J.C. Glindmyer’s favorite comic book hero was Spider-Man. He liked the idea that Spider-Man could be any average Joe behind the mask. Anyone could be a superhero simply by doing the right thing and caring about his community.
“If that’s what makes a superhero, then (my dad) certainly was,” said Jordan Glindmyer Yanatos.
Glindmyer’s superpower was making whoever entered Earthworld Comics, the Albany store he owned, feel like family with his infectious laugh, thoughtful and personal comic recommendations, unyielding generosity, the occasional shots of Patron and, as former employee Amanda Furfaro put it, the “best hugs.” The beloved owner died May 8, two days after Free Comic Book Day, from cardiac arrest at age 65 in Voorheesville.
Yanatos remembers her dad as the “quirky, fun parent” who would take her and her brothers to Blockbuster on Fridays and read Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel “The Sandman” as a bedtime story. He encouraged his children to be authentic, regardless of what others thought. Reading the outpouring of love on Earthworld Comic’s social media posts announcing Glindmyer’s death made Yanatos realize he was that kind of caring, supportive father figure for many who worked or shopped at the store.
“It’s been a wild ride hearing all these stories about the versions of my dad that he was to different people,” Yanatos said. “It’s been really touching.”
For 35 years, Glindmyer owned and ran Earthworld on Central Avenue location near Manning Boulevard. He grew up in a military family, Yanatos said, and was never in a place long enough to plant his roots. Earthworld became that place for him, and he used it as a platform to give back to his community through fund raisers, book donations to schools and libraries and events. As Glindmyer wrote in his Facebook bio, it was “not the greatest name in the world, but when I…
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