New U.S. Disney comics

[Gary Leach]

There have been mutterings here that the new U.S. Disney comics will be 
devoid of the work of Don Rosa. This is not true. What is true that 
while the issues Don has raised are unresolved, we will not see any 
brand new story material from him, i.e. stories that have never seem 
publication anywhere. But there is a tidy backlog of Rosa material that 
has not been seen in the States, and catching up with that - as with 
the work of William and Noel Van Horn, the Blocks, The McGreals, Dave 
Rawson, the Gilberts, Vicar, Daan Jippes, Daniel Branca, Marco Rota, 
David Gerstein, Don Markstein, Geoff Blum, even yours truly, et al - is 
what Gemstone will be about for the near future. As of this writing I'm 
unaware of any objection on Don's part to Gemstone proceeding to 
present his existing material to the North American readership.

This tidy backlog of Rosa is, however, a very singular situation. There 
never has been, and it is highly unlikely there ever again will be, 
this much "unpublished" Rosa material available at one time. Even if 
Don resumed work at this very hour, and even if Gemstone proceeded to 
use the existing material very conservatively over the course of the 
first licensing period, that backlog is going to disappear. For good. 
So this is the moment when North American Don Rosa fans have the best 
guarantee of seeing "new" work on a regular basis.

We do need to be realistic. The issues being grappled with by Rosa, 
Italian Disney creators, Egmont, Disney Italy, Disney and Gemstone are 
important. They could conceivably stir disruptions even to the cozy 
scenario I outlined above. But I'm willing to be optimistic; goes with 
the job, really.

Gary