Wikipedia

Phil Seuling

Philip Nicholas Seuling(/ˈsjuːlɪŋ/;[1]January 20, 1934 – August 21, 1984)[2]was an Americancomic bookfan conventionorganizer and comicsdistributorprimarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annualNew York Comic Art Convention,originally held in New York City every July 4 weekend throughout the 1970s. Later, with his Sea Gate Distributors company, Seuling developed the concept of thedirect marketdistribution 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.

Phil Seuling
Seuling in 1974
Born
Philip Nicholas Seuling

(1934-01-20)January 20, 1934
New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 21, 1984(1984-08-21)(aged 50)
New York City, U.S.
EducationCity College of New York
Occupation(s)Comic book distributor; convention organizer
SpouseCarole Seuling
Children2

Biography

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Early life

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Seuling was born in theBensonhurstneighborhood ofBrooklyn, New York,[3]and spent his entire life as a resident of that borough.[4]He has a sister, Barbara and a brother Dennis, 13 years younger.[4]He graduated from theCity College of New Yorkwith aBachelor of Artsdegree,[4]and earned several credits beyond.

Comics retailer

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In 1958, he and a friend began buying and selling back-issue comic books,[4]though his primary career was as an English teacher[4]at Brooklyn'sLafayette High School.[5]By 1970, Seuling was also operating the After Hours Book Shop in Brooklyn.[6]

Comic Art Convention

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Main article:Comic Art Convention

In 1968, Seuling — who as a sideline was president of the newly founded but short-lived[4]Society for Comic Art Research and Preservation, Inc. (SCARP) — staged the First International Convention of Comic Art under that organization's auspices, holding it at New York City'sStatler Hilton Hotel.[7]He held anothercomics conventionat that hotel the following year,[8]launching the New YorkComic Art Conventionseries. On March 11, 1973, Seuling was arrested at the Second Sunday monthly comic book show for allegedly "selling indecent material to a minor". Seuling wrote a guest editorial inWarren Publishing's black-and-whitehorror-comicsmagazineVampirella#25 detailing his experience and denying the claim he had sold anunderground comic bookto someone under 18.[9]

Other activities

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Seuling performed as a voice actor inRalph Bakshi's 1972Fritz the Catmovie, doing voices for two characters.[10]

In 1974, at theBrooklyn Museum's Community Gallery, he staged the exhibit "Brooklyn's Comic Book Artists", featuring artwork by 13 comics artists who were born or lived in Brooklyn. Identified by neighborhood on the poster for the show, these includedNeal Adams,then living in theConey Islandneighborhood;Will Eisner;Carmine Infantino,ofGreenpoint;Joe Kubert;Harvey Kurtzman,who lived alongEastern Parkway;andGray Morrow,formerly ofEast Flatbush.[5]

Seuling appeared on the July 28, 1977 episode of theMike Douglas Showto discuss comic book collecting and conventions along with a surprise appearance byWendy Pinicosplaying asRed Sonja.[11]

Sea Gate Distributors

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Sea Gate Distributors
Company typeComic book distributor
IndustryComics
Founded1972
FounderPhil Seuling
Defunct1985
HeadquartersBrooklyn,New York
Key people
Phil Seuling (founder)

In 1972, Seuling foundedSea Gate Distributors,named after the Brooklyn communitySea Gate,where he lived as an adult.[12]Seuling cut deals withArchie,DC,Marvel,andWarrento ship their comic books from a new distribution center inSparta, Illinoisbeginning in Fall 1973,[13]thereby developing the concept of thedirect marketdistribution 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 (nonreturnable, heavily discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) went hand-in-hand with the growth of specialty comics shops that catered to collectors who could then buyback issuesmonths after a newsstand issue had disappeared.

Comics historianMark Evanier,noting the significance, wrote that

...it became apparent that the old method was being destroyed, with or without selling books the Seuling way, so DC, Marvel and other companies tried it. Within a year, around 25% of all comic books were being sold via 'direct' distribution, through Seuling's company and about a dozen others, with 75% still on conventional newsstands. Within ten years, those percentages were reversed. Today [in 2004], the 'direct market' is the primary market.[14]

Seuling ran Sea Gate with his then-girlfriend Jonni Levas.[15]A key element of Sea Gate's new distribution system was a prepay requirement for customers, which, given the low margins of comics retailing at the time (and the fact that many books shipped late), was onerous for many of the stores.[15]By the late 1970s, however, thanks to Seuling's changes to distribution — and the merchandizing success of such comic-book-styled films asStar WarsandSuperman— 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.[16]

In late 1977 or early 1978, Sea Gate 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 Sea Gate's minimum of five copies of each comic book title.[15]

Seuling maintained a virtual monopoly on comics distribution, until a lawsuit brought byNew Media/Irjaxin 1978.[17]Irjax sued DC, Marvel, Archie, and Warren for their anti-competitive arrangement with Seagate.[18]As a result of the suit, Irjax eventually acquired "a sizable chunk of the direct-distribution market,"[17]and many of Seulings's sub-distributors left Sea Gate to become independent distributors.

Death

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Seuling died of the rare liver disease[19]sclerosing cholangitis[20]on August 21, 1984.[21]The following year, Sea Gate closed down.[22]Distribution competitorsBud Plant, Inc.,andCapital City Distributionopened "an expanded facility in Sea Gate's old space in Sparta, alongside the [defunct publisherPacific Comics'] printing plant. "[16]

Personal life

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By 1957, Seuling was married to Carole Seuling, with whom he had two daughters, Gwenn[23]and Heather.[3]The couple grew apart as Phil became more interested inhippieculture, separating in 1971 and eventually getting a divorce but remaining close.[24]Carole would do a small amount of writing for comics, including co-creating, with artistGeorge Tuska,Marvel Comics'jungle-girlheroineShanna the She-Devilin 1972. Seuling entered a romantic relationship with Jonni Levas, a former student who was instrumental in running Sea Gate.[25]

Awards

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Seuling was presented with anInkpot Awardat the 1974San Diego Comic-Con.In 1985, he was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publicationFifty Who Made DC Great.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^1977 World Color Press Tour Sparta, Illinois & Phil Seuling
  2. ^Social Security Death Index, Social Security #130-26-6243.
  3. ^abSchelly, Bill (2010).Founders of Comic Fandom: Profiles of 90 Publishers, Dealers, Collectors, Writers, Artists and Other Luminaries of the 1950s and 1960s.McFarland & Company.p.6.ISBN9780786443475.
  4. ^abcdef"An Interview with Phil Seuling".Fantastic Fanzine Special.February 1972. Archived fromthe originalon February 16, 2010.RetrievedJuly 12,2013.Interview conducted July 1971.
  5. ^abLichtenstein, Grace (October 10, 1974). "Comic Books Displayed as Serious Art".The New York Times.(Abstract; full article requires fee or subscription)
  6. ^Sloane, Leonard (March 22, 1970)."Nostalgia for Extinct Pop Culture Creates Industry".The New York Times.(Abstract; full article requires fee or subscription)
  7. ^Carmody, Deirdre (July 6, 1968)."Comic Books Get Star Billing at Convention Here".The New York Times.RetrievedJuly 13,2013.(Abstract; full article requires fee or subscription)
  8. ^"Old Comic Book Art is on Display Here".The New York Times.July 5, 1969. p. 16.RetrievedJuly 12,2013.(Abstract; full article requires fee or subscription)
  9. ^Seuling, Phil (June 1973)."Vampirella"(guest editorial).Warren Publishing.
  10. ^Bails, Jerry;Ware, Hames."Seuling, Phil".Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999.Archivedfrom the original on May 11, 2007.RetrievedApril 12,2012.
  11. ^Red Sonja (Wendy Pini) on Mike Douglas 7/28/77
  12. ^Rozanski, Chuck (December 2003)."Evolution of the Direct Market Part III".Tales from the Database.MileHighComics.Archivedfrom the original on July 16, 2011.One large California dealer, who was good friends with Phil, solved this problem by taking a vacation each year in New York. He stayed at Phil's house in the Seagat [sic]...
  13. ^Beerbohm, Bob (March 14, 2008)."Please Consider Buying Some Comics From Industry Icon Robert Beerbohm".The Comics Reporter.Archivedfrom the original on June 28, 2011.
  14. ^Evanier, Mark(December 31, 2004)."Phil Seuling and Red Sonja".News from Me.Retrieved27 November2017.
  15. ^abcRozanski,"Evolution, Part IV",Comics Buyer's Guide#98 via MileHighComics. "Joni Levas, Phil's girlfriend of the time and partner in Seagate [sic] Distributing."ArchivedJuly 16, 2011, at theWayback Machine.
  16. ^abSanford, Jay Allen (August 19, 2004)."Two Men and their Comic Books".San Diego Reader.Archivedfrom the original on July 17, 2011.
  17. ^ab"Direct Distribution" in Duin, Steve andRichardson, Mike(ed.s).Comics Between the Panels(Dark Horse Publishing,1998), pp. 126-130.
  18. ^Rozanski, Chuck (2004)."Chuck Goes to New York Part I".Tales from the Database.MileHighComics.Archivedfrom the original on July 16, 2011.
  19. ^Schelly,p. 108
  20. ^"Newspeak: Don Newton and Phil Seuling Die,"Speakeasy#44 (Sept. 1984), p. 4.
  21. ^"Phil Seuling, father of the direct-sales Market, dies at age of 50,"The Comics Journal#93 (September 1984), pp. 13-14.
  22. ^"Newswatch: Pioneering direct-sales distributor Sea Gate files for bankruptcy,"The Comics Journal#101 (August 1985), pp. 17-18.
  23. ^Haberman, Clyde; Johnston, Laurie (July 5, 1982)."New York Day by Day: A Comic-Book Fourth".The New York Times.
  24. ^Gearino, Dan (2017).Comic Shop.Swallow Press. p. 25.ISBN9780804040839.
  25. ^Gearino, Dan (2017).Comic Shop.Swallow Press. p. 35.ISBN9780804040839.
  26. ^Marx, Barry,Cavalieri, Joeyand Hill, Thomas (w), Petruccio, Steven (a), Marx, Barry (ed). "Phil Seuling The Beginning of Direct Distribution"Fifty Who Made DC Great,p. 46 (1985). DC Comics.

Further reading

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  • Beerbohm, Robert. "Secret Origins of the Direct Market, Part 2: Phil Seuling and the Undergrounds Emerge."Comic Book Artist#7 (February-March 2000), pp.116-125.
  • Eisner, Will. "Interview with Phil Seuling."Will Eisner's Shop Talk.(Dark Horse Comics, 2001) pp.283-305.
  • McLauchlin, Jim."The Man Who Invented Your Comic Shop (Among Other Things)."Wizard#219 (January 2010).
  • Schelly, Bill.Golden Age of Comic Fandom(Hamster Press, 1995)
  • Schelly, Bill, ed.Alter Ego, the Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine(Hamster Press, 1997)
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