Multiversity’s history column returns to explore important events from the comic industry. This week’s theme is the month of April, and I’ll cover relevant stories in “Green Lantern,” the development of alternative comics with “Star*Reach,” the birth of Capital City, and the rise and fall of Dreamwave. Enjoy!
In 1970, the popularity of superheroes was waning. Sales of “Green Lantern” were down and the series was on the verge of cancellation when it was reassigned to writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neil Adams effective issue 76, cover dated April. As is often the case, the low sales meant the title was receiving less attention from management and the creators could be more experimental. Their obvious change was to turn occasional guest star Green Arrow into a permanent costar with equal cover billing. Their more subtle change was to confront real world problems in their stories instead of just supervillains. In these situations, Green Arrow plays the role of the intelligent progressive and Green Lantern plays the conservative straw man with no coherent rebuttal to basic questions. In their first outing, Green Lantern is confronted by an elderly black man who wants an explanation for why GL works for blue skinned aliens and has aided orange and purple skinned aliens, but has never assisted black skinned humans. Ignoring the real answer, GL is unable to think of a response.
In issue 83, the heroes confronted a villainous stand-in for Vice President Spiro Agnew. The creators soon received a letter from Republican Florida Governor Claude R Kirk Jr. warning that he’d discontinue distribution of DC Comics in his state (he left office before he could make good on the threat). As the stories continued, mainstream media like the “Wall Street Journal” and the “New York Times” covered them with positive reviews and cited them as evidence that comics were maturing. Whether it was the positive coverage or just the zeitgeist of the era, the relevant material began popping up in other places, such as the 1971 drug issues of “Amazing Spider-Man” and Iron Man’s drinking problems. O’Neil and Adams introduced John Stewart, DC’s first black superhero, as a substitute Green Lantern in issue 87.
Unfortunately, the groundbreaking material and positive critical response did not translate into commercial success. The series saw no sales increase, and was canceled at issue 89 in April 1972.
In April 1974, in the early days of alternative comics, Mike Friedrich tried to bridge the gap between the outrageously obscene underground comix and the squeaky-clean comics approved by the Comics Code Authority with “Star*Reach” #1, the first commercially produced comic for non-newsstand distribution. The anthology contained works by creators like Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Walt Simonson, and Al Milgrom. Friedrich put effort into the production value, utilizing Baxter paper stock and superior printing methods years before the major publishers would attempt it.
One of Friedrich’s innovations with “Star*Reach” was to keep it in print after its initial release. This practice wasn’t available with newsstand distribution, but it worked well for mail order and the infant business of specialty stores. It also worked well for Friedrich at first, as he was able to capitalize on the positive word of mouth the series received. After his first year, however, the growing inventory began to create cash flow problems. “Star*Reach” was cancelled at issue #18 in 1979.
While the series was viewed as a nice fanzine by most of the comic industry, it did have some lasting impact. George Lucas enjoyed Chaykin’s Cody Starbuck character enough to incorporate parts of him into Han Solo when he made Star Wars, and was the prime reason Chaykin was offered the art position on Marvel’s “Star Wars” adaptation. Friedrich, meanwhile, used he experience with sales to the direct market to secure a position at Marvel in 1980 setting up the company’s direct sales department.
After the Seagate – Irjax lawsuits settled in the late 1970s, there was a crowded field of comic distributors all vying for growth. Detroit-based Big Rapids Distribution was a regional distributor who had specialized in underground material like newspapers and comics since its founding in 1970. It expanded rapidly by acquisition, but overextended itself and went bankrupt in 1980 (leaving Marvel to write off $100,000 of bad debt).Continued below
Two Big Rapids employees, who had themselves been acquired when Big Rapids bought a Wisconsin distributor, felt they had the experience to pick up the pieces and fill the gap Big Rapids left behind. So it came to pass that in April 1980, Milton Griepp and John Davis founded Capital City Distribution in Madison, Wisconsin as a comics-only business. They shared warehouse space with the largest of their 17 retail accounts, Westfield Comics, and brought many new dealers to the comic retailer field with their aggressively pursuit of new clients. To entice existing retailers away from competing distributors, Griepp and Davis created the Capital Comics subsidiary to produce their own comic books. They hired Richard Bruning as their graphic designer, and he made sure issues of “Nexus,” “Badger,” and “Whisper” had production value equal to or greater than Marvel and DC’s contemporary output.
Capital City soon crafted a newsletter called “Internal Correspondence,” and later a wholesale catalog for retailers called “Advance Comics” The latter included recent sales figures, which provided retailers with important information on sales they could be missing. By 1988, Capital City was the nation’s largest comic distributor. “Advance Comics” was later reformatted to be fan-friendly, and in 1994 Capital City took the lead on punishing publishers who missed shipping deadlines. The turmoil following Marvel’s purchase of Heroes World led to Capital City’s collapse and sale to its largest competitor, Diamond Distribution, in July 1996.
You can read more about Capital’s early days in this recollection from Griepp published in 2020.
In the Fall of 2001, Devil’s Due released a new licensed “GI Joe” comic through Image, and high demand among readers surprised many unprepared retailers. They recognized their error and were better stocked when Pat Lee’s Dreamwave Productions launched “Transformers: Generation One” #1 in April 2002. They ordered so heavy on it, in fact, that it became the first comic from a non-premiere publisher to top Diamond Distribution’s sales charts. Everyone noticed, and other companies wanted a piece of the pie that sold 165,000 copies. A flood of 80s nostalgia comics followed, including “Battle of the Planets,” “Micronauts,” “Ninja Turtles,” “He-Man,” “Robotech,” and “Voltron.”
Dreamwave was able to maintain its success for a little over three years with G1 sequels, alternate continuities like Armada or War Within, and crossovers with “GI Joe.” However, financial mismanagement meant some artists received late or partial payments, leading to Dreamwave’s bankruptcy in 2005.
When IDW rebooted the Transformers franchise, they started with a 99-cent zero issue. This time, retailers played it more conservatively, with orders on the first issue around a quarter of Dreamwave’s sales. While I personally loved the “Infiltration” miniseries and its sequels (they’re what brought me back to the comic hobby after a ten year hiatus), a retailer once told me it had still been over-ordered and that he’d probably use his copies as kindling.
