Philip Nicholas Seuling (January 20, 1934 – August 21, 1984) was a
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
fan convention
Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...
organizer and comics
distributor
A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...
primarily active in the 1970s. Seuling was the organizer of the annual
New 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 the
direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of:
* four major comic distributors:
** Lunar ...
distribution 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.
Biography
Early life
Seuling was born in the
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
and spent his entire life as a resident of that borough.
[ Interview conducted July 1971.] He has a sister, Barbara and a brother Dennis, 13 years younger.
He graduated from the
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree,
and earned several credits beyond.
Comics retailer
In 1958, he and a friend began buying and selling back-issue comic books,
though his primary career was as an English teacher
at Brooklyn's
Lafayette High School.
[ (Abstract; full article requires fee or subscription)] By 1970, Seuling was also operating the After Hours Book Shop in Brooklyn.
Comic Art Convention
In 1968, Seuling — who as a sideline was president of the newly founded but short-lived
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's
Statler Hilton Hotel
The Statler Hotel company was one of the United States' early chains of hotels catering to traveling businessmen and tourists. It was founded by Ellsworth Milton (E. M.) Statler in Buffalo, New York.
Early ventures
In 1901, Buffalo hosted the ...
.
[ (Abstract; full article requires fee or subscription)] He held another
comics convention
A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book Fan (person), fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events ...
at that hotel the following year, launching the New York
Comic Art Convention
The Comic Art Convention was an American comic book fan convention held annually New York City, New York, over Independence Day weekend from 1968 through 1983, except for 1977, when it was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and 1978 to 1979, w ...
series. 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 in
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...
's black-and-white
horror-comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the ...
magazine ''
Vampirella
Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of ''Creepy'' ...
'' #25 detailing his experience and denying the claim he had sold an
underground comic book to someone under 18.
Other activities
Seuling performed as a voice actor in
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...
's 1972 ''
Fritz the Cat
''Fritz the Cat'' is a comic strip created by Robert Crumb. Set in a "supercity" of anthropomorphic animals, it focused on Fritz, a feline con artist who frequently went on wild adventures that sometimes involved sexual escapades. Crumb began d ...
'' movie, doing voices for two characters.
In 1974, at the
Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
'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 included
Neal Adams
Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...
, then living in the
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
neighborhood;
Will Eisner
William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...
;
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Michael Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editing, editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creat ...
, of
Greenpoint;
Joe Kubert
Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Poland, Polish-born Americans, American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkm ...
;
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...
, who lived along
Eastern Parkway
Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time of ...
; and
Gray Morrow
Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow (March 7, 1934 – November 6, 2001).e., the Gilberton Company, publisher of the ''Classics Illustrated'' comic-book series of literary adaptations], and I was given a script. One thing led to another and I was soo ...
, formerly of
East Flatbush
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. East Flatbush is bounded by Crown Heights and Empire Boulevard to the north; Brownsville and East 98th Street to the east; Flatlands, Canarsie and the ...
.
Seuling appeared on the July 28, 1977 episode of the ''
Mike Douglas Show
''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into natio ...
'' to discuss comic book collecting and conventions along with a surprise appearance by
Wendy Pini
Wendy Pini ''née'' Fletcher, (born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known '' Elfquest'' series of comics, graphic novels and prose works. They are also known a ...
cosplaying as
Red Sonja
Red Sonja is a fictional sword and sorcery comic-book superheroine created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino.
Marvel Comics ...
.
Sea Gate Distributors
In
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
, Seuling founded Sea Gate Distributors, named after the Brooklyn community
Sea Gate, where he lived as an adult. Seuling cut deals with
Archie
Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
*Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands
* Archie Blake (mathematici ...
,
DC,
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics
...
, and
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...
to ship their comic books from a new distribution center in
Sparta, Illinois
Sparta is a city in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,095 at the 2020 census.
The city was the principal filming location for the 1967 film '' In the Heat of the Night''.
Consumer ammunition manufacturer Underwood a ...
beginning in Fall 1973,
thereby developing the concept of the
direct market
The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of:
* four major comic distributors:
** Lunar ...
distribution 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 buy
back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared.
Comics historian
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier (; born March 2, 1952) is an American comic book and television writer, known for his work on the animated TV series ''Garfield and Friends'' and on the comic book ''Groo the Wanderer''. He is also known for his columns and bl ...
, noting the significance, wrote that
Seuling ran Sea Gate with his then-girlfriend Jonni Levas.
[Rozanski]
"Evolution, Part IV"
''Comics Buyer's Guide
''Comics Buyer's Guide'' (''CBG''; ), established in 1971, was the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry. It awarded its annual Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards from 1983 to circa 2010. The public ...
'' #98 via MileHighComics.com. "Joni Levas, Phil's girlfriend of the time and partner in Seagate icDistributing." . 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.
By the late 1970s, however, thanks to Seuling's changes to distribution — and the merchandizing success of such comic-book-styled films as ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' and ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
'' — 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.
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.
Seuling maintained a virtual monopoly on comics distribution, until a lawsuit brought by
New Media/Irjax
New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book distributor and publisher active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1978, the company's legal actions against the dominant distributor of the era, Sea Gate Distributors, widened the fi ...
in 1978.
["Direct Distribution" in Duin, Steve and Richardson, Mike (ed.s). ''Comics Between the Panels'' ( Dark Horse Publishing, 1998), pp. 126-130.] Irjax sued DC, Marvel, Archie, and Warren for their anti-competitive arrangement with Seagate. As a result of the suit, Irjax eventually acquired "a sizable chunk of the direct-distribution market,"
and many of Seulings's sub-distributors left Sea Gate to become independent distributors.
Death
Seuling died of the rare liver disease
[Schelly]
p. 108
/ref> sclerosing cholangitis
Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a long-term progressive disease of the liver and gallbladder characterized by inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts, which normally allow bile to drain from the gallbladder. Affected individuals may ha ...
on August 21, 1984. The following year, Sea Gate closed down. Distribution competitors Bud Plant, Inc., and Capital City Distribution
Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin-based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comic Distributors. Under the name Capital Comics, they also published comics from 1981 to 198 ...
opened "an expanded facility in Sea Gate's old space in Sparta, alongside the efunct publisher Pacific Comics'">Pacific_Comics.html" ;"title="efunct publisher Pacific Comics">efunct publisher Pacific Comics'printing plant."
Personal life
By 1957, Seuling was married to Carole Seuling, with whom he had two daughters, Gwenn and Heather. The couple grew apart as Phil became more interested in hippie culture, separating in 1971 and eventually getting a divorce but remaining close. Carole would do a small amount of writing for comics, including co-creating, with artist George Tuska, Marvel Comics' jungle girl (character), jungle-girl heroine Shanna the She-Devil
Shanna the She-Devil (Shanna O'Hara, Lady Plunder) is a fictional jungle adventurer superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Carole Seuling and penciller George Tuska, she made her first appearance ...
in 1972. Seuling entered a romantic relationship with Jonni Levas, a former student who was instrumental in running Sea Gate.
Awards
Seuling was presented with an Inkpot Award
The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...
at the 1974 San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...
. In 1985, he was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication ''Fifty Who Made DC Great
''Fifty Who Made DC Great'' is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures.
Publication h ...
''.
See also
*List of book distributors
This is a list of book distributors, companies that act as distributors for book publishers, selling primarily to the book trade. The list includes defunct and merged/acquired companies, and distributors whose primary business is not books, such as ...
*Fifty Who Made DC Great
''Fifty Who Made DC Great'' is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures.
Publication h ...
References
Further reading
* Beerbohm, Robert. "Secret Origins of the Direct Market, Part 2: Phil Seuling and the Undergrounds Emerge." ''Comic Book Artist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
'' #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
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)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seuling, Phil
American businesspeople in retailing
American male voice actors
Comics industry
Businesspeople from New York City
1934 births
1984 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn