Capital City Distribution records, 1981-1996

Summary Information

Description

Scope and Contents

This collection includes monthly order forms from 1981 through 1996, as well as weekly releases, monthly order reports, and a variety of sales reports, from 1985-1996, detailing sales by vendor, geographic area, and more.

• Series I: Monthly Order Forms, 1981-1996

  These started out in the early 80s as just a single sheet of paper listing titles, issue numbers, prices, ship dates, and the writer and artist for comics, with even less info for magazines.

  Over time, the monthly order for became the Orderpak, a wholesale ordering tool.

  Advance Comics, a consumer version of the monthly order forms was added in the mid-80s. The Orderpak was still produced as the wholesale order form. Each had somewhat different info for the two audiences.

  After a short while, a consumer order book (the Advance Comics Order Form) was added, so there were separate order forms for retail and wholesale, each with small amounts of unique info, and a single book (Advance Comics) with the most in-depth editorial information.

  We broke out the Adult Supplement in the 90s, to segregate material that couldn't be sold to under-age consumers.

  For a short time in the 90s, Marvel insisted that we send out their own catalogue with Advance Comics, which is included in the folders.

• Series II: New Weekly Releases, 1984-1996

  This publication lists the items Capital City Distribution shipped each week. There were also Special Solicitations, for advance orders for titles that we had insufficient lead time to list in Advance Comics, included in NWR.

• Series III: Monthly Orders (Dropship Totals), 1988-1996

  These are the advance orders that Capital City Distribution placed with publishers (based on pre-orders to CCD, plus extras) for the months indicated. Sorted by the order in the monthly order form.

• Series IV: Dollar Total, 1994-1996

  These are the advance orders that Capital City Distribution placed with publishers (based on pre-orders to CCD, plus extras) for the months indicated. Sorted in dollar order.

• Series V: Other Monthly Sales Reports, 1985-1996

  These are reports, increasing in detail and variety as time went on, that provide information on Capital City Distribution purchases and sales along a variety of parameters, including Publisher Market Share, showing purchases by vendor, average cover price, and other data; Branch Dollar Totals, which show volumes by location, providing geographic data; Top Dollar and Top Unit Comics, showing ranked sales by title. There are also some quarterly and annual reports, grouped with the last month of the period.

Arrangement

• Series I: Monthly Order Forms, 1981-1996
• Series II: New Weekly Releases, 1984-1996
• Series III: Monthly Orders (Dropship Totals), 1988-1996
• Series IV: Dollar Total, 1994-1996
• Series V: Other Monthly Sales Reports, 1985-1996

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

Conditions Governing Use

Single reproductions may be made for research purposes. It is the responsibility of the user to secure permission for publication or use from the appropriate copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Capital City Distribution Records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Content Description

Capital City Distribution, in Madison WI, founded by Milton Griepp, was one of the most prominent comics distributors at the dawn of the direct market. Its marketing materials and data collection were unusually sophisticated, particularly in contrast with their competitors.

Milton Griepp (born c. 1954) is an American businessman who has spent the bulk of his career involved with American comic books. He was the co-founder and CEO of Capital City Distribution, a distributor of comic books and related material, from 1980 to 1996. In 2001, he founded the online trade magazine ICv2 and acts as its CEO.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

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Genre/Form
Comics (Graphic works)	CLIO Catalog	ArchiveGRID