'Neill Dan O'Neill (born April 21, 1942) is an American underground cartoonist, creator of the syndicated comic strip ''Odd Bodkins'' and founder of the underground comics collective the Air Pirates. Education O'Neill attended the University of Sa ...

, and Alfredo Alcala. From 1980 to 1985, Comics & Comix also published the industry trade journal the ''Telegraph Wire'' (named after the street of their flagship location). Under store employee

Diana Schutz Diana Schutz (born February 1, 1955) is a Canadian-born comic book editor, serving as editor in chief of Comico during its peak years, followed by a 25-year tenure at Dark Horse Comics. Some of the best-known works she has edited are Frank Mill ...

starting circa 1981, the ''Telegraph Wire'' blossomed into a bimonthly, 32-page newsletter which was modeled on ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'', with each issue containing an interview, reviews, news, and ads.Thomas, Michae
"Reining in a Dark Horse: An Interview with Diana Schutz"

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

. December 20, 2001. Accessed March 17, 2008

Titles published

* '' The First Kingdom'' (6 issues, 1974–1977) — by Jack Katz; later issues published solely by Bud Plant * ''Spaced'' (3 issues, 1974–1976) — by Jim Pinkoski * '' Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories'' vol. 2 (2 issues, 1975) — by

; picked up from Company & Sons * ''Magic Carpet'' (2 issues, 1977–1978) — by Alfredo Alcala * ''Telegraph Wire'' (24 issues, 1980–Dec./Jan. 1985) — trade journal Comics & Comix entry
Grand Comics Database. Accessed Oct. 8, 2016.

References

External links

* *{{comicbookdb, type=publisher, id=728, title=Comics & Comix Comics retailers Independent bookstores of the United States Retail companies of the United States Retail companies established in 1972 Defunct comics and manga publishing companies