In last week's column, I explained how the back issue comics market was
the overriding economic element of the late-1970's Direct Market. During
that time, thanks in great part to the steady annual value increases
reflected in Bob Overstreet's comics price guide, there was a growing
faith that comics were becoming a "genuine" collectible. This improved
perception of the potential future value of back issue comics is much of
what made it possible for comics specialty stores to survive in what was
otherwise a very harsh economic environment.
While it is ancient history for many people, I need to stress for
clarity that the period of the late-1970's nearly saw the demise of
comics publishing. The precipitous drops in newsstand sales that I
mentioned earlier in this series more than offset the ability of Seagate
Distributing to grow comics sales by shipping comics directly to comics
shops. While the Direct Market comics shops did manage to transfer a
great number of fans to themselves that otherwise had been purchasing
through newsstand outlets, the harsh reality was that newsstand sales
were dropping far faster than the Direct Market was growing.
In point of fact, the late-1970's was a period when DC Comics, without
warning, suddenly slashed over 30% of their entire line in a single day
(the infamous DC Implosion...). Clearly, the corporate bosses at Warner
were not happy with the sales declines. Marvel was in equally dire
straits. In 1980, Marvel President Jim Galton confided in me that when
he was assigned two years before by Cadence Industries (the conglomerate
that owned Marvel in those days) President Sheldon Feinberg to run
Marvel, he was given only a year to straighten out the "mess." Before
Galton was hired Marvel had lost a huge sum on an ill-fated television
advertising campaign for PIZZAZZ magazine, which not only resulted in a
change in senior management, but also a marked predisposition on the
part of Mr. Feinberg to simply shut the whole thing down. Blessedly, not
only was Mr. Galton a visionary (if sometimes cranky...) leader, but he
also had the good fortune to have Jim Shooter take the editor-in-chief
position soon after he took the helm. As I'll explain soon enough, these
two talented men ultimately made the decisions that set the stage for
the second "Golden Age" of comics.
While I'm on the subject of late-1970's comics history, I don't want to
forget to give a big bucket of credit for the survival of comics to
George Lucas. When STAR WARS was released in May of 1977, there was an
incredible shortage of merchandising. In fact, the special magazines put
out by Starlog Group, and the comics series produced by Marvel, were
about the only licensed products that were released at the same time as
the film. In the frenzy of consumer demand that followed, the large mass
retailers were so desperate to sell clamoring fans something that they
started offering people the chance to prepay for a package of STAR WARS
ephemera that was not even going to ship until February of 1978! It was
in this desperate environment that comics retailers were able to score
in a big way. Not only did we have comics and magazines, but we also had
black and white stills from the movie, actual movie posters (including
huge six-sheet subway posters), lobby cards, posters, buttons, and
bumper stickers. It is a little know fact that while finding the Edgar
Church collection of mint Golden Age comics helped increase sales at
Mile High Comics during 1977, sales of STAR WARS merchandise actually
helped us generate far more income. Of even more importance was the fact
that STAR WARS #1 sold over a million copies during its various
printings, proving to all the comics publishers that there was still
some life out there, if you could just find the right subject material.
In my opinion, that was one substantial reason reason why Marvel and DC
didn't just shut down during that dreadful year.
Returning to the topic of Seagate, by 1979, I was buying all my comics
through Seagate as a subdistributor. The 50% discount I had fought so
hard to get was no longer an issue, but the problem of constantly having
to prepay Seagate owner Phil Seuling for all my comics was really
beginning to rankle. No matter how hard I tried to manage our cash flow,
it was always necessary to cut back on the Seagate order, especially
during the slow months of September-November, and February-April. This
was particularly galling because it meant we couldn't advance order for
higher Christmas sales, or for tourist sales that always came during the
summer. Since comics shipped 60 days after we ordered them, when we had
good cash flow, we were always ordering for the dead seasons. This was
completely nonsensical. When I complained to Phil about this problem, he
told me it was the publisher's fault. This led me to start a letter
writing campaign to Marvel in May of 1980. The goal of this campaign
was to try and get some specific concessions from Marvel, including
30-day billing on our comics shipments. Little did I know, but this
seemingly innocent letter writing campaign started a revolution that
entirely changed the world of comics.
To be continued...
Mile High Comics, Inc.
Attn: Chuck Rozanski
2151 W. 56th Ave.
Denver, CO 80221
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