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Gemstone clearly had a "traditional" approach to the design of their comics. Vacation Parade #4, for example, featured the original cover and therefore looks somewhat dated. Ultimately, Gemstone's unwillingness to modernize the design and presentation of their line may have hurt more than helped. Hopefully Boom will be able to appeal to both new and older fans.
LL

I think they will. You bring up a very good point though. One of the biggest problems with the line IMO was that it was very obvious that Gemstone had issues trying to modernize without really and truly "modernizing" while Disney was the exact opposite in that they modernized too far. In a way, Gemstone's demise was a tiny bit of a far-less-drastic version of what happened to Gold Key in a sense (who refused to modernize entirely).
I've always been of the opinion Gladstone I had the best balance of its time when it came to the marriage of both concepts. The problem is, over time they kept trying to do techniques that they'd done in the 80's without realizing that some of those same techniques done years lately only served to date them in eyes of the general public. That's probably scrutinizing the situation a bit TOO much because when they did modernize the look - they did so in the form of the prestige book which IMO only served to alienate the casual Disney Comics audience altogether (no kid with disposable income could afford that stuff on a casual basis. I stand by that). The prestige format was a very self defeating prophecy - twice as a matter of fact.
I hate to say it but I've always thought that the prestige issues stopped being something special to look forward to back in the day and wound up ultimately becoming a chore on the wallet of anyone that wasn't a collector - unfortunately giving an air of elitism and alienation among the misinformed buyer that Gemstone wasn't trying to go for. =|
Gemstone's old school aesthetic though was part of its charm. As someone who discovered the Ducks and Mice during the Disney years and stuck it through both the Gladstone II/Gemstone cancellations I have to appreciate what both Disney and Gladstone/Gemstone did, but it always bothered me that there was never truly an equal mix of old and new ideas that both companies pioneered: something neither company truly achieved when came to a true 50/50 marriage of new VS old. Disney foregoed the classic material (of much many overseas gems never saw the light of day) and Gladstone embraced the classic material while foregoing new American material (80% of their new material came from Egmont stats, so while it was new and better than what it was, you can't really say it was truly newly made since it was simply imported version of Egmont stock). It's hard to fault Gemstone for this however, because regardless of the source and varying quality it WAS new material - just repackaged.
Unfortunately, that fallacy is what led the general public to believe Gemstone was a "Best of" thing and nothing more. They kind of shot themselves in the foot with their own staunchness to not...branch out I guess. But they weren't in a situation where they COULD branch out because they'd trapped themselves in their own format and limited budget. It's very much a catch 22.
While I don't want Boom to ignore the things Gladstone/Gemstone pioneered - I do think that eventually they'll get a mix right once people start writing in and telling them what they want. The fact that they're immediately going to recapture the casual Disney crowd with disposable income that was lost when the books went prestige is already a great start. The old school crowd is already here and let's be honest here: none of us are going anywhere. Hopefully - with this iteration we'll finally achieve a true mix that marries Gemstone's general aesthetic with Disney's forward thinking (not too mad-crazy forward though that they forget where it all came from) and achieve what Disney Comics should have been since Disney themselves took over in the 90's and screwed that perfect mix up brilliantly for years to come. :)
If done right, this could be a VERY positive thing, so I say yay for new blood.

I think they will try to address both markets. But it is most important for them to capture the mass market (first, or, at least from the beginning) so they can be financially viable. I hope they can also have books for "our market", too from near to their start. But, I just hope the books can all be of durable quality, so they can be accepted by bookstores and The Disney Store and mass outlets. I think the days of the thin and flimsy few-paged pamphlet-style comic books are over (for other than a few hangers on-nostalgists). They can't reach a mass market).

There's been a clear trend in the last years to make the ducks and mice on the covers look like movie characters instead of comic book characters.

Quote from user: KneonWell, not unless they add Hannah Montana to WDC&S. ;)
:D

I hope not.

Quote from user: KneonQuote from user: WBThe old school crowd is already here and let's be honest here: none of us are going anywhere.
Well, not unless they add Hannah Montana to WDC&S. ;)
If BOOM! had the rights to Hannah Montana, they hopefully would print stories with her in every issue of WDC. Imagine the sales to kids!

Quote from user: CoolwaterQuote from user: sirredkneeThere's been a clear trend in the last years to make the ducks and mice on the covers look like movie characters instead of comic book characters.
Especially on the cover of the Lustiges Taschenbuch, there's also an overkill with gloss and glitter falderal. Basically, "painted" and "glossing" covers are okay as long as it is done in a professional and modest way. However, the never-ending excesses one sees in the Disney comics edge of the newsstands is far too much and make the aesthetically sensitive rather shut his eyes.

In all fairness one has to say, however, that sometimes one can also see pretty "modern" covers that are really a pleasure. The design of that LTB Donald's birthday series for example, with one plastically, three-dimensionally looking Donald figure by Cavazzano, the Barks drawings in the background, and the gloss and glitter being rather decent--the design of that is quite nice:

http://www.lustiges-taschenbuch.de/typo3temp/GB/3ae4db9acf.png
No thanks, I'll take the dignified art of Barks and Rosa, early Scarpa and Branca. Gimme covers of substance and class over the overly-saturated and noisy "gloss and glitter" of the "modern" cover. Bleh!

Quote from user: rodneyQuote from user: Lars JensenQuote from user: KneonWell, not unless they add Hannah Montana to WDC&S. ;)
If BOOM! had the rights to Hannah Montana, they hopefully would print stories with her in every issue of WDC. Imagine the sales to kids!
Boy, that would be dumb too. Much better to target comic books about talking ducks to middle aged men.
You mean, like Gemstone did?! I disagree. Hopefully BOOM! will be able to get their comics into the hands of kids.