Parkway; and Gray Morrow, formerly of East Flatbush. Seuling appeared on the July 28, 1977 episode of the Mike Douglas Show to discuss comic book collecting and conventions along with a surprise appearance by Wendy Pini cosplaying as Red Sonja. Sea Gate Distributors In 1972, Seuling founded Sea Gate Distributors, named after the Brooklyn community Sea Gate, where he lived as an adult. Seuling cut deals with Archie, DC, Marvel, and Warren to ship their comic books from a new distribution center in Sparta, Illinois beginning in Fall 1973, thereby developing the concept of the direct market distribution system for getting comics directly into comic book specialty shops, bypassing the then established newspaper/magazine distributor method. The move from newsstand distribution to the direct market (nonreturnable, heavily discounted, direct purchasing of comics from publishers) went hand-in-hand with the growth of specialty comics shops that catered to collectors who could then buy back issues months after a newsstand issue had disappeared. Comics historian Mark Evanier, noting the significance, wrote that Seuling ran Sea Gate with his then-girlfriend Jonni Levas. A key element of Sea Gate's new distribution system was a prepay requirement for customers, which, given the low margins of comics retailing at the time (and the fact that many books shipped late), was onerous for many of the stores. By the late 1970s, however, thanks to Seuling's changes to distribution — and the merchandizing success of such comic-book-styled films as Star Wars and Superman — comics were selling well: in the six years between 1974 and 1980, U.S. "comic or fantasy-related specialty shops" rose from 200 or 300 to around 1500. In late 1977 or early 1978, Sea Gate set up regional sub-distributors who were buying product at a 50% discount. This reduced Seuling's paperwork and enabled the sub-distributors to sell smaller orders than Sea Gate's minimum of five copies of each comic book title. Seuling maintained a virtual monopoly on comics distribution, until a lawsuit brought by New Media/Irjax in 1978. Irjax sued DC, Marvel, Archie, and Warren for their anti-competitive arrangement with Seagate. As a result of the suit, Irjax eventually acquired "a sizable chunk of the direct-distribution market," and many of Seulings's sub-distributors left Sea Gate to become independent distributors. Death Seuling died of the rare liver disease sclerosing cholangitis on August 21, 1984. The following year, Sea Gate closed down. Distribution competitors Bud Plant, Inc., and Capital