For our article on the early days of the Direct Market (see “How the Drive to Get Comics Created the Direct Market“), ICv2 interviewed many of the pioneers of comics retailing. One of them is Bob Wayne, who started out selling comics in Fort Worth, Texas, before moving on to DC Comics, where he stayed for 28 years, retiring in 2014 as SVP – Sales and Marketing. In the interview, Wayne talks about dealing with distributors, including Phil Seuling’s Sea Gate, and the comics retail scene in Fort Worth in the 1980s.
The video is embedded below, and we are also making available a lightly edited transcript of the interview (see “ICv2 Interview: Bob Wayne“).
Wayne shared more of his memories of the early days of the Direct Market in his keynote address to the 2023 Diamond Retailer Summit, which he shared as a guest column (see “Bob Wayne’s 2023 Diamond Retailer Summit Keynote“).
This article is part of ICv2’s Comics Direct Market 50th Anniversary celebration; for more, see “Comics Direct Market 50th Anniversary.”
Source: ICV2
