Editing Pacific Comics

{{short description|Defunct comic book distributor and publisher}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2008}}
{{Infobox company
| name   = Pacific Comics
| logo   = [[File:PacificComics logo.jpg|160px|]] 
| foundation     = 1971 (as mail order retailer)<br />1981 (as comics publisher)
| defunct        = 1984 (ceased publishing)<br />1985 (liquidated)
| founder        = [[Bill Schanes]], Steve Schanes
| key_people     = Steven E. Schanes, Christine Marra, Paul "Pablo" Schanes, Chris Schanes
| location       = [[San Diego, California]]
| industry       = [[Comics]]
| services = Mail order service, Retailer, Distributor, Publisher
| owner          = [[Blue Dolphin Enterprises]]
| homepage       =
| revenue = {{circa}} $1 million
| revenue_year = 1980
}}
'''Pacific Comics''' was a [[comic book]] [[Distribution (marketing)|distributor]] and [[Comic book publisher|publisher]] active from 1971 to 1984. The company began as a [[San Diego, California]], comic book shop owned by brothers [[Bill Schanes|Bill]] and Steve Schanes, later moving into comics distribution and then publishing. 

As a publisher, starting in 1981, Pacific took early advantage of the growing [[direct market]], attracting a number of writers and artists from [[DC Comics]] and [[Marvel Comics]] to produce [[creator ownership|creator-owned]] titles, which were not subject to the [[Comics Code]], and thus were free to feature more mature content.

== History ==

=== Origins ===
In 1971, the Schanes brothers (Steve Schanes, age 17, and Bill Schanes, age 13)<ref name="DAK54"/> co-founded Pacific Comics, which started out as a [[mail-order]] company, selling to consumers via advertisements in the ''[[Comics Buyer's Guide]]''. This led to ads inside some [[Marvel Comics|Marvel comics]], and ultimately to tangible retail stores. The first Pacific Comics store opened in [[Pacific Beach, California]], in 1974, and business was soon doing so well that the brothers realized they "couldn't get merchandise" for the stores, and so set up a distribution system, which was soon supplying neighboring stores also.<ref name="Sanford">{{cite news|author-link=Jay Allen Sanford|last=Sanford |first=Jay Allen |url=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2004/aug/19/two-men-and-their-comic-books/ |title=Two Men and their Comic Books |work=[[San Diego Reader]] |date=Aug 19, 2004}}</ref>

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 [[Sea Gate Distributors]] company (founded in 1972), 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 [[Comics vocabulary#Back Issue|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 (1978 film)|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.<ref name="Sanford"/>

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 {{convert|2200|sqft|m2|adj=on}} 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.<ref name="Sanford"/>

=== Publishing ===
In 1979, Pacific dipped its feet into publishing when they released ''Warriors of Shadow Realm'', a [[John Buscema]] portfolio of six signed, colored plates<ref>[http://mike.jersey.free.fr/Buscema.htm "The John Buscema Checklist", by Michel Maillot]</ref> 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 Distribution|Capital City]] launched a black-and-white title, ''[[Nexus (comics)|Nexus]]'',<ref name="Sanford"/> 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 business and accounting end. The brothers turned to [[Jack Kirby]]. Steve Schanes recalled, "I figured if you want to get people's attention with a new comic book, who better to do it with than the King of Comics, Jack Kirby! We were already friends with Jack. We used to send him free copies of comics he'd drawn for other publishers because they never sent him any! So I just went ahead and called him on the phone, and he turned out to be a nice guy, completely accessible. ... We negotiated a whole detailed publishing deal between the two of us. No middlemen."<ref name="Sanford"/>

The Schaneses asked Kirby, who had effectively quit comics in 1978,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/resources/kirby_chronology4.html|title = The Jack Kirby Chronology: 1970-1979}}</ref> for only the publishing rights, assuring him that he could keep full ownership and copyrights, and said they would even help him license characters for use overseas or in other media. Thus, Pacific claims to have become the first company to pay royalty payments to Kirby.<ref name="Sanford"/> Kirby provided Pacific with ''[[Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers]]'',<ref>"Jack Kirby Returns to Comics with Cosmic Hero," ''The Comics Journal'' #65 (Aug. 1981), p. 23.</ref> which was published bimonthly from August 1981. Though the Schaneses anticipated sales of less than 25,000, the first issue sold 110,000 copies.<ref name="DAK54">{{cite news | first = Mark | last = Borax | date = January 1988 | title = Steve Schanes (part 1) | work = [[Comics Interview]] | issue = 54 | pages = 33–39 | publisher = [[Fictioneer Books]]}}</ref> Kirby then let Pacific publish his ''[[Silver Star (comics)|Silver Star]]'', and the brothers decided to start a line of full-color mainstream comic books.<ref name="Sanford"/>

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."<ref name="Sanford"/>) who had planned his ''[[Starslayer]]'' to appear from DC, but after it dropped from the schedule, the Schaneses approached him about publishing it.

Another invitee was then-aspiring artist [[Dave Stevens]], who purchased comics from Pacific's shops and had met the brothers at [[San Diego Comic-Con]] in 1981. When ''Starslayer'' #2 came up short a few pages, Stevens was approached to fill in the remaining pages, and ultimately came up with ''[[The Rocketeer (character)|The Rocketeer]]''.<ref name="Sanford"/>

=== Experimentation and expansion ===
In 1983 Pacific upgraded to paper with higher quality ink.<ref>"Newswatch: Pacific Upgrades All Titles to White paper," ''The Comics Journal'' #84 (September 1983), p. 10.</ref> Pacific's innovations in creator-owned properties and high-quality printings were soon imitated by industry leaders [[DC Comics]] and [[Marvel Comics]].<ref name="Sanford"/>

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]] and converted it 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.<ref name="Sanford"/>

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.<ref name="Sanford"/>

=== Later output<!--'Blue Dolphin Enterprises' redirects here--> ===
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. He helped to bring the reclusive [[Steve Ditko]] to Pacific.<ref name="Sanford"/>

Ditko's Pacific offering ''[[Steve Ditko|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 published a magazine-sized black-and-white reprint of [[Rog-2000|Rog 2000]] stories that [[John Byrne (comics)|John Byrne]] had done in the '70s for [[Charlton Comics]], as well as a number of titles under its parent company '''Blue Dolphin Enterprises'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->.<ref name="Sanford"/> It also welcomed [[Bruce Jones (comics)|Bruce Jones]] to the company,<ref name=Sanford2>Sanford, Jay Allen. [https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2004/aug/19/two-men-and-their-comic-books/ "The birth and death of Pacific Comics: Bill and Steve Schanes started on 5011 Cass Street in Pacific Beach,"] ''San Diego Reader'' (Aug. 19, 2004).</ref> and [[Sergio Aragonés]] and [[Mark Evanier]]'s ''[[Groo the Wanderer]]''.

===3-D, Elric, and falling sales===
By 1984, Steve Schanes decided to bring back [[Stereoscopy|3-D]] 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)|Honeycomb cereal]]. Steve Schanes decided the 3-D book would be ''[[Alien Worlds|Alien Worlds 3-D]]'', featuring the first published work of [[Art Adams]], alongside [[John Bolton (comics)|John Bolton]], [[Bill Wray]] and others. Sales on the expensively-produced comic, however, were poor, and sales all round were following suit. One-shots became more common, and tolerable sales on ''[[Elric (comics)|Elric of Melniboné]]'' 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.<ref name="Sanford"/>

=== 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 Comics]], 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 lose faith in Pacific.<ref name="Sanford"/>

More importantly, the distribution arm of Pacific was suffering serious problems, due in part to overly-generous credit extensions to retailers, which were not paid back as quickly as expected. Thus, Steve Schanes explained:
{{quote|Most of our comic books still made money hand over fist, but there was a big problem in distribution. We extended too much credit to retailers who didn't pay us on a timely basis, and we were already working on a minuscule profit margin, maybe five percent to eight percent. We didn't push hard enough to get the money from receivables, who owed us hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you had to boil down the single biggest reason we blew it, that would be our poor cash management on the distribution side.<ref name="Sanford"/>}}

Pacific's publication arm was also attracting competitors, and Pacific found itself distributing competitors' titles, including [[Kitchen Sink Press]], [[Last Gasp (publisher)]], and [[Rip Off Press]]. With this in mind, other publishers—including Capital City (whose ''Nexus'' comic outsold several Pacific titles), [[Comico: The Comic Company|Comico]], [[Aardvark-Vanaheim]], [[Educomics]], [[Quality Communications|Quality]], [[Eagle Comics|Eagle]], [[Eclipse Comics|Eclipse]], [[First Comics|First]], [[Vortex Comics|Vortex]], [[New Media]], [[Fantagraphics]], [[Mirage Comics|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, until nearly a quarter of Pacific's comic-shop accounts defected to alternate distributors in 1984, skipping out on paying Pacific for upwards of three months' worth of comic books.<ref name="Sanford"/>

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,<ref name="SDBJ">[http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/print/7448279.html "Comics publisher pins stellar hopes to ''Moonwalker''."] ''San Diego Business Journal'' (March 6, 1989).</ref> the Schaneses informed their staff that they would all be out of work by September.<ref name="Sanford"/><ref>"Newswatch: Pacific Suspends Operations," ''The Comics Journal'' #93 (September 1984), pp. 8-10.</ref> According to Steve Schanes, Pacific's publishing arm was still seeing profit at the time of the closure, but it was outweighed by the losses of the distribution arm, and he and his brother lacked the business expertise to sell off part of the business.<ref name="DAK54"/>

=== Liquidation ===
After the 1984 collapse of Pacific, many of its creator-owned publications moved to [[Eclipse Comics]]: Bruce Jones' ''[[Twisted Tales]]'', ''Alien Worlds'', and ''Somerset Holmes'';<ref name=Sanford2 /> Dave Stevens' ''Rocketeer Special'' and a [[One-shot (comics)|one-shot]] of [[Mark Evanier]]/[[Sergio Aragones]]' ''[[Groo the Wanderer]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Thompson  |first=Kim |date=February 1985 |title=Eclipse picks up more Pacific titles |department=Newswatch |magazine=[[The Comics Journal]] |issue=95 |page=22 |issn=0194-7869}}</ref>

As Pacific went into liquidation in September 1984,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Heintjes |first=Tom |date=February 1985 |title=Pacific Comics Liquidated |department=Newswatch |magazine=[[The Comics Journal]] |issue=95 |pages=10–11 |issn=0194-7869}}</ref> Phil Seuling's distribution company [[Sea Gate Distributors]] 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.<ref name="Sanford"/>

Steve Schanes and his wife, Ann Fera, subsequently founded [[Blackthorne Publishing]],<ref name="DAK54"/> and Bill Schanes found employment with [[Diamond Comic Distributors]].

== Legacy ==
Writer [[Jay Allen Sanford]] stated that Pacific "formed the template for [[Image Comics]]."<ref name="Sanford"/>

== Creators associated with Pacific Comics ==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Neal Adams]]
* [[Sergio Aragonés]]
* [[Steve Ditko]]
* [[Mark Evanier]]
* [[Michael T. Gilbert]]
* [[Mike Grell]]
* [[Bruce Jones (comics)|Bruce Jones]]
* [[Jack Kirby]]
* [[P. Craig Russell]]
* [[Dave Stevens]]
{{div col end}}

==Titles==
{{main|List of Pacific Comics publications}}

== See also ==
* [[Capital City Distribution]]
* [[New Media/Irjax]]
* [[Seagate Distribution]]

== References ==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=publisher|id=16|title=Pacific Comics}}
*[http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/p/pacific.htm Pacific Comics] at the International Catalogue of Superheroes
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080501144000/http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/apr/21/pacific-comics-the-inside-story-plus-indie-comic-h/ Pacific Comics: The Inside Story], by Jay Allen Sanford, in ''[[San Diego Reader]]''

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[[Category:Pacific Comics| ]]
[[Category:Comic book publishing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Comics industry]]
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[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1971]]
[[Category:Companies based in San Diego]]
[[Category:Defunct comics and manga publishing companies]]
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[[Category:1971 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1981 in comics]]