Phil Seuling
Encyclopedia
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. Later, with his East Coast Seagate Distribution company, Seuling developed the concept of the direct market
distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then established newspaper/magazine distributor method, where no choices of title, quantity, or delivery directions were permitted.
in Brooklyn, where he acted in school plays and was known as a comic book fan and crossword puzzle
enthusiast. Seuling went on to Baruch College
briefly before joining the military. He graduated from the City College of New York
in 1958.
Seuling's theatre training came in handy in 1972, when he performed as a voice actor in Ralph Bakshi
's Fritz the Cat
movie, doing voices for two characters.
Beginning in 1958, Seuling worked as a Brooklyn school teacher (a pursuit he continued until he founded Seagate in 1974).
, Seuling founded the New York Comic Art Convention and continued organizing the annual convention, originally held in New York City
every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s. (The 1977 and 1978 conventions had to be relocated to Philadelphia because of scheduling conflicts at the New York venue.)
The first large-scale comics convention, and one of the largest gatherings of its kind, the New York Comic Art Convention grew into a major trade and fan convention, with crowd attendance reaching five to seven thousand fans. Its growth in popularity coincided with the increasing media attention on comics that had been building since the mid-1960s, feeding off the then novel notions of comics being a subject worthy of serious critical study and collectibility. Fans and collectors of comic books now had an outlet for their passion, where they could congregate to discuss comic book art and writing, meet comic book collectors and dealers from around the world, hear artists and writers speaking about the details of the comic book industry, hear publishers share information on the business end of the comics industry, and attend an annual costume parade and auctions of collectible comic-related items.
, Seuling founded East Coast Seagate Distribution (named after the Brooklyn community where he lived as an adult, near his original neighborhood of Bensonhurst and the lively oceanfront area of Coney Island
, which he adored.) Seuling cut deals with Archie
, DC
, Marvel
, and Warren
to ship their comic books from a new distribution center in Sparta, Illinois
, thereby developing the concept of the direct market
distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then established newspaper/magazine distributor method. The move from newsstand distribution to the direct market (non-returnable, heavily-discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) went hand-in-hand with the growth of specialty comics shops which catered to the collectors who could then buy back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared.
Seuling ran Seagate with his then-girlfriend Joni Levas. A key element of Seagate's new distribution system was a pre-pay requirement for customers, which, given the low margins of comics retailing at the time (and the fact that many books shipped late), was quite onerous for many of the stores. By the late 1970s, however, thanks to Seuling's changes to distribution — and the merchandizing success of films such as Star Wars
and Superman: The Movie — comics were selling well: in the six years between 1974 and 1980, U.S. "comic or fantasy-related specialty shops" rose from 200 or 300 to around 1500.
In late 1977 or early 1978, Seagate set up regional sub-distributors who were buying product at a 50% discount. This reduced Seuling's paperwork and enabled the sub-distributors to sell smaller orders than Seagate's minimum of five copies of each comic book title.
Seuling maintained a virtual monopoly on comics distribution, until a lawsuit brought by New Media/Irjax
in 1978. Irjax sued DC, Marvel, Archie, and Warren for their anti-competitive arrangement with Seagate. As a result of the suit, Irjax eventually acquired "a sizable chunk of the direct-distribution market," and many of Seulings's sub-distributors left Seagate to become independent distributors.
Seuling died on August 21, 1984; shortly thereafter, in 1985, Seagate closed down. Distribution competitors Bud Plant, Inc., and Capital City Distribution
opened "an expanded facility in Seagate's old space in Sparta, alongside the [defunct publisher Pacific Comics
'] printing plant."
title Shanna the She-Devil
in 1972–1973. Phil Seuling's sister, Barbara Seuling, is a children's book author who lives in New York City and Vermont. His brother, Dennis, is a retired teacher and movie critic who lives in New Jersey.
at the 1974 San Diego Comic-Con. In 1985, he was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great
.
:
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...
fan convention
Fan convention
A fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
organizer and comics distributor
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
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. Later, with his East Coast Seagate Distribution company, Seuling developed the concept of 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...
distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then established newspaper/magazine distributor method, where no choices of title, quantity, or delivery directions were permitted.
Biography
Seuling spent his entire life as a resident of Brooklyn, New York. He was an avid baseball fan and enjoyed watching the Brooklyn Dodgers and later the New York Mets play. He attended Lafayette High SchoolLafayette High School (New York City)
Lafayette High School is a large secondary school located in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn, New York City, New York . It is currently one of the low performing high schools of the city and is operated by the New York City Department of Education.-History:...
in Brooklyn, where he acted in school plays and was known as a comic book fan and crossword puzzle
Crossword Puzzle
For the common puzzle, see CrosswordCrossword Puzzle was the second to last album made by The Partridge Family and was not one of the most popular albums. It was released in 1973 and did not produce a U.S. single. This album was finally released on CD in 2003 on Arista's BMG Heritage label...
enthusiast. Seuling went on to Baruch College
Baruch College
Bernard M. Baruch College, more commonly known as Baruch College, is a constituent college of the City University of New York, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, New York City. With an acceptance rate of just 23%, Baruch is among the most competitive and diverse colleges in the nation...
briefly before joining the military. He graduated from the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
in 1958.
Seuling's theatre training came in handy in 1972, when he performed as a voice actor in Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
's Fritz the Cat
Fritz the Cat (film)
Fritz the Cat is a 1972 American animated comedy film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi as his feature film debut. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Robert Crumb, the film was the first animated feature film to receive an X rating in the United States...
movie, doing voices for two characters.
Beginning in 1958, Seuling worked as a Brooklyn school teacher (a pursuit he continued until he founded Seagate in 1974).
New York Comic Art Convention
In 19681968 in comics
See also:1968 in comics,other events of 1968,1969 in comics,1960s in comics and thelist of years in comics- Year overall :* With Kinney National Company's acquisition of Warner Bros., DC Comics becomes part of what eventually will be known as Warner Communications.* DC Comics art director Carmine...
, Seuling founded the New York Comic Art Convention and continued organizing the annual convention, originally held in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s. (The 1977 and 1978 conventions had to be relocated to Philadelphia because of scheduling conflicts at the New York venue.)
The first large-scale comics convention, and one of the largest gatherings of its kind, the New York Comic Art Convention grew into a major trade and fan convention, with crowd attendance reaching five to seven thousand fans. Its growth in popularity coincided with the increasing media attention on comics that had been building since the mid-1960s, feeding off the then novel notions of comics being a subject worthy of serious critical study and collectibility. Fans and collectors of comic books now had an outlet for their passion, where they could congregate to discuss comic book art and writing, meet comic book collectors and dealers from around the world, hear artists and writers speaking about the details of the comic book industry, hear publishers share information on the business end of the comics industry, and attend an annual costume parade and auctions of collectible comic-related items.
Seagate
In 19721972 in comics
-Events:* Marvel Comics forms their British publishing arm, Marvel UK .* Phil Seuling founds East Coast Seagate Distribution, developing the concept of the direct market distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the established newspaper/magazine...
, Seuling founded East Coast Seagate Distribution (named after the Brooklyn community where he lived as an adult, near his original neighborhood of Bensonhurst and the lively oceanfront area of Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
, which he adored.) Seuling cut deals with Archie
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
, 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...
, 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...
, and Warren
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades...
to ship their comic books from a new distribution center 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 ....
, thereby developing the concept of 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...
distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then established newspaper/magazine distributor method. The move from newsstand distribution to the direct market (non-returnable, heavily-discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) went hand-in-hand with the growth of specialty comics shops which catered to the collectors who could then buy back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared.
Seuling ran Seagate with his then-girlfriend Joni Levas. A key element of Seagate's new distribution system was a pre-pay requirement for customers, which, given the low margins of comics retailing at the time (and the fact that many books shipped late), was quite onerous for many of the stores. By the late 1970s, however, thanks to Seuling's changes to distribution — and the merchandizing 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: in the six years between 1974 and 1980, U.S. "comic or fantasy-related specialty shops" rose from 200 or 300 to around 1500.
In late 1977 or early 1978, Seagate set up regional sub-distributors who were buying product at a 50% discount. This reduced Seuling's paperwork and enabled the sub-distributors to sell smaller orders than Seagate's minimum of five copies of each comic book title.
Seuling maintained a virtual monopoly on comics distribution, until a lawsuit brought by New Media/Irjax
New Media/Irjax
New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book distributor and boutique publisher active in the 1970s and early 1980s during the growth of the direct market. After the distribution arm of the company went out of business in 1982, its processing centers and warehouses formed the basis for...
in 1978. Irjax sued DC, Marvel, Archie, and Warren for their anti-competitive arrangement with Seagate. As a result of the suit, Irjax eventually acquired "a sizable chunk of the direct-distribution market," and many of Seulings's sub-distributors left Seagate to become independent distributors.
Seuling died on August 21, 1984; shortly thereafter, in 1985, Seagate closed down. Distribution competitors 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...
opened "an expanded facility in Seagate's old space in Sparta, alongside the [defunct publisher Pacific Comics
Pacific Comics
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...
'] printing plant."
Personal life
Seuling and his wife Carole had two daughters, Gwenn and Heather. Carole Seuling wrote some issues of the Marvel ComicsMarvel 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...
title Shanna the She-Devil
Shanna the She-Devil
Shanna the She-Devil is a fictional jungle adventuress in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Carole Seuling and penciler George Tuska, she made her first appearance in Shanna the She-Devil #1 Shanna the She-Devil is a fictional jungle adventuress in comic books published by...
in 1972–1973. Phil Seuling's sister, Barbara Seuling, is a children's book author who lives in New York City and Vermont. His brother, Dennis, is a retired teacher and movie critic who lives in New Jersey.
Awards
Seuling was presented with an Inkpot AwardInkpot Award
The Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to some of the professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization's yearly multigenre fan convention, commonly known as...
at the 1974 San Diego Comic-Con. In 1985, he was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty Who Made DC Great
Fifty Who Made DC Great is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures...
.
Quotes
Comics historian Mark EvanierMark 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...
:
See also
- Comics convention
- Direct marketDirect marketThe 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...