six signed, colored plates meant to accompany a Doug Moench and Buscema three-issue Weirdworld epic-fantasy tale which ran in Marvel Comics Super Special #11-13 (June-Oct. 1979). In 1981, rival distributor Capital City launched a black-and-white title, Nexus, and distributed it through their own system. The Schanes brothers took note, and decided to follow suit, even though they were still paying off debt from a $300,000 bank loan taken out in 1979 at 25 percent interest. Steve — who, with a degree in sculpture had a background in art — handled negotiations with creators, while Bill took on the business and accounting end. The brothers turned to Jack Kirby. Steve Schanes recalled, "I figured if you want to get people's attention with a new comic book, who better to do it with than the King of Comics, Jack Kirby! We were already friends with Jack. We used to send him free copies of comics he'd drawn for other publishers because they never sent him any! So I just went ahead and called him on the phone, and he turned out to be a nice guy, completely accessible. ... We negotiated a whole detailed publishing deal between the two of us. No middlemen." The Schaneses asked Kirby, who had effectively quit comics in 1978, for only the publishing rights, assuring him that he could keep full ownership and copyrights, and said they would even help him license characters for use overseas or in other media. Thus, Pacific claims to have become the first company to pay royalty payments to Kirby. Kirby provided Pacific with Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers, which was published bimonthly from August 1981. Though the Schaneses anticipated sales of less than 25,000, the first issue sold 110,000 copies. Kirby then let Pacific publish his Silver Star, and the brothers decided to start a line of full-color mainstream comic books. Before long, Pacific had attracted interest from other comics professionals, including Mike Grell (who recalls that he was actually the first to sign with Pacific by a couple of weeks, but that Kirby's work was published first because he "delivered his first.") who had planned his Starslayer to appear from DC, but after it dropped from the schedule, the Schaneses approached him about publishing it. Another invitee was then-aspiring artist Dave Stevens, who purchased comics from Pacific's shops and had met the brothers at the San Diego Comic-Con in