Pacific Comics
Encyclopedia
Pacific Comics was an independent comic book
publisher that flourished from 1981-1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began out of a San Diego, California
, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill
and Steve Schanes. Along with competitors like First Comics
and Eclipse Comics
, PC took early advantage of the growing direct market
, attracting a number of writers and artists from DC
and Marvel
to produce creator-owned
titles, which were not subject to the Comics Code, and thus were free to feature more mature content.
The move from newsstand distribution to the "direct market
" (non-returnable, heavily-discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) happened in the 1970s, in large part due to the work of Phil Seuling
and his East Coast Seagate Distribution company (founded in 1974), as well as a number of individuals, including the Schanes brothers and Bud Plant. The direct-market went hand-in-hand with the creation of specialist comics shops to cater to the collectors who could then buy back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared. By the late 1970s, thanks partly to the success of films such as Star Wars
and Superman: The Movie, comics were selling well, and Pacific expanded its distribution system nationwide, "raising $200,000 by closing its four San Diego retail locations and selling off inventory," rising rapidly to the top of the new distribution system.
In the six years between 1974 and 1980, "comic or fantasy-related specialty shops" rose from numbering 200-300 to around 1500, while Pacific was "operating out of a 2200 square feet (204.4 m²) office-warehouse in Kearny Mesa
," with "500 wholesale accounts." According to elder brother Steve, the company "grossed just under a million dollars that year," soon doubling its floorspace.
portfolio of six signed, colored plates meant to accompany a Doug Moench
and Buscema three-issue Weirdworld
epic-fantasy tale which ran in Marvel Comics Super Special
#11-13 (June-Oct. 1979).
In 1981, "rival distributor Capital City
launched a black-and-white title, Nexus
, a futuristic superhero series by Mike Baron
and Steve Rude
," and distributed it through their own system. The Schanes brothers took note, and decided to follow suit, even though they "were still paying off debt from a $300,000 bank loan taken out in 1979 at 25 percent interest." Steve — who, with a degree in sculpture had a background in art — handled negotiations with creators, while Bill "took on the nuts-and-bolts aspects of business and accounting." Deciding that they ought to make a splash, the brothers turned to a comics creator who they had befriended over the years, Jack Kirby
.
The Schaneses asked Kirby, who had effectively quit comics in 1977, for only the publishing rights, assuring him that he could keep full ownership and copyrights, and suggesting that they would "even help him license characters for use overseas or in television, film, or other media." Thus, Pacific claims to have became the first company to pay royalty payments to Kirby — who co-created many of the characters in the Marvel Universe with Stan Lee
in the 1960s, as well as numerous characters before and after, including Captain America
and DC
's Challengers of the Unknown
). Kirby provided Pacific with Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers
, which was finished by "Pacific staffers and freelancers inking and coloring the artwork," and published bimonthly from August 1981
, selling well and helping Pacific to ever higher profits.
Kirby then let Pacific publish his Silver Star
, and the brothers "... began to envision a line of comics, ... [not the] black-and-white low-print-run underground comics like those being self-published by Robert Crumb
and other West Coast contemporaries in San Francisco and L.A., but full-color titles that emulated — maybe even competed with — the mainstream superhero comics from Marvel and DC."
Before long, Pacific had attracted interest from other comics professionals, including Mike Grell
(who recalls that he was actually the first to sign with Pacific by a couple of weeks, but that Kirby's work was published first because he "delivered his first.") who had planned his Starslayer
to appear from DC, but after it dropped from the schedule, the Schaneses approached him about publishing it.
, who purchased comics from Pacific's shops and had met the brothers at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1981. When Mike Grell's "second issue [of Starslayer] was 'shy' a few pages . . . they had to fill those pages with something," so Stevens was asked for "two installments of six pages," and ultimately came up with The Rocketeer
.
) under longtime editor Archie Goodwin
, and both DC and Marvel began to flood the market with ever-more glossy comics.
Pacific continued to distribute and publish comics, running both operations from a San Diego warehouse to which they'd moved in July 1982. They also purchased ". . . a firehouse in Steeleville, Illinois
. . . near World Color Press
in Sparta, Illinois
, where the majority of U.S. comic books were printed. Pacific converted the firehouse into a distribution hub. It was also operating warehouses in L.A. and Phoenix at the time."
Printing "about 500,000 comic books" every month, the Schanses "employed around forty people at their San Diego operation alone," and were grossing over $3.5 million per annum, and fully expecting to make $5 million in 1983.
The brothers hired their father, Steven E. Schanes, as financial vice president and their mother (Christine Marra) as office manager. Elder brother Paul "Pablo" worked in the financial records department, ". . . and sister Chris, an L.A.-based attorney, provided counsel on legal affairs."
, co-creator of Spider-Man
and Doctor Strange
."
Ditko's Pacific offering The Missing Man was previewed in Captain Victory #6, and then featured in issues of Pacific Presents. His work was scripted by Mark Evanier
. Meanwhile, Pacific was not limiting itself to publishing comics. It also "published a magazine-sized black-and-white reprint of Rog 2000
stories that superstar Marvel artist John Byrne had done in the '70s for long-gone Charlton Comics
," as well as a number of titles under its parent company Blue Dolphin Enterprises. It also welcomed Bruce Jones
to the company, and Sergio Aragonés
and Mark Evanier
's Groo the Wanderer
.
to comics, a fleeting trend in the 1950s that had then been stymied by poor printing separations. Ray Zone
was hired to do the production, after he had successfully converted a Kirby image for Honeycomb cereal
. Steve Schanes decided the 3-D book would be Alien Worlds 3-D
, featuring the first published work of Art Adams
, alongside John Bolton, Bill Wray
and others. Sales on the expensively-produced comic, however, were poor, and sales all round were following suit. One-shots (by Jim Starlin
and Arthur Suydam
among others) became more common, and tolerable sales on Elric of Melniboné (by Roy Thomas
, P. Craig Russell
and Michael T. Gilbert
), stumbled when First Comics
acquired the rights, putting Pacific in the awkward position of continuing as distributor on a comic from a rival publisher that they had helped promote.
, and a domino effect began to occur as "the loss of a high-profile title to a rival publisher engendered bad industry PR," leading other creators to "wonder what the problems were and whether they should also be talking to alternate indies."
More importantly, the distribution arm of Pacific was suffering serious problems, due in part to overly-generous credit extensions to retailers, which was not paid back as quickly as it ought. Thus, Steve Schanes explained, although:
Pacific's publication arm was also attracting competitors, and Pacific found itself distributing competitors' (including Kitchen Sink Press
, Last Gasp
and Rip Off Press
) titles. With this in mind, other publishers (including Capital City (whose Nexus comic outsold several Pacific titles), Comico
, Aardvark-Vanaheim
, Educomics, Quality
, Eagle
, Eclipse
, First
, Vortex
, New Media
, Fantagraphics, Mirage) "feared that having Pacific, a rival publisher, as their distributor could result in their being cut off from comic shops." This likely played a factor in the multiple alternate distributors who came into being to compete with Pacific, and by Pacific's clients, until "[n]early a quarter of Pacific's 800 or so comic-shop accounts defected to alternate distributors in 1984, skipping out on paying Pacific for upwards of three months' worth of comic books."
To make matters worse, some of these rival distributors were purchasing stock from Pacific in order to push Pacific out of the market.
At the same time, Pacific and parent company Blue Dolphin Enterprises found themselves the target of lawsuits, including some dealing with foreign rights and royalties for Pacific-published creator-owned titles. In August 1984, with the company
$740,000 in debt, the Schaneses informed their staff that they would all be out of work by September.
: Bruce Jones' Twisted Tales
, Alien Worlds, and Somerset Holmes; Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Special and a one-shot of Mark Evanier
/Sergio Aragones
' Groo the Wanderer
.
As Pacific went into liquidation in September 1984, Phil Seuling's distribution company Seagate — "the distributorship that had pretty much launched the direct market" — also closed down. Pacific's distribution centers and warehouses were purchased by Bud Plant, Inc., and Capital City Distribution
, who also opened "an expanded facility in Seagate's old space in Sparta, alongside the comic-book printing plant."
Steve Schanes and his wife, Ann Fera, subsequently founded Blackthorne Publishing
, and Bill Schanes now works for Diamond Comic Distributors
.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
publisher that flourished from 1981-1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began out of a San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill
Bill Schanes
William D. Schanes is an executive in the comic book industry.Bill and his brother Steve Schanes co-founded Pacific Comics in 1971. Pacific Comics was an early pioneer in the direct market method of selling comic books, as well as a publisher in its own right which actively promoted creator-owned...
and Steve Schanes. Along with competitors like First Comics
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
and Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
, PC took early advantage of the growing direct market
Direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise...
, attracting a number of writers and artists from DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
and Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
to produce creator-owned
Creator ownership
Creator ownership is an arrangement in which the creator or creators of a work of fiction retain full ownership of the material, regardless of whether it is self-published or by a corporate publisher. In some fields of publishing, such as fiction writing, creator ownership is a standard arrangement...
titles, which were not subject to the Comics Code, and thus were free to feature more mature content.
Origins
In 1971, the Schanes brothers co-founded Pacific Comics, which started out:The move from newsstand distribution to the "direct market
Direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise...
" (non-returnable, heavily-discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) happened in the 1970s, in large part due to the work of Phil Seuling
Phil Seuling
Philip Nicholas Seuling was a comic book fan convention organizer and comics distributor primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual New York Comic Art Convention, originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s...
and his East Coast Seagate Distribution company (founded in 1974), as well as a number of individuals, including the Schanes brothers and Bud Plant. The direct-market went hand-in-hand with the creation of specialist comics shops to cater to the collectors who could then buy back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared. By the late 1970s, thanks partly to the success of films such as Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
and Superman: The Movie, comics were selling well, and Pacific expanded its distribution system nationwide, "raising $200,000 by closing its four San Diego retail locations and selling off inventory," rising rapidly to the top of the new distribution system.
In the six years between 1974 and 1980, "comic or fantasy-related specialty shops" rose from numbering 200-300 to around 1500, while Pacific was "operating out of a 2200 square feet (204.4 m²) office-warehouse in Kearny Mesa
Kearny Mesa
-External links:***...
," with "500 wholesale accounts." According to elder brother Steve, the company "grossed just under a million dollars that year," soon doubling its floorspace.
Publishing
In 1979, Pacific dipped its feet into publishing when they released Warriors of Shadow Realm, a John BuscemaJohn Buscema
John Buscema, born Giovanni Natale Buscema , was an American comic-book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate...
portfolio of six signed, colored plates meant to accompany a Doug Moench
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench , better known as Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok.-Biography:...
and Buscema three-issue Weirdworld
Weirdworld
"Weirdworld" was a fantasy series created by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog for Marvel Comics, set in a dimension of magic.-Publication history:...
epic-fantasy tale which ran in Marvel Comics Super Special
Marvel Comics Super Special
Marvel Comics Super Special was a 41-issue series of one-shot comic-magazines published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. They were cover-priced $1.50 to $2.50, while regular color comics were priced 30 cents to 60 cents, Beginning with issue #5, the series' title in the its postal indicia was...
#11-13 (June-Oct. 1979).
In 1981, "rival distributor Capital City
Capital City Distribution
Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin-based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comics Distributors...
launched a black-and-white title, Nexus
Nexus (comics)
Nexus is an American comic book series created by writer Mike Baron and penciler Steve Rude in 1981. The series is a combination of the superhero and science fiction genres, set 500 years in the future.-Publication history:...
, a futuristic superhero series by Mike Baron
Mike Baron
Mike Baron is the creator of comic books Badger and Nexus. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.-Biography:Mike Baron broke into comics with an illustrated text piece in the 1974 debut issue of Marvel Comics's Comix Book...
and Steve Rude
Steve Rude
-Career:In 1981, Rude became widely known in the comics world when he and writer Mike Baron created Nexus, an independent science fiction comic book with a large supporting cast. For the series, Rude designed a dozen or so distinctive alien races, including the Thunes, the Amphibs, the Quattros,...
," and distributed it through their own system. The Schanes brothers took note, and decided to follow suit, even though they "were still paying off debt from a $300,000 bank loan taken out in 1979 at 25 percent interest." Steve — who, with a degree in sculpture had a background in art — handled negotiations with creators, while Bill "took on the nuts-and-bolts aspects of business and accounting." Deciding that they ought to make a splash, the brothers turned to a comics creator who they had befriended over the years, Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
.
Jack Kirby
Steve Schanes recalls:The Schaneses asked Kirby, who had effectively quit comics in 1977, for only the publishing rights, assuring him that he could keep full ownership and copyrights, and suggesting that they would "even help him license characters for use overseas or in television, film, or other media." Thus, Pacific claims to have became the first company to pay royalty payments to Kirby — who co-created many of the characters in the Marvel Universe with Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
in the 1960s, as well as numerous characters before and after, including Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
and DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
's Challengers of the Unknown
Challengers of the Unknown
The Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, or co-created with Dave Wood , this quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and apparent paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces.Scripts for the first...
). Kirby provided Pacific with Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers
Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers
Captain Victory was a comic book created, written and drawn by Jack Kirby. It was first published by Pacific Comics in 1981.-Publication history:One of Pacific Comics first titles, it lasted thirteen issues, plus a special, through January, 1984....
, which was finished by "Pacific staffers and freelancers inking and coloring the artwork," and published bimonthly from August 1981
1981 in comics
-January:* Capital Comics makes its entree into publishing with the release of Nexus #1.*Frank Miller takes over full writing duties on Daredevil with issue #168, and creates Elektra....
, selling well and helping Pacific to ever higher profits.
Kirby then let Pacific publish his Silver Star
Silver Star (comics)
Silver Star is a comic book created, written, and drawn by Jack Kirby, originally published by Pacific Comics in 1983.-Publication History:The concept for Silver Star began in the mid-1970s as a movie screenplay by Jack Kirby and Steve Sherman...
, and the brothers "... began to envision a line of comics, ... [not the] black-and-white low-print-run underground comics like those being self-published by Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
and other West Coast contemporaries in San Francisco and L.A., but full-color titles that emulated — maybe even competed with — the mainstream superhero comics from Marvel and DC."
Before long, Pacific had attracted interest from other comics professionals, including Mike Grell
Mike Grell
Mike Grell is a comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Jon Sable Freelance.-Early life:...
(who recalls that he was actually the first to sign with Pacific by a couple of weeks, but that Kirby's work was published first because he "delivered his first.") who had planned his Starslayer
Starslayer
Starslayer: The Log of the Jolly Roger was an American comic book series created by Mike Grell.-Publication history:Grell originally created Starslayer for DC Comics, but plans to publish it were halted after the mass cancellation of titles known as the DC Implosion. Instead, he offered it to...
to appear from DC, but after it dropped from the schedule, the Schaneses approached him about publishing it.
Dave Stevens and The Rocketeer
Another invitee was then-aspiring artist Dave StevensDave Stevens
Dave Stevens was an American illustrator and comics artist. He is most famous for creating The Rocketeer comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, especially of model Bettie Page...
, who purchased comics from Pacific's shops and had met the brothers at the San Diego Comic-Con in 1981. When Mike Grell's "second issue [of Starslayer] was 'shy' a few pages . . . they had to fill those pages with something," so Stevens was asked for "two installments of six pages," and ultimately came up with The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer
The Rocketeer is a superhero created by writer/illustrator Dave Stevens. The character first appeared in 1982 and is a homage to the Saturday matinee heroes of the 1930s and 1940s....
.
Experimentation and expansion
In 1983 Pacific upgraded to paper with higher quality ink, ultimately producing comics which "ended up looking far superior to what Marvel and DC were putting out." With the various advances in direct market comics, Marvel set up their own creator-owned line (Epic ComicsEpic Comics
Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...
) under longtime editor Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...
, and both DC and Marvel began to flood the market with ever-more glossy comics.
Pacific continued to distribute and publish comics, running both operations from a San Diego warehouse to which they'd moved in July 1982. They also purchased ". . . a firehouse in Steeleville, Illinois
Steeleville, Illinois
Steeleville is a village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,077 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which, of it is land and 0.76% is water...
. . . near World Color Press
World Color Press
World Color Press Inc. was a company which provided high-value and comprehensive print, digital, and related services to businesses worldwide...
in Sparta, Illinois
Sparta, Illinois
Sparta is a city in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,486 at the 2000 census.The city was the principal filming location for the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night.-Geography:Sparta is located at ....
, where the majority of U.S. comic books were printed. Pacific converted the firehouse into a distribution hub. It was also operating warehouses in L.A. and Phoenix at the time."
Printing "about 500,000 comic books" every month, the Schanses "employed around forty people at their San Diego operation alone," and were grossing over $3.5 million per annum, and fully expecting to make $5 million in 1983.
The brothers hired their father, Steven E. Schanes, as financial vice president and their mother (Christine Marra) as office manager. Elder brother Paul "Pablo" worked in the financial records department, ". . . and sister Chris, an L.A.-based attorney, provided counsel on legal affairs."
Later output
Pacific's published output contained editorials by David Scroggy, who had started as a comics retailer in 1975, and risen to general manager of Pacific's four San Diego shops by the late 1970s, proving himself as "a great go-between in working with often temperamental and almost always ego-fragile creators," and "helping to bring to Pacific one of comicdom's most reclusive artists, Steve DitkoSteve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
, co-creator of Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
and Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....
."
Ditko's Pacific offering The Missing Man was previewed in Captain Victory #6, and then featured in issues of Pacific Presents. His work was scripted by Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
. Meanwhile, Pacific was not limiting itself to publishing comics. It also "published a magazine-sized black-and-white reprint of Rog 2000
Rog-2000
Rog-2000 is a fictional robot that was the first professional creation of comic book artist-writer John Byrne. Rog-2000 serves as the mascot of Byrne Robotics.-Publication history:...
stories that superstar Marvel artist John Byrne had done in the '70s for long-gone Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
," as well as a number of titles under its parent company Blue Dolphin Enterprises. It also welcomed Bruce Jones
Bruce Jones
Ian Roy Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as cab driver Les Battersby-Brown in Coronation Street. He left the role in 2007. His real name is Ian Roy Jones, but he took the name of his father for professional purposes.-Early life:Jones was born to Bruce and Irene Jones in...
to the company, and Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
and Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
's Groo the Wanderer
Groo the Wanderer
Groo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book series written and drawn by Sergio Aragonés, rewritten, coplotted and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai, and colored by Tom Luth...
.
3-D, Elric, and falling sales
By 1984, Steve Schanes decided to bring back 3-DStereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
to comics, a fleeting trend in the 1950s that had then been stymied by poor printing separations. Ray Zone
Ray Zone
Ray Zone is an American film historian, author, artist, and pioneer in methods of converting flat images into stereoscopic images....
was hired to do the production, after he had successfully converted a Kirby image for Honeycomb cereal
Honeycomb (cereal)
Honeycomb is a breakfast cereal that has been made since 1965 by Post Cereals. It consists of honey-flavored corn cereal bits in a honeycomb shape. It is wheat free.-Versions:...
. Steve Schanes decided the 3-D book would be Alien Worlds 3-D
Alien Worlds
Alien Worlds was a science fiction anthology comic book published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. The title was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.-Publication history:...
, featuring the first published work of Art Adams
Art Adams
Arthur "Art" Adams is an American comic book artist and writer. He first broke into the American comic book industry with the 1985 Marvel Comics miniseries Longshot...
, alongside John Bolton, Bill Wray
Bill Wray
William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...
and others. Sales on the expensively-produced comic, however, were poor, and sales all round were following suit. One-shots (by Jim Starlin
Jim Starlin
James P. "Jim" Starlin is an American comic book writer and artist. With a career dating back to the early 1970s, he is best known for "cosmic" tales and space opera; for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters...
and Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam is an American comic book artist and musician. He has done artwork for magazines including Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon, while his comic book work includes Batman, Conan, Tarzan, Predator, Aliens, Death Dealer, and Marvel Zombies.-Illustration:Suydam has...
among others) became more common, and tolerable sales on Elric of Melniboné (by Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
, P. Craig Russell
P. Craig Russell
Philip Craig Russell , also known as P. Craig Russell, is an American comic book writer, artist, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards...
and Michael T. Gilbert
Michael T. Gilbert
Michael Terry Gilbert is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked for both mainstream and underground comic book companies.-Biography:Michael T. Gilbert was born on May 7, 1951 and attended the State University of New York...
), stumbled when First Comics
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
acquired the rights, putting Pacific in the awkward position of continuing as distributor on a comic from a rival publisher that they had helped promote.
Competition and collapse
After organizational difficulties pushed back the release of Starslayer by several months, Mike Grell decided to take his creator-owned property to First ComicsFirst Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
, and a domino effect began to occur as "the loss of a high-profile title to a rival publisher engendered bad industry PR," leading other creators to "wonder what the problems were and whether they should also be talking to alternate indies."
More importantly, the distribution arm of Pacific was suffering serious problems, due in part to overly-generous credit extensions to retailers, which was not paid back as quickly as it ought. Thus, Steve Schanes explained, although:
Pacific's publication arm was also attracting competitors, and Pacific found itself distributing competitors' (including Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, Last Gasp
Last Gasp
Last Gasp is a book and underground comix publisher and distributor based in San Francisco, California.- History :Founded in 1970 by Ron Turner to publish the ecologically-themed comics magazine Slow Death Funnies, followed by the all-female anthology It Ain't Me Babe, Last Gasp soon became a major...
and Rip Off Press
Rip Off Press
Rip Off Press, Inc. is a seminal publishing company that specializes in adult-themed literature and graphic novels, mostly in a specific comic book format known as underground comix.-Overview:...
) titles. With this in mind, other publishers (including Capital City (whose Nexus comic outsold several Pacific titles), Comico
Comico Comics
Comico: The Comic Company was an American comic book publisher, headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations, the Jonny Quest continuation written by co-creator Doug Wildey, and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel...
, Aardvark-Vanaheim
Aardvark-Vanaheim
Aardvark-Vanaheim is a Canadian independent comic book publisher founded in 1977 by Dave Sim and Deni Loubert. It is best known for publishing Sim's Cerebus....
, Educomics, Quality
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
, Eagle
Eagle Comics
Eagle Comics was a short lived comic book publishing company that existed to reprint comic stories from the UK's 2000 A.D. magazine for distribution in North America...
, Eclipse
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
, First
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
, Vortex
Vortex Comics
Vortex Comics was a Canadian independent comic book publisher that operated during the years 1982 to 1994. Under the supervision of president, publisher, and editor Bill Marks, Vortex was known for such titles as Dean Motter's Mister X, Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss, and Chester Brown's Yummy Fur...
, New Media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
, Fantagraphics, Mirage) "feared that having Pacific, a rival publisher, as their distributor could result in their being cut off from comic shops." This likely played a factor in the multiple alternate distributors who came into being to compete with Pacific, and by Pacific's clients, until "[n]early a quarter of Pacific's 800 or so comic-shop accounts defected to alternate distributors in 1984, skipping out on paying Pacific for upwards of three months' worth of comic books."
To make matters worse, some of these rival distributors were purchasing stock from Pacific in order to push Pacific out of the market.
At the same time, Pacific and parent company Blue Dolphin Enterprises found themselves the target of lawsuits, including some dealing with foreign rights and royalties for Pacific-published creator-owned titles. In August 1984, with the company
$740,000 in debt, the Schaneses informed their staff that they would all be out of work by September.
Liquidation
After the 1984 collapse of Pacific, many of its creator-owned publications moved to Eclipse ComicsEclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
: Bruce Jones' Twisted Tales
Twisted Tales
Twisted Tales was a horror comics anthology published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. The title was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.-Publication history:...
, Alien Worlds, and Somerset Holmes; Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Special and a one-shot of Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
/Sergio Aragones
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
' Groo the Wanderer
Groo the Wanderer
Groo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book series written and drawn by Sergio Aragonés, rewritten, coplotted and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai, and colored by Tom Luth...
.
As Pacific went into liquidation in September 1984, Phil Seuling's distribution company Seagate — "the distributorship that had pretty much launched the direct market" — also closed down. Pacific's distribution centers and warehouses were purchased by Bud Plant, Inc., and Capital City Distribution
Capital City Distribution
Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin-based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comics Distributors...
, who also opened "an expanded facility in Seagate's old space in Sparta, alongside the comic-book printing plant."
Steve Schanes and his wife, Ann Fera, subsequently founded Blackthorne Publishing
Blackthorne Publishing
Blackthorne Publishing, Inc. was a comic book publisher that flourished from 1986-1989. They were notable for the Blackthorne 3-D Series, their reprint titles of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy, and their licensed products...
, and Bill Schanes now works for Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. is the largest comic book distributor serving North America. They transport comic books from both big and small comic book publishers, or suppliers, to the retailers. Diamond dominates the direct market in the United States, and has exclusive arrangements with most...
.
Legacy
Writer Jay Allen Sanford:Creators associated with Pacific Comics
- Neal AdamsNeal AdamsNeal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
- Sergio AragonésSergio AragonésSergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....
- Steve DitkoSteve DitkoStephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
- Mark EvanierMark EvanierMark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
- Michael T. GilbertMichael T. GilbertMichael Terry Gilbert is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked for both mainstream and underground comic book companies.-Biography:Michael T. Gilbert was born on May 7, 1951 and attended the State University of New York...
- Mike GrellMike GrellMike Grell is a comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Jon Sable Freelance.-Early life:...
- Bruce JonesBruce Jones (comics)Bruce Jones, whose pen names include Philip Roland and Bruce Elliot, is an American comic book writer, novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter whose work included writing Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk from 2001-2005.-Early career:...
- Jack KirbyJack KirbyJack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
- P. Craig RussellP. Craig RussellPhilip Craig Russell , also known as P. Craig Russell, is an American comic book writer, artist, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards...
- Dave StevensDave StevensDave Stevens was an American illustrator and comics artist. He is most famous for creating The Rocketeer comic book and film character, and for his pin-up style "glamour art" illustrations, especially of model Bettie Page...
External links
- Pacific Comics: The Inside Story, by Jay Allen Sanford, in San Diego ReaderSan Diego ReaderThe San Diego Reader is the largest alternative press paper in the county of San Diego, distributed free in stands and private businesses throughout the county, funded by advertisements...