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Quote from user: Robb_KQuote from user: Roger NorthI hope another company will produce Disney Comics too if Gemstone doesn't resume publication.
Who is willing to spend money to not make a profit (e.g. charity)???
I've seen lots of posts by lots of people on this theme -- that Gemstone supposedly dropped Disney comics because those comics lost money -- so I'm not picking on Rob here (or anyone else).

That said... Gemstone hasn't actually stated why they stopped publishing Disney comics. There could be a hundred different reasons. For all we know, the Disney comics could've been making money, but Gemstone stopped for some other reason.

Gemstone's EC reprint books seem to have stopped as well, for example. Maybe *they* somehow are the problem? On an auction website I follow once in a while, it was just stated that Geppi has sold back the Morphy auction company to its former owner. Maybe it lost money that could only be offset by cutting costs elsewhere? According to various comic book news sites, Geppi has been juggling several large debts recently. Maybe *they* are the real problem?!

But this is all speculative, since I haven't talked to Steve Geppi about this! None of us have, I guess. We can invent lots of other reasons why Gemstone would have stopped publishing Disney comics, but they would all be guesswork based on almost *no* facts. And that would be unfair towards Geppi *and* our beloved Disney comics.

My suggestion: we stop speculating why Gemstone ended their line of Disney comics and instead look forward to the day when someone will (hopefully) resume publishing those books. Stating as fact that Disney comics will always lose money is a sure-fire way of scaring away any interested publishers. And that would be especially sad when we don't even know how well Gemstone's Disney comics actually did financially.

Quote from user: Robb_KI never stated that Gemstone stopped publishing Disney Comics because they were losing money producing them. It may well be that Gemstone stopped publishing them for reasons entirely related to Gemstone, but related to Diamond Distributors' printing debt, or another non Gemstone bottom line factor. That is an issue not factored into my statement.

I made a general statement that there is almost no perceivable market to sell an English-language traditional Disney character based traditional-style comic book. We were very, very lucky to have Gladstone, Gemstone and Egmont in Britain publish their Disney comics, as the markets for buying them never looked very promising. They were a gamble at best. The future for traditional paper/physical comic books appears to seem even worse, with comics available online. Given today's costs of paper and colour printing(and their likely continuing periodic increases), a proven market of 5,000 to 6,000 purchasers for monthly books at US $ price of $8.00, does not allow sufficient profit levels (in just about any scenario) to attract any publisher interested in making a reasonable profit.

I will be VERY glad if traditional Disney comics are published again in USA (especially by Gemstone-but by anyone). IF we do see their return, we will be very, very lucky. I hope Diamond and Gemstone get all the problems sorted out, and Gemstone starts printing and shipping again. I am certainly not ruling it out altogether, as Geppi has stated that he hopes to do that. If it appeared to Geppi that there will be no way that Gemstone Disney Comics could return to publishing operations, he would have announced that fact.

I, like you, hope that some publishing firm will start publishing high-quality English language Disney Comics for The English-speaking nations.
I agree with you there Robb. I too wish that Gemstone or some other company will resume publishing them. I don't care who publishes them as long as there are Disney Comics to be published.

Quote from user: Robb_KI made a general statement that there is almost no perceivable market to sell an English-language traditional Disney character based traditional-style comic book. We were very, very lucky to have Gladstone, Gemstone and Egmont in Britain publish their Disney comics, as the markets for buying them never looked very promising.
Actually, we weren't lucky to have Egmont in Britain at all -- it wasn't due to luck that those comics were published. The economy experts at Egmont made a market analysis and calculated that there would be a profit in publishing Disney comics in Britain. Same as they do with any other publishing venture. In fact, around 1990 the Disney comics in Britain were so popular that a rival publisher got in a bidding war for the license when it came up for renewal with Disney. When the rival publisher outbid Egmont, Egmont was so eager to have the license that a short time later, they bought the rival publisher.

We weren't lucky with Gladstone, either... The market may not have looked incredibly promising, but Bruce Hamilton nevertheless calculated that he would make money on the Disney license. Hamilton was a lover of Disney comics, but also a crafty businessman.

And as for Gemstone... In the late 1980s Gladstone had sold Disney comics by the hundred thousand copies per issue. Sure, by 2003 one could assume the market had shrunk, but even so, experienced businessman Steve Geppi would have calculated he would at the very least break even on the Disney license, or he wouldn't have bought it. So no luck was involved there, either.

No luck. Just some businessmen who dared to take a calculated risk.

Quote from user: Robb_KThey were a gamble at best. The future for traditional paper/physical comic books appears to seem even worse, with comics available online. Given today's costs of paper and colour printing(and their likely continuing periodic increases), a proven market of 5,000 to 6,000 purchasers for monthly books at US $ price of $8.00, does not allow sufficient profit levels (in just about any scenario) to attract any publisher interested in making a reasonable profit.
None of us knows how Gemstone's Disney license was constructed (or how a future Disney license will look), so we have no idea how many sales are necessary for an American Disney license to make economical sense. Also, we don't know what Gemstone's sales were. The 5-6000 issues you mention was the number of issues sold via comic book stores. How much did Gemstone sell through subscriptions, Amazon.com, bookstores etc? We don't know.

Quote from user: Robb_KI will be VERY glad if traditional Disney comics are published again in USA (especially by Gemstone-but by anyone). IF we do see their return, we will be very, very lucky. I hope Diamond and Gemstone get all the problems sorted out, and Gemstone starts printing and shipping again. I am certainly not ruling it out altogether, as Geppi has stated that he hopes to do that. If it appeared to Geppi that there will be no way that Gemstone Disney Comics could return to publishing operations, he would have announced that fact.
How do we know Geppi would do that?

Again, this is not to criticize you, Rob -- I've seen plenty of postings from others spreading gloom and doom. My point is simply that when we don't know anything about the economics of Disney comics, we shouldn't state that Disney comics are money losers. If any publishers out there are on the fence about buying the Disney license, they might believe the doomsayers... and decide to stay away from the license!

Quote from user: Lars Jensenexperienced businessman Steve Geppi would have calculated he would at the very least break even on the Disney license, or he wouldn't have bought it. So no luck was involved there, either.

Again, this is not to criticize you, Rob -- I've seen plenty of postings from others spreading gloom and doom. My point is simply that when we don't know anything about the economics of Disney comics, we shouldn't state that Disney comics are money losers. If any publishers out there are on the fence about buying the Disney license, they might believe the doomsayers... and decide to stay away from the license!
My point was a general statement that there is currently only a miniscule PROVEN market for traditional Disney comics in the English-speaking World. I never stated that there is NO potential for making a profit selling English language Disney Comics. My point was that with the high costs of publishing, and the current trends among children AWAY from reading paper-printed material (especially comic books), the PROVEN profit potential in small markets (such as USA) is not enticing towards potential Disney Comics franchise bidders.

IF the target market could be changed to include people who frequent other outlets (such as Disney Stores, book stores, supermarket and discount stores' magazine racks, newstands, and advertising and exposure could reach that target market (including animated cartoons with those characters being cross-market with them), the situation would be quite different. What I am saying is that the situation needs to change, for picking up such a franchise to appear less risky. Otherwise, it may be difficult for a new franchisee to be found.

I doubt that a few similar comments on this forum will scare any potential franchise holders away. I

I didn't realize that the 5,000-6,000 sales were only store sales. I had thought that that total included subscriptions as well, and overseas sales.

Quote from user: MorequackThose individuals 'spreading doom and gloom' are only expressing the plain-to-see reality on the ground. With all due respect, the assertion that a potential publisher 'sitting on the fence' about the Disney license would be so influenced from the postings of 'doomsayers' within this forum?whose numbers can be counted on one hand?is slightly unbelievable.
Morequack, with all due respect: you may find it unbelievable that a potential publisher would listen to people stating as fact the Disney license is a money loser. I don't find it unbelievable. And even if those statements would only be a minor influence on that publisher... why risk it?!

And you are not necessarily expressing reality, no. Not unless you know for a fact that Gemstone's Disney comics lost money. So why state that they did?

Oh My Goodness Did Gary really say that Gemstone is not renewing their Disney Comics issues? This can't be true although I wouldn't be too suprised. I figured this would be bound to happen eventually. I hope another company takes over.

I don't know I visited Gemstone's website and Steve Geppi implied that nothing is definite yet.