When I was young, I discovered a magical place — the public library.

One of the many revelations there was that comics were treated in a scholarly manner.  I could get a great big coffee-table book of old newspaper or comic book reprints.  It was heaven.

One of the scholars and enthusiasts responsible for these books was Bill Blackbeard, who passed away March 10.

What a great name — totally suitable for the kind of guy who fearlessly collects and preserves comics.  I was a big fan of Blackbeard.

If you’d like to find out more about this ultimate comic fan, The Comics Journal has a list of articles written about Blackbeard that you can digest.

We all know that comics is an art form, don’t we?  And a valuable piece of history.

WADE

TAGS: Bill Blackbeard, comics, history, The Comics Journal, newspaper, comic books, comic strips, cartoons