Keskustelujen arkisto

At 14:57 04.12.97 GMT, Nils Lid Hjort wrote:

><<Have you seen the new edition of "Xmas on Bear Mountain" that these days are
>landing in everybody's mailboxes. Isn't something strange with the drawn lines?
>Some of the pictures seem to have been redrawn, cf. in particular the older
>ducks' faces. Or is it only I who has such an idyllic memory image of this
>story from my childhood that any later edition must be a disappointment?>>

I've compared the new edition to my 1965-edition. (It took some time - my wife
forgot to buy Donald Duck on Tuesday)

There are no art changes I as far as I can see. But we've got a new
translation,
and improved colouring and lettering. (like no more blue snow or
brown rabbits in the winter).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vidar Svendsen http://home.sol.no/vsvends

Ja da. Du bad meg jo
hogge inn 100 ganger
at du ikke skulle spise
din nistes mat.

Obelix i "Damenes intogsmarsj"

http://home.sol.no/vsvends/biblix.htm

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT II:

The "persistent rumor"-mill is grinding away hard and fast. Not to put a
damper on anyone's fun, but I feel the urge to air a few boring facts:

Gladstone is solvent. And we aim to keep it that way.

Though our line is undergoing radical change, Gladstone is continuing to
publish comics and comic albums. (See my Wed, 10 Dec 1997 posting.)

Gladstone is and has been answering phones and e-mail as usual.

We do not view our obligations to our subscribers as moot.

Though I take issue with Augie's views on certain cited matters, his Wed,
10 Dec 1997 posting is, overall, a notably insightful reaction from a
Gladstone reader. (This in spite of the emotional state he says he was in
at the time he wrote it.) Recommended reading.

Updating our web site has been a procedural nightmare, so I ask all our
visitors to bear with us while we get our ducks nailed down.

That's all for now. Thanks for your time.

Gary

****************************
"Life ain't nohow permanent!" - Porkypine
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Gladstone on the Web: http://www.hamlco.com/bhc/
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Here is some more information about the Gladstone publishing suspension
situation from Michael Doran's Newsarama <http://www.mania.com>. I'm not real
happy about this. Who would have thought that the only Americans who can
afford to buy Disney comics are adults?

CBI Newsarama

by Michael Doran

-- GLADSTONE has announced they are suspending publication of their newsstand
format Disney Comics, effective immediately. UNCLE SCROOGE ADVENTURES #54,
DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES #48, DONALD DUCK #307, UNCLE SCROOGE & DONALD DUCK #2,
and the ADVENTUROUS UNCLE SCROOGE MCDUCK #2, will be the final issues
published.

Citing deteriorating sales and distribution terms in the US and Canadian
newsstand markets, they said it is no longer feasible for them to participate,
and that producing newsstand format comics for the direct market only is not a
"viable option at this time."

UNCLE SCROOGE will survive the cut, however. Gladstone's plan is for that
title to join Walt Disney's Comics and Stories as a monthly prestige format
title. The first issue, US #309, will be available to the direct market and to
subscribers on the same basis as Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, and is
scheduled to ship in March, 1998.

Gladstone also made special note of the fact that because the vast majority of
copies of their newsstand format comics have always been distributed outside
direct market channels, the "now infamous incident involving German customs
and Diamond Distribution is not a material factor in this development."

On Thu, 11 Dec 1997, Mitchell wrote:

> > When it comes to comics in England, just give it up!! This is no place to live if
> > thats one of your interests. I have only found a few Disney titles, and they are
> > nnot for those of age above five!
>
> (sigh) That's what I figured. I was more interested in a potential
> source for us poor benighted Yanks... :(
>
> -MMM-
>

Well there is other countries with English as an official language
Australia, New-Zeeland, India, Malta and others, wich migth produce
disney comics. You could have a look at:
http://home.pi.net/~wolfman/disney_comics_worldwide.html

About Gladstone in Norway:
When I was in Oslo to get a signed copy LaToSM
I saw a shop that was still selling Gladstone Comics,
I didn't have time to ask if they would continue to do so,
since I had to catch a train, but for those who are interested
the shop was Avalon, at the second floor of Pavileet at Karl Johan

Claus O. M. Havik

Augie asks:
> Now, can someone PLEASE explain to me why this list has been so
> damned quiet about this bombshell announcement? Sheesh

Because, when you get right down to it, what can we say? All we can
do is weep. One of the really nice things in life, that brings a
smile to our faces, is now going away. OK, I know that WDC and U$ will
still be sold in a "prestige" format, but any way you look at it, our
favorite feathered (and furry) friends will be making fewer visits to
our homes from now on, and we shall all be the poorer for that.

I fear that in the future, the news may be even worse - if Disney comics
are sold (in the USA) only in "prestige" formats, from where will the
next generation of fans come? The people who are paying big bucks to
subscribe to the expensive "album" format of Duck comics didn't
discover Barks by shelling out all that money as adults; they became
fans by plopping down their dimes for Dells, as kids. Now the current
generation of kids will certainly be unable to buy the Disney titles
in their new format, so what will become of Disney comics fandom next?
Part of the problem with the hobby now is that generations of potential
fans never discovered Disney comics during the desolate era between the
Whitman / Gold Key comics of the early 1970s and Gladstone's first run.
It seems that for all practical purposes, we're back to that situation
again, except at the big-budget end of the readership spectrum.

So, what's to be done? I'll ask for advice, from List members in the
more nearly Duck-enlightened parts of the world: which European version
of Disney comics should I start reading? Italian, French, German,
Scandanavian, even Greek? Not that I understand any of those languages,
of course; but I suppose I'll have to learn, in order to find out what
Donald and his friends are doing. After all, that's how (and why!) I
learned how to read English, when I was 4 or 5! Actually, I used to
know a bit of German, and I made a failed attempt to learn Norwegian
once when I thought I would have to be working in Norway for a while.
There was just no way I could get those sounds to come out of my mouth;
I sounded as hard to understand in Norwegian as the cartoon Donald Duck
does in English. Still, I could learn how to **read** those languages,
probably, so which country's Disney comics would be the most worthwhile?

In the meantime, it's back to the Barks library, yet again. As much
fun as that always is, it doesn't have the excitement of picking up a
new issue of DD and wondering what will happen in the never-before-
seen stories therein. As I said, one of life's little pleasures is
going away, and it's a real shame.

Wilmer Rivers

Augie write:

> Now, can someone PLEASE explain to me why this list has
> been so damned quiet about this bombshell announcement?

I don't really see it as a Big Deal - sure, all the newsstand comics are
being cancelled, but the monthly quantity of material will probably be
about the same. Since Uncle Scrooge is going to be in the same
monthly/deluxe format as WDC&S, it'll be like having the cancelled books
on glossy paper - the only difference is that now we won't be able to
pick & choose which issues we want to buy based on their content, we'll
have to shell out 12 bucks a month for a couple good stories :-)

- M

AUGIE:
>Now, can someone PLEASE explain to me why this list has been so
>damned quiet about this bombshell announcement? Sheesh.

I'm pretty damned upset about this. For the, I believe, past two or three
issues of PREVIEWS there has been no mention of any future issues
of "ENCHANTING STORIES" or "ACTION CLUB" coming from
Acclaim, so I began wondering if they, too, have suspended or even
dropped publication of Disney comics. "DISNEY ADVENTURES" has
cut waaaaay back on publishing new comics based on familiar characters
leaving us with some of their new offerings like "D&A" (a comic based
on a teenage boy and girl solving mysteries). Now this from Gladstone.
I realize it's a matter of economics, but that doesn't change my feeling.

When I look at the "DISNEY COMICS WORLDWIDE" online database,
it almost makes me wanna cry. There are so many titles offered all over
the world, but in the birth country of Mickey, Donald and Uncle $crooge
there's very little, and now, even less. I agree with Augie's commentary,
and I do place much of the blame squarely on Disney's lap, especially
considering all of the heavy restrictions and sensoring they enforce. I
wouldn't want to see Disney go the way of "Spawn" or others just to
booster readership, but there would seem to be a need for allowing much
more flexibility in storytelling in Disney comics to indeed attract more
readership. I have noticed Archie Comics seem to be using a form of
"modernizing" as a means to attract readers. Without being too radical
(like going the way of "Quack Pack"), perhaps Uncle $crooge, Donald
Duck and others need a face-lift: Both in storytelling and artwork. It
seems to me that "DuckTales" attracted many new readers, but about the
time that the comic dropped, so did interest in Disney comics. I feel like
I'm a member of a dying cult (perhaps I am?). As fans, what can we do?
I already buy ALL the Gladstone and Acclaim titles, and I buy Disney
Adventures whenever it has "real" Disney comics in it. I guess I can
start a new savings account with money I won't be needing to spend in
the future, eh?

Gee, and I was blithely hoping deep-down that "Mickey Mouse" would
soon be getting his own monthly title again (especially with the
announcment of "MouseWorks"). Disney Comics in the USA look bleak.

-Rich (xephyr)
http://www.jps.net/xephyr/rich/disney.html