The Complete Pacific Comics Re-Reading Blog Series presents:
William Schanes Writes
William Schanes, one of the Schanes brothers, has been writing down anecdotes about his time with Schanes & Schanes, Pacific Comics and Diamond Distributors over at Face.
The majority of them are from the post-Pacific era (which isn’t that strange, because that’s a longer time period), but most of these stories are fascinating anyway. These are rare behind-the-scenes glimpses of what goes on in comics publishing and distribution, so I thought it might make sense to link to these posts and categorise them slightly.
So, most are about Diamond, but:
- (nothing): Diamond
- *: Pacific Comics
- **: Pacific Distributors
- +: Other
I’ll be quoting a bit from the * and ** posts in the blog posts about individual comics.
The good news is that Schanes is apparently writing a book about these things. That’s great, because I like the way he writes: He’s very matter of fact, and doesn’t beat about the bush. The bad news is that since he decided to write the book, he’s stopped posting these reminiscences on Facebook.
Interview with William Schanes.
Cerebus**
How does a brand new publisher attempt to compete with DC and Marvel*
Entering the sports trading card market
From our Pacific Comics mail order catalog dating back to 1977.**
Strange meetings with the Image Comics partners
The phone call that changed everything
Everything but the kitchen sink
Band on the run (loose in the front yard)
Phil Seuling’s New York Comic Con**
An offer to good to refuse, right out of The Godfather playbook**
The day Robert Crumb wrote me a hand written letter.**
Bay Area Comic Retailers (BACR)
Sol Harrison **
Titan Distributors offices and warehouse in London*
2 Diamond executives injured in London within minutes of each other
The Schanes signed one dollar bill*
Buying new comics at whole sale prices **