Chris and Reggie’s TOTAL PACKAGE – The History of the Direct Market

Chris and Reggie’s TOTAL PACKAGE

Today I am sharing a compilation of the last deep-dive Reggie and I did together, wherein we focused on another “tent-pole” series of Weird Comics History.  From the very start, we knew this was a topic we really wanted to sink our teeth into… and we were very fortunate to get that opportunity!

We cover it all… from newsies shillin’ papers, to the origins of the “organized” comics fandom, and how that fandom kicked off an aftermarket for comics, thereby creating the “back issue”.  We’ll meet Phil Seuling, for better or worse, the “Father” of the Direct Market.

From there, we’ll get into the nitty gritty of what it meant for comics to be “direct marketed” in comparison to “newsstanded”… how this affected retailers… and how, ultimately we wound up with a monopoly over the entire thing (well, at the time of these recordings, anyway…).

It’s a couple hours of fun chatter, from comics, to speculation, to aftermarkets, to seemingly phasing comics out altogether!  I promise, it’s not as glum as it sounds!  Give’r a listen!