DCML Digest, Vol 132, Issue 1

[Brian Tucker]

The long standing practice of WDC&S was to open each issue with a Duck 10
pager, and close it with a chapter of a Mouse serial. Many of the Mouse
serials only ran for 3 issues, but in the early days, there were longer
serials. The stories in between the Duck story and the Mouse serial featured
various other characters. For years, WDC&S was THE best selling comic of
all, using that format.

I think the fact that WDC&S is now being cut back to a bi-monthly is
indicative of poor sales. I would interpret that to mean that the long
Zodiac Stone story was not popular with North American readers. 

BOOM pretty much killed off WDC&S (and the entire Disney line) with their
horribly misguided attempt at publishing them. I had hoped for great(er)
things when IDW took over, but I think they completely missed the mark with
WDC&S. I don't think it's too late to recover, however. WDC&S can recover,
if they change it back to something closer to what it traditionally was.

Brian (I have purchased EVERY issue of WDC&S as they came out, since 1954).

Previous messages:

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 12:06:25 +0300
From: Kriton Kyrimis <kyrimis at alumni.princeton.edu>
To: Disney Comics <dcml at nafsk.se>
Subject: The Zodiac Stone
Message-ID:
	<98ff4c2d-95ae-7022-88b6-21713d985d26 at alumni.princeton.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-7; format=flowed

I guess this is another question for David.

Now that the Zodiac Stone is finally completed, I was wondering what its
reception was in the US.

The story was originally published in 12 issues of Topolino, in the space of
three months. This is a lot of time for a kid to wait, so publishing the
story in the course of an entire year seems absurd to me. What kid (or
adult, for that matter) has the patience to wait an entire year, to read a
story? 
Certainly not me, who resented having to wait for *an entire week* to read
the second part of a two-part story!

I think that the Greek publishers were aware of this, as the story was first
published complete in a single volume, and only ten years later, after the
story had become known, did they reprint it in weekly installments.

When I raised this question in my blog, someone answered that US readers
don't mind such long-running stories, and that a Batman story ark, e.g., was
recently completed after five years. On the other hand, sites listing
upcoming comic books say that "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories returns to
'done-in-one' stories this issue" for next issue. Given that they all use
the same phrasing, I assume that they are quoting an official press release.

Coupled with the fact that the next issue will be deploying modern Disney
comics' heavy artillery (Casty), does this mean that the long story ark was
not popular with the readers?

So, to reiterate, what was the reception of the Zodiac Stone in the US?

         Kriton.
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"First law of space-time travel: avoid voids."
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 09:14:00 +0000
From: Francesco Spreafico <francesco.spreafico at gmail.com>
To: Disney Comics <dcml at nafsk.se>
Subject: Re: The Zodiac Stone
Message-ID:
	<CAGOBsQAN8w=TdWm=_ChJ-WEdyp8zxdTe6onnytEiuv-Wa7pG+g at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 11:06 AM Kriton Kyrimis <
kyrimis at alumni.princeton.edu> wrote:

The story was originally published in 12 issues of Topolino, in the space of
> three months. This is a lot of time for a kid to wait, so publishing 
> the story in the course of an entire year seems absurd to me. What kid 
> (or adult, for that matter) has the patience to wait an entire year, 
> to read a story?
> Certainly not me, who resented having to wait for *an entire week* to 
> read the second part of a two-part story!
>

How weird, for me it's the *exact opposite*. As a kid I *loved* multi part
stories, the longer, the better. You could really *live* inside the stories
for weeks, think about them, speculate on what could happen next, and
re-read them many times to be ready for the next part. "Paperolimpiadi",
"Zodiac Stone", "Messer Papero", "Marco Polo", "Il vento del Sud"... I have
the best memories of these, not only because they're great stories, but also
because the were kept alive for many weeks.

When Topolino started publishing multiparters on the same issue I was very,
very, very sad (and I still am!). Luckily we still get a few multipartes
nowadays...

(This list is still alive? Wow...)

--
Francesco
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 12:37:47 +0300
From: Kriton Kyrimis <kyrimis at alumni.princeton.edu>
To: dcml at nafsk.se
Subject: Re: The Zodiac Stone
Message-ID:
	<3349568c-657a-6b85-37d4-54859b041f59 at alumni.princeton.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

> When Topolino started publishing multiparters on the same issue I was 
> very, very, very sad (and I still am!).

I, on the other hand, love those multi-parters, that are completed in the
same issue; long stories without the wait! I guess the Italian publisher
feels the same as I, publishing long adventures in a single issue, but
splitting them into parts, so that they can be reprinted in other countries,
e.g., the US, where comic books have far fewer pages than Topolino.

>  Luckily we still get a few multipartes nowadays...

I also love that the new Greek publisher often publishes these stories
complete in one issue, or in batches of two parts or more, if they won't
fit. 
E.g., they recently published all five parts of "Dove osano le papere" in
one issue, which I enjoyed tremendously.

I guess I'm not a very patient person!

         Kriton.
-----
"First law of space-time travel: avoid voids."
--