The Comics Rack

Comic Memories Pt. 4

   If you hang around a business long enough, chances are you can snag a job and sometime 1980, Richard offered me the chance to become an employee of Wonderworld Books. I was still in college at the time (keep in mind that back in those days, tuition and living expenses were much cheaper) and recall that it was only a couple of days a week; most likely Sunday and Monday, but I really don't remember. For a long time fan who loved both comics and genre fiction, however, it was a dream come true.
   Of the two days I worked, Sundays were very slow. Downtown Long Beach was very much a M -F type of place in those days and, except for the regulars who would drop by to shoot the breeze, I pretty much had 5 hours to read anything and everything I wanted. And I got paid for it! That was the best part of the deal. I must have read most every comic on the stands in those days, along with all the fanzine material that was available. I remember that there was also a rack where unsold comics found a home and it was there I found, read, and immediately purchased, the first 3 issues of Night Force.
   At this point, I know there are one or two of you who have followed this column who are now wondering how there could have been left over comics at Wonderworld Books. After all, didn't I just finish up the last column by mentioning how Wonderworld dealt with a magazine distributor, so the comics were returnable? Well, things changed at the end of the 70s and these changes affected not only Wonderworld Books, but the entire comic industry.
   When Seagate opened to door to the direct market in the early 70s, they were the only game in town and that town was New York. Now, if a comic dealer wanted to get into the direct market, they either had to pay a hefty shipping charge to Seagate to get the books delivered or become a sub-distributor for Seagate and sell comics, not only through their own store, but also to other comic stores in the area. This way of doing business wasn't very popular with comic shops and, as a result, other comic distributors began to open in various parts of the country, which also led to more comic shops opening as well.
   In Southern California, the local distributor was Pacific Comics. An outgrowth of a chain of comic stores that began in San Diego, Pacific was run by brothers Steve and Bill Schanes. Pacific shipped comics from their San Diego warehouse to dealers all over the country (and even worldwide) beginning sometime in the mid-70s. Eventually, their business increased to the point that they opened a warehouse in Los Angeles: a funky, cinderblock industrial building that was located down the street from the Shrine Auditorium and USC (I'll talk a bit more about the warehouse next time).
   Needless to say, for the LA comic stores, this was a major step forward. Not only were the stores able to get a full 40-45% discount on their comics, the comics were trucked out to the west coast and then, in most cases, the comic dealers drove to the warehouse to pick up the comics, thus saving on shipping. Probably the most important aspect of having Pacific nearby was that the stores could be assured that they would get what they ordered in the quantities they wanted...although this came at the cost of the product being non-returnable.
   Wonderworld Books began doing business with Pacific soon after the LA warehouse opened and, I'm sure, it was the increased discount rate that allowed me to be added to the payroll. Increased sales were also a byproduct of dealing with Pacific, since the direct market was beginning to grow and small comic companies were starting to spring up...companies that offered titles not carried by the magazine distributors. We still got part of our comic titles from Kolb, but in much smaller numbers than before since the discount rate from Pacific was so much better.
   I only stayed on at Wonderworld for the summer, as I recall, and departed in the fall to explore some other options, one of which was to drop out of school in order to stave off the inevitable graduation. I still shopped at the store, still visited with Richard and watched the interest in comics grow among the general populace. What I didn't know, however, was that the boom of the 80s was just around the corner and that I would be back at Wonderworld in a short time watching it all unfold.