Hello,
comics enthusiasts! In this episode, Chris (@AceComics) and Reggie
(@reggiereggie) tackle a subject they've been meaning to cover since the
very beginning: the comic book industry's direct market! In part one of
two, they'll cover the dirty beginnings of newsstand distribution, and
how it developed through the 20th Century. They'll talk about some of
the big figures in early comics fandom, and the developing aftermarket
that developed around comic book collection. This will lead them to
discuss Phil Seuling, the first to directly distribute comics from the
publisher to retailers and collectors, and that business would continue
and expand in interesting ways, which are covered in great detail. At
the end, they leave things off just when things are about to get hot—and
comic book distribution will get really, irrevocably weird!
The banner at the top is a picture of Phil Seuling, who invented the direct market, from around 1975.
Here's an example of Howard Rogofsky's mail-order comics ads that ran in Marvel comics from the late 1960s through to the 80s.
Here's a sample of Robert Bell's mail-order comics ad that ran when he was based in New York.
And here's a sample of Robert Bell's better known, "Pseudo-Thor" ad.
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