1986 was a very different time for comics. There were around twenty distributors, and you could fit all of the significant publishers into one exhibit hall at the Holiday Inn at the Embarcadero for the Trade Show that was held prior to the actual convention (which was a few miles away at the old convention center). An example of a publisher going all-out in their display was the two fake palm trees Malibu Publishing brought in to bracket the booth.

The distributor group, IADD (International Association for Direct Distribution) scheduled meetings with attending publishers so we could present our new books. I dutifully signed up, then showed up at the appointed time at the conference room they had set up for the meetings.

In the anteroom, a flunky was guarding the door, and informed me that the room was off-limits because of the private meetings with publishers. I insisted I was a publisher, and it was my turn next. He looked through the list, saw my company name, and apologized, saying he was expecting Mr. Owen.

"I am Mr. Owen," I said with as much gravitas as I could muster. He blinked a few times, then nodded me into the room.

Entering, I saw that Bruce Bristow, the sales director for DC Comics, was still going strong with his presentation. The distributors were all listening attentively, and I stood politely at the back of the room - until Bristow noticed me and waved me up.

I assumed he was going to relinquish the floor to me, but instead, he took the box with twenty PRYDERI TERRA in it out of my hands, then asked if I'd get him a cup of coffee. He never stopped his pitch.

So, while I went to the refreshment table to get his coffee, I watched as he handed out copies of my comic book to the distributors, talking all the while about how this was "...the most exciting new project DC is publishing."

The distributors started thumbing through my comic while Bristow blathered on, and when I brought him the coffee he finally paused long enough to notice the puzzled expressions around the table.

He picked up a copy of the book, then looked at me and said "This isn't the comic I was expecting. What the hell is this?"

I handed him the coffee. "That's my book, and you're now five minutes into my presentation time."

Everyone laughed. Bristow apologized and excused himself. And two of the distributors - Bud Plant and Chuck Rozanski - commented, "Well, if you got DC Comics to shill your book, we may as well put in an order."

They did. And so did everyone else. So, basically, PRYDERI TERRA was self-published - but some of the more effective marketing was done by DC Comics. And all it cost me was a cup of coffee I didn't have to pay for.



We ended up selling enough at retail to make up for the wholesale price mixup losses, and that was at $1.75 per copy. Nowadays, they run about a hundred bucks. Who knew?

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