Numerous questions and comments about Gemstone

deanmary deanmary at zoominternet.net
Wed Apr 20 22:09:47 CEST 2005


This is going to be full of questions for Gary or anyone else at
Gemstone and some comments.

I must say how thrilled I am about Gemstones upcoming plans!  They
sound quite ambitious and contain a lot of great things!

First off, a couple of questions about Donald Duck Adventures and
Mickey Mouse Adventures.  I think about a year ago we heard that they
were going to be available in Borders, and Barnes and Noble
bookstores.  As far as I can tell though, they are not carrying them
yet.  Has there been some snag in these plans or other hold up?  If
so, are they eventually going to appear in these stores or is that not
going to happen at all? Also, are we going to be seeing any long
classic stories by such Italian greats such as Scarpa, Cavazzano, etc.
in upcoming issues of DDA and MMA?  I have been enjoying the stories
that have been put in DDA and MMA so far, but I am surprised that this
format has not been used to showcase some of these classic long
stories by such greats.  Is there a reason such creators have not
appeared in DDA and MMA yet?

It looks like we *will* be seeing some work by Cavazzano soon
according to inducks.  While the interview on www.comicon.com/pulse
says that the upcoming World of the Dragon Lords will be by Ferioli, I
think this is a mistake and the story was done by Cavazzano.  Can
anyone confirm this?

With the Lo$ and the Dragon Lords TPBs, we will be getting two new
TPBs in the space of only a few months!  I have been waiting for
Gemstone to get into publishing TPBs since they got the license, and I
am happy to see that they are publishing two so near in the future.
If Lo$ and Dragon Lords sell well, how big an effect will that have
the possibility of printing many more TPBs in the future?  As I have
stated many times on this mailing list, I think Gemstone could do very
well with publishing a number of TPBs.  It looks like we will find out
in the upcoming months.  I hope that they turn out to be a great
success for Gemstone and just the start of numerous upcoming TPB
collections.  If that do not sell well :(, Gary can tell me how wrong
I was!  I guess it is "put up, or shut up" time for me in that regard!
:)

Since the follow up to the Lo$ TPB with other tales of Scrooge's past
can at most include 6 such stories, are there any thoughts to
including other Rosa stories that would fit well with these stories?
Two that come to my mind are "The Dutchman's Secret" being a sequel to
"The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff", and "The Dream of a Lifetime" since it
deals so much with Scrooge's past.  Are there other stories that
people on the list would like to see in a second Lo$ TPB?

I was wondering if you could tell us Gary if there are plans, however
nebulous and far away yet, for not only a Barks TPB library but also a
Rosa and Van Horn TPB library?  If there are no such plans, could you
say why?  Perhaps Gemstone does not feel they would sell well, or
there is not enough manpower at Gemstone now for such a plan?  Of
course there may be many other reasons as well.

I am thrilled to hear the Gemstone is going to publish "Mickey and the
Gang" late this year!  According to Amazon, the softcover version will
only cost $39.99.  I really appreciate the fact of Gemstone making an
affordable softcover version for people who can not afford the $149
hardcover version.  If I am not mistaken, I believe that Applewood
Books was going to publish a similar books about 7 or 8 years ago but
somehow it did not get published.  Whatever the case, I am thrilled
that Gemstone is going to be publishing such a great collection of the
Disney pages from Good Housekeeping Magazine!

I must admit I get somewhat confused reading all about the "stats" and
which company has them, which are available, etc.  However, does this
issue explain why certain Barks' reprints published by Gemstone look
just great while others look kind of muddy and photocopied badly?

Finally, on an off topic point, I have to second what Cord Wiljes said
about the Little Lulu comics being reprinted by Dark Horse.  I too had
never read Little Lulu stories, and they are just fantastic!  I
imagine that many people who appreciate Barks' work would love to read
these stories as well.

Dean Rekich





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