Origins In 1971, the Schanes brothers (Steve Schanes, age 17, and Bill Schanes, age 13) 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
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. 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, 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. which was published bimonthly from August 1981. Though the Schaneses anticipated sales of less than 25,000, the first issue sold 110,000 copies. Kirby then let Pacific publish his
Silver Star, and the brothers decided to start a line of full-color mainstream comic books. Pacific's innovations in creator-owned properties and high-quality printings were soon imitated by industry leaders
DC Comics and
Marvel Comics. and
Sergio Aragonés and
Mark Evanier's
Groo the Wanderer.
3-D, Elric, and falling sales By 1984, Steve Schanes decided to bring back
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. 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 became more common, and tolerable sales on
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. the Schaneses informed their staff that they would all be out of work by September. 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. As Pacific went into liquidation in September 1984, 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. Steve Schanes and his wife, Ann Fera, subsequently founded
Blackthorne Publishing, and Bill Schanes found employment with
Diamond Comic Distributors. == Legacy ==