E-MAN was a short-lived but well-remembered (and often revived) Charlton title of the early 1970s, representing a last gasp on the part of that firm to establish a presence in the super hero marketplace. E-Man was a bit of a throwback character, crafted in the mold of Plastic Man or Captain Marvel. A super hero … Continue reading Brand Echh: E-Man #6
One of the areas in which the nascent Pacific Comics publishing firm made some unexpected inroads was with a series of comics devoted primarily to horror and science fiction themes--titles in keeping with the well-regarded EC books of the past. Nobody else was quite doing this material in this fashion, and certainly nobody else was … Continue reading Brand Echh: Vanguard Illustrated #7
At the start of the 1980s, Pacific Comics was one of the first of the new breed of comic book publishers. They had started out as one of the many distributors into what is now called the Direct Market chain of comic book specialty shops that had been popping up nationwide. Eventually, there was a … Continue reading Brand Echh: Starslayer #2
One of the more overlooked pioneers of what would come to be called the Direct Sales comic book market was Mike Friedrich. He'd started his career as a writer for DC and Marvel, among others, and eventually became first Marvel's first executive in charge of Direct Sales and thereafter an artists representative. But in-between, he … Continue reading Brand Echh: Star Reach #1
This entry goes out to writer Dan Slott, who posted about SKATE MAN #1 on his Twitter stream this past week, causing me to bump this book to the top of my queue to cover here. SKATE MAN #1 and only was published in 1983 by Pacific Comics, the Direct Market comic book company spun … Continue reading Brand Echh: Skate Man #1
As we've spoken about in the past, the early 1980s saw the comic book direct sales marketplace become a viable arena in which to launch new publications. There was enough of a network of comic book specialty stores by this point to make such a venture potentially viable, as well as a desire for material … Continue reading Brand Echh: Nexus #1
By the very beginning of the 1980s, what we now know as the Direct Market for comic books--specialty shops devoted to the product who would buy new issues on a non-returnable basis, thus eliminating the enormous amount of waste the Newsstand consignment system generated--had grown to the point where it looked as though there might … Continue reading Brand Echh – Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1
