Continuing this morning’s elegiac tone, here’s a lovely remembrance of retailer Nick Post by the CBLDF’s Charles Brownstein. Postiglione, to give his full name, passed away last week, and my social media has similarly been filled with mourning someone who was by all accounts a genuinely good man:
But Nick was a lot more than a canny businessman. He was deeply invested in a commitment to community – both in his local area and beyond.
With FallCon and SpringCon, Nick helped facilitate a home for local and national creators to join together in an atmosphere that shunned big box convention values in favor of a neighborly presentation. On the Remembering Nick Facebook page, many creators comment on how Nick was the first to show belief in their ability by inviting them to exhibit at the shows. Each year the MCBA would make a significant contribution to the CBLDF as a result of their activities – always humbly arriving with a note from Nick.
There’s much more — please spare a click and read this memory of a person who made a difference in the world. In Post’s early passing I was reminded of two other retailers who died early, the Golden Apple’s Bill Liebowitz, who passed away in 2004, and helped create the entire idea of the comics shops as pop culture store; and Rory Root, who passed away in 2008 after making Comic Relief one of the most pioneering stores in the US and acting as a mentor to countless creators.
Root, Liebowitz and Post were all one of a kind and irreplaceable. (Indeed, Comic Relief sadly closed after Root’s death after a series of mismanagements.) I know comics retailers come in for some ribbing here and elsewhere, but they are the backbone of the comics industry, and these three men are the kind of people who brought a passion to their work. As Charles wrote, they didn’t just run a store, they ran a community and contributed to comics in endless ways. It wasn’t easy for any of them, but they didn’t know any other way to do it.
It is sad when we lose a “key person.” But just to get things going on an upbeat note (I promise) they should also be taken as role models, and proof that a single person can make a difference. I’ve never seen an industry as intimate and connected as comics—people are always pitching in and helping out. Even people who don’t like each other band together when its called for. So many of you reading this have made a difference yourself. And will keep on trying!
So my message for today? Keep up the good work!!!
SpringCon and FallCon were around before Nick, but he really kicked everything into high gear. He helped it grow so that the charity work we did had more zeros after it, he brought new ideas and a true sense of community to the conventions. There is a STRONG commitment from those of us who have been involved in the past to keep it going to not just keep doing good work but because Nick showed us how to make it Bigger and Better…not to make more money, but to help more people.
Nick’s involvement with the convention started as a retailer/exhibitor went to the people running things, saying, “You can do this stuff better” and was told, “Well, then help us do that!!”
A classic example of someone stepping in when they want to help, and helping. EVERYONE in our community can do that. It make take time and money, but the rewards…they truly are endless.
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