Marvelous Distribution

[Tryg Helseth]

DON:
>	No, Marvel doesn't distribute its own comics on a national basis
>(i.e. newsstands, other public places). Local distribution companies
>(i.e.: the Mafia) has charge of that.

The Mafia, eh?  I suppose the LA gangs will be taking it over soon... :)
 
>	Actually, the system may have been different back in the 50s...
>I would be surprised if Dell didn't control its own distribution
>somehow, but I think DC was owned by a company that distributed
>periodicals, and that was the reason why, in 1956, Marvel/Atlas was
>forced to cut back from publishing about 100 titles to about 6 --
>because they were limited to that many by their competitor.

Was that National Periodicals back then?  Dell must have had some kind of 
control to keep DC from squeezing them out, unless they didn't consider 
them to be competition.  There must have been a good reason why Western 
Publishing went with Dell for distributing their comics and stuck with them 
all those years...  Then again, something must have changed in the '60s for 
Western to do their own distribution.

Tryg