ROANOKE, Va. – “She was the type of person who would, if someone walked through the door and not know what they were interested in, and she could find a comic for them.”
This was how Diana Fain described her friend and wife, Terry Baucom, the owner of B&D Comics, who passed away at the age of 69 due to complications with breast cancer.
Baucom’s favorite comic was Batman. She would spend hours talking about The Dark Knight with Fain, who says that while she agreed Wonder Woman would win in a fight, Batman would outsmart her.
These were the types of conversations someone could expect when walking into B&D Comics. Baucom’s deep love of comics was infectious, while her knowledge introduced hundreds of people to different eras spanning from The Golden Age all the way to The Modern Age.
“She was crucial in fostering my love and my knowledge of not just modern stuff, but back to the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s,” John Hager said. “Going back to older books and helping me learn who different characters and different creators are.”
She was more than just a lover of comics. She was an entrepreneur, opening the comic store back in July of 1982.
“Terry opened it up herself about 40 years ago in a time when women owned businesses were a little hard to come by,” Fain said.
Employees and customers were treated like family, who remember her for her fun-loving nature.
“We’d just pick on each other all the time.,” Robert Jones said. “If she knew you and she knew that you liked having fun, she’d crack jokes, pick on you.”
While the store has lost its matriarch, Terry will forever live on as a hero.
“We are going to miss Terry, that is not a question at all,” Hager said. “It’s going to be completely different, her not being here. But I know her spirit and her legacy will live on.”