Comico was another of the new entrants into the field of comic book publishing once it had been proven that the Direct Sales marketplace was capable of supporting such publishing activities. The company was started by a group of art students who all went to school together in the Philadelphia area, and it proved to … Continue reading FSC: COMICO PRIMER #2
It was only shortly after Pacific Comics launched writer/editor Bruce Jones' attempt to bring back the horror flavor of the classic EC Comics in the series TWISTED TALES that Jones' other tribute to that well-remembered long-ago line saw the light of day: ALIEN WORLDS. If TWISTED TALES was attempting to be a contemporary modernization of … Continue reading FSC: ALIEN WORLDS #1
As I've talked about in the past, I was completely invested in the new comic book companies that started to appear once the Direct Sales marketplace had developed enough to make such entities a potentially-profitable concern. In particular, I was a stalwart supporter of Pacific Comics, the firm that had started putting out new series … Continue reading FSC: GROO THE WANDERER #2
Among comic book fans, the legend of EC Comics loomed large. Even among readers who'd never experienced the books firsthand, there was an awareness of how the company had set a high benchmark for quality, and how they'd been undone and destroyed by the implementation of the Comics Code. There's been occasional attempts to recapture … Continue reading FSC: TWISTED TALES #1
In the early 1980s, after having spent a couple of years working outside of the field in animation, Jack Kirby was making a bit of a comeback. Pacific Comics, one of the new independent publishers that had begun releasing titles into the emerging Direct sales market of comic book specialty stories had agreed to publish … Continue reading FSC: SILVER STAR #1
A few years back, I wound up on an X-MEN convention panel along with Louise Simonson, and I was able to express just how impossible a bar she'd set for everybody who came after her as an editor on that particular line. In the space of a very short time, she'd finished up the DARK … Continue reading FSC: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #5
The early 1980s was a wild time to be a comic book reader, in that the establishment of the Direct Sales marketplace as a viable alternative to mainstream Newsstand distribution for comic books opened up the floodgates, with all sort of publishers with big dreams of finding success pouring through. On any given visit to … Continue reading FSC: SPECTRUM COMICS PREVIEWS #1
One of the new mainstay players in the emerging Direct Sales market comprised of comic book specialty stories in the 1980s was First Comics. An outfit out of Chicago, First boasted an initial eclectic line-up but slowly and surely crystalized into a reliable player in the field. Debuting in 1982, among the series First published … Continue reading FSC: E-MAN #2
As the Direct Sales marketplace of comic book specialty shops became a larger and larger part of the marketplace in the 1980s, any number of new young publishers threw their hats into the ring. This led to a bevy of new companies putting forward their own efforts in an attempt to find fame and fortune. … Continue reading FSC: THE CRUSADERS #1
In 1982, the comic book marketplace was expanding. The Direct Sales network of comic book specialty shops had proven itself as a viable alternative to mainstream newsstand distribution, and so suddenly all sort of publishers were jumping into this new market with a variety of releases, some more polished than others. It was an exciting … Continue reading FSC: DREADSTAR #1
