Keskustelujen arkisto

>>>> I'm not sure what I would do to try to sell Disney Comics, as it would seem
>>>> hard to break into any of those three markets; so somebody would need deep
>>>> pockets to even try.

Making suggestions is easy when you're a total layman, with insufficient knowledge of the arcane matters of publishing and licencing, and without the first cent to back up anything, but, for discussion's sake, my ideas (dreams?) would be the following.

Publish hardcover anthologies of Barks, Rosa, but also, at long last, of Gottfredson & Taliaferro-- the way Gladstone did with the CBL, or Gemstone & Dark Horse with E.C. & Warren comics respectively, or Fantagraphics with Peanuts.
So-called sensitive strips can easily be dealt with in introductions and essays, the way they do with Leonard Maltin's introductions on the DVDs.

Have softcover "samplers" of those, by theme for instance, for a larger audience.
Gemstone's Walt Disney Treasures was a splendid idea, which the Walt Disney Company ought to have supported and used by associating the books with the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs (DVD+book sets, and DVD & book sold separately but side by side).

The DVDs (Walt Disney Treasures or not) would be an excellent medium to promote "regular" Disney comic books, and vice versa-- ads, special offers (one DVD offered for a subscription to a title, a sample batch of comic issues offered for two DVDs bought, ...).

You should be able to buy the books & comics in Disney Stores around the world (not just in the parks).

In several cases, The Walt Disney Company ought to be more active in promoting the books: it is in their interest that the licenced books sell well (and forever), they can have ads in them, and I don't think distributing them in their stores would cost much more than the distribution of toys and plush dolls in their stores-- and an experiment could easily be made with relatively small quantities (which would not take much more shelf space than a few large dolls) in a few stores.

Olivier

Tony Leopold wrote:
> I have been to Disney World several times and have never, even once,
> seen a Disney comic book in any format there.

At Walt Disney World I've seen Gemstone comics at two places on my visit in
2005. There was a pile of them at the Art of Disney store in Downtown Disney
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfstad/2826294418/) and I believe I also saw
them in the shop inside Cinderella Castle.

> I have often wondered why they don't have a Disney Bookshop filled
> with Disney books and comics. It would be a nice fit in Downtown
> Disney.

They don't do this in Disneyland Paris either, which I've always found a bit
strange. Outside the park in France you can easily find Disney comics
anywhere, but not inside the park, not even at the book store in Town
Square.

Kind regards,

Arthur
http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/

What ever may be the future of the Disney Comics in the USA, I just wanted
to thank you Gary and all the people at Gemstone for having done a very good
job during the last years.
I sincerely think that someone will soon need your talents.

Gilles

Not sure if this refers only to things like statues, or if it's a sign
of things to come, but the following accompanies the description of a
Scrooge statue solicited in the new Previews: "Dark Horse is pleased
to announce a new license with Disney. We're giving one of the comic-
book medium's most revered casts of characters the Syroco-style
treatment in a new series of statuettes based on Uncle Scrooge
stories. First up is Uncle Scrooge."

From various friends and family visits to Disneyland and Disney World it
appears Disney has very little support for anything to do with the
characters created by Carl Barks.

I have had numerous experiences in my search for Scrooge at Disney
facilities.
I still remember asking if they had any Uncle Scrooge merchandise at a
Disney Store,
The clerk said she didn't think Uncle Scrooge was a Disney Character.
The Disney stores eventually stopped carrying anything adults would want to
buy and just catered to little kids and the newest Movie stuffed toys.
Many Disney Store clerks offered me forms to send to the main offices and
voice my disgust for their lack of adult merchandise.
In Disney World I found one place that would stitch on any logo onto a shirt
and they had a Scrooge emblem as one of the choices.
I don't think it is a total Disney lack of support, but by the merchandising
people.
I do recall walking around the Disney Lot (A friend was an employee) and
seeing Carl Barks' hand prints in cement and they had him there as a Disney
Legend. Dave Smith at the archives would tell you all about Carl and Dave is
always shown with a drawing of himself and Donald Duck.
We need to educate the people making merchandise
that we want more Scrooge related merchandise. They produce what they sell!
I read recently about Walt Disney's first license agreement to make a Mickey
Mouse Doll.
Walt asked the merchandiser how much he would charge Walt to make a Mickey
Doll,
The merchandiser said, "WE will pay you!" Walt replied, "That would be
better!"

Barry
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On Apr 4, 2009, at 1:26 PM, John Chadwick wrote:

> If you're talking strictly merchandise, yeah it's hard to find, but
> not completely absent. I have a Scrooge sweatshirt from a few years
> back that I cherish as well as a pin commemorating a Beagle Boys'
> anniversary, and of course a treasured signed and numbered Carl
> Barks lithograph I bought in an Art of Disney shop (although items
> like that are getting very scarce).
>
> Still I do find pleasure in the occasional presence of Barks
> influence in the parks. One of my favorites is the Cornelius Coot
> statue in Mickey's Toontown Fair at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney
> World. Sometimes, I even relate the tale of how he founded Duckburg
> when I visit with newbies. And if you're really lucky you might just
> run into the miser himself. (I was going to attach a picture of me
> with Scrooge, but I guess attachments aren't allowed.)
> On Apr 4, 2009, at 7:04 AM, Martin Andrew wrote:
>
>> For the DCML digest
>>
>> From various friends and family visits to Disneyland and Disney
>> World it appears Disney has very little support for anything to do
>> with the characters created by Carl Barks. I don?t know if Disney
>> have a ?wasn?t invented here? syndrome but I for one would purchase
>> Scrooge McDuck, Beagle Boys, Junior Woodchucks and Gyro Gearloose
>> merchandise. I still wear my Scrooge McDuck gold tie pin I bought
>> in Disneyland in 1995, even if it is a little worse for wear after
>> going through an industrial clothes dryer. If the theme parks
>> don?t support the characters how can a publisher garner support for
>> the titles and vice versa.
>>
>> I would purchase a silk Carl Barks or Don Rosa Scrooge McDuck tie
>> and a Beagle Boys one with the correct colours. I have worn my
>> Italian Scrooge McDuck tie, wrong colours and all, to various
>> prestigious university conferences, seminars and functions, a
>> parliamentary function, and business conferences since 2002 around
>> the world and have had nothing but compliments. I just believe
>> this is a market being missed out on.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Martin Andrew
>> _______________________________________________
>> http://nafsk.se/mailman/listinfo/dcml
>
> Visit Cartoon Character Hall of Fame at http://www.toonhalloffame.com
>
> www.supercreepers.com
>
>
>

Visit Cartoon Character Hall of Fame at http://www.toonhalloffame.com

www.supercreepers.com

Good evening Everyone,

I've finally found a quiet moment to voice my own thanks to everyone who has been associated with putting out the quality printings that we saw from Gladstone I and II, Gemstone and even Disney when they seemingly were allowed. It seems, from what I've gathered here and there, and against my fondest wishes, that Disney comics have really never been able to regain the foundation here that they enjoyed from the '40's through the '60's. It could be said that everyone who signed on for this voyage ended up watching the Titanic go down four times. Five, if you count the original demise of Dell/Gold Key/Whitman. You all have worked your darndest to give us Disney comics better than the so-called Golden Age for over twenty years. You have "fought the good fight" on our behalf and I give you my profound and sincerest thanks and kudos for your efforts. That said, I think the most important thing I am writing in this is the last paragraph, please read that
before the rest.

Let's set aside for the moment the issues affecting Gemstone that have been noted here and suggested by Geppi himself in last week's Scoop (Gemstone's collectibles newsletter that you can subscribe to). I've gained some insight into the mentality that prevents outside help from occurring when I was working part-time for the Disney Stores in the '90's. Some of you are already familiar with my soapbox on this subject; I'll try to say *something* new or insightful.

We have, I believe, all read the beseeching here for the parent company to come in and support this. Understandable, for many of us here, this is our most tangible and important link to Disney. I would guess that for not a few of us, a trip to the theater to see the latest Disney or Disney/Pixar animated film or a trip to one of the theme parks is not what really means Disney to us as much as the classic characters on the printed page. It has been incredibly frustrating to see the item we love downright ignored in the places that would, we believe, introduce the object of our adoration to others. And that right there is the problem. If you are a merchandise buyer for the parks or the stores you are first looking for something that either has a track record, or you have solid research (read "test marketing" or "polling") that it *will* sell. Our wonderful books fall short for a number of reasons here. First, the buyers are looking for sales of
whatever in the tens or hundreds of thousands in under-$10 to $20 category; a few thousand doesn't cut it (yes, the Catch-22 logic of this is deliciously ironic). Second, they're a printed product which is hard to market when the classic characters are taking a decidedly back seat position. (I contend this even though they trot them out once in a while, overall it seems that in the marketing world it is all about Princesses and the latest flick.) Third, books seem to be difficult for Disney to market outside of a bookstore. Even when it is attempted, as referenced by Arthur's photos from The Art of Disney in Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World, they are a periodical and The Art of Disney was not set up for selling periodicals. And these are roadblocks just with the parent company! Disney does not have any obligation to aid any of its licensees, regardless of what we might want, hope or dream.

We all, I believe, held out great hopes of the big marketing breaks for the comics with the chain bookstores, Walmart, Target, etc. I'm not certain how much and how far that went, but I do wager that it wasn't easy however far it went. You are competing against everyone else who wants to get their printed page on a shelf at Borders. The largest Borders or Barnes and Noble, in spite of their seemingly endless rows of shelves still has a finite number of display shelf feet available. Everyone has to pony something up to play with the big boys. They pick you and not the other way round.

If I am mistaken in any of this, please Gary, David, correct me.

Couple this with a US public who no longer views comic books as one of those things that just naturally goes along with childhood and I think you have a true Herculean uphill battle. And if you do get a parent interested, unless they are someone who has been around comics for the last 20 years, they are definitely going to balk at the price. It does not matter one iota that everything else has gone up as well, the cliche of the "cheap" comic book dies a hard death - "why aren't they [depending upon your age] 15/20/25/50 cents a copy?" Even more scary - kids are mostly not interested. If they are, they have moved on to super heroes by the time they are five or six and the complexity, richness and sophistication of the stories that we love are completely lost on them. Add in the so often demonized computer/video games and it paints a bleak iceberg filled seascape through which our Titanic must maneuver. So, very, very frustrating.

Still, I hope that something good can still happen, but I would guess no one is really still on staff with Gemstone.

Which brings me to something that people have skirted around, but I've not seen anyone address directly: I am currently even worried more about the livelihoods of our friends there at Gemstone than the comics. They didn't work in a vacuum after all - they've become one of those wretched statistics we're seeing every day. They've got families, mortgages, utility bills, vehicle payments, etc. This economy is not affording them many options I would guess. Those of you with Gemstone - how are you all doing? And what can we, as a community, small though it may be, do to help you if you need it? I suggest to the DCML membership and the Disney comic readership beyond (if it exists) that we are after all their friends, whether or not they know us personally. I'm not exactly certain how to approach this, especially when I am comparatively close to a similar situation myself, but doggone it - twenty plus years of giving the rest of us enjoyment in a
precarious business deserves something more than a few keys typed here. Anyone have any ideas? I might not be able to help much, but I will do what I am able.

Thanks for everyone's patience with this long post,
Good night,
Chuck Munson
Herndon, Virginia, USA