Keskustelujen arkisto

First off, a newbie question. What's this "DCML" I keep seeing being referenced to? Another message board, I take it. Anyone mind posting a URL?
As for the idea of third title, while my budget probably wouldn't like it, I'd definitely support it. But only if Gemstone really thought that the sales potential was out there for it to be successful and not to weaken the overall line by expanding again too soon.
One nice thing about doing a third title devoted to Mickey and Donald stories is that perhaps we could see more of the lesser seen characters in WDC&S again? I love seeing things like Chip and Dale, Pluto, Goofy/Super Goof, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Li'l Bad Wolf/Big Bad Wolf, Brer Rabbit. And I know that there are even more characters that they could choose from. (Well, maybe not as many as I thought. I just did some jumping around the original run of WDC&S over on I.N.D.U.C.K.S., jumping from #1 to 50 to 100 and so on, and I don't see very many character stories than the ones mentioned above. Then again, a lot of those other character got their own issues of Four Color that Gemstone could now mine, stuff like Bambi/Thumper, Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp, Dumbo, Robin Hood, Jiminy Cricket, etc.)
I know that Gemstone tries to use these "second tier" characters as much as possible, but imagine how many more they could do in WDC&S if they didn't have to do as many Mickey and Donald stories there (if they had their own "Mickey and Donald" title)?
All of that said, my priority would be on a stable number of monthly titles (whether it be two or perhaps three) supplemented by two to four regularly appearing annuals/specials (Christmas Parade, Vacation Parade, Spring Fever, and perhaps something for fall(?)), and a robust line of trade paperback collections (including one or maybe even two Disney Treasures trades per year, more Carl Barks and Don Rosa books, and--my wish--more newspaper strip collections).
How's this for an idea, too, though (not an original one, I'm sure, but one which just occurred to me)? How about Gemstone doing some replica issues? I mean going back to the earliest Four Colors, Mickeys, and WDC&S and doing complete cover-to-cover replica issues (instead of grabbing a story from here and a story from there, as they usually do)? Put them under an umbrella title like "Disney Replica Editions" and release a new one every two or three months, maybe. Do them prestige and charge some appropriate price for them. I don't know how successful it'd be but it's an idea.

Hi YoungTrek, welcome aboard!
The "DCML" is a mailing list (in English) about Disney comics. You'll find a link at the bottom of this page.

I would gladly give up the annuals for a third prestige and trade paperbacks. Personally - if anything - I don't see the point of the Barks/Rosa collection. Barks stories that have been reprinted a million times plus Rosa stories that are still for the most part relatively new (IE last ten-twelve years)? Seems like it makes more sense - as well as being a hell of a lotr more cost effective - to do something like that in a trade paperback series similar to what's being done with Ducktales now but maybe that's just me.
I think that at this point a third prestige has become not a niche but a necessity. I recall when the books got cancelled and the WD Comics and Stories in particular fluctuated wildly between a couple of 80% Mickey VS 80% Donald issues. It's very annoying and I remember it being a VERY big bone of contention with a lot of readers who were especially sick of duck heavy comics. I'd love to see an alternating Donald Duck/Mickey Mouse bimonthly book or just one Donald and Mickey prestige. It'd really take the strain off of WDC&S and keep the excess Donald fluff out of Scrooge.
My biggest thing though would be seeing something BESIDES a constant stream of Egmont stories for all three books. Not that I dont mind the occasional Egmont, but theres so much good stuff that has NEVER been reprinted or stories and creators overseas whom we have never seen. I guess what I'm saying is that very slowly I tire of seeing the same thing all the time. The nice thing about Gladstone 1 and to *some* very tiny extent - Disney - was variety in all aspects (while ignoring the obvious crap).
The market right now is just TOO terrible to even think about regular paper books surviving and Disney Comics will never have the marketing or distribution budget that a company like, say Archie, would have. A prestige however - as has been proven numerous times - will succeed. I think the sales of previous specials has proven that.
I know quite a lot of people at school - who when I pull out a Disney book to read - ask about whether any trades are available after having only seen the Ducktales or Rosa ones and I think that's a really big shame.
Gemstone NEEDS a third book. I just wish we knew who to talk to to convince the people who need convincing to do it.

Hi. I'm a little late in responding. Sorry about that. I've gotten behind in my emails and message lists, again.

Quote from user: Dean RekichQuote from user: YoungTrekAs for the idea of third title, while my budget probably wouldn't like it, I'd definitely support it. But only if Gemstone really thought that the sales potential was out there for it to be successful and not to weaken the overall line by expanding again too soon.
I agree, Young Trek, that I wouldn't want *anything* to hurt Gemstone's overall line. And if a 3rd title did that, then it would be better not to have a third title. However, would a 3rd title really hurt the overall line and/or is it reasonable to think that a 3rd title would not sell? Let me explain.

When Gemstone announced in late 2006 that they were cancelling the two pocket book titles and the 2 newstand titles they did *not* tell us that the reason was from a lack of sales of these titles. They said that they just could not make any money off of these titles at the prices they were selling them for. I imagine they could make money off them if they raised the prices, except the price increases would have to be so high that *that* would end up hurting sales thus they were in a Catch 22 situation.

So Gemstone, from what I can tell, did not cancel the 4 titles due to low sales, but because the could no longer make money on those titles for the current prices. With comics so often being cancelled due to low sales, it was at least nice that this apparently was not the case with the 4 Gemstone titles. Of course I may be wrong about that, and if I am I would very much like to hear from anyone at Gemstone or anyone else to set me right! :)
Well, I have to say that I think you're making a few assumptions there, ones that I wouldn't. From what I've seen, following/collecting comics all these years (since 1982), a comics publisher not being able to make money off a title at the standard cover price pretty much always stems from a lack of sales. Yes, the immediate factors involved are costs to produce the product versus the amount generated by the title towards meeting those costs (and hopefully exceeding them at least by a bit to generate a little profit, too). But that's almost always contingent on how well it's selling. If the two $2.99 titles were selling great, there would have been no problem. One has to assume that the books were selling poorly, or at least not well enough to recoup their costs of production (which, if you think about it, have to be less than those of the regular DC or Marvel book which sells at that same cover price each month; they have to produce new story and artwork each month while Gemstone is dealing almost entirely with re-packaging pre-existing material for their books). Gemstone momentarily solicited the books at a higher price ($3.25 or $3.55, I think) but must have realized that a standard 32 page Disney book just wouldn't sell well at that price point.

Quote:They at the time said though that they still *could* make money on prestige titles and that is why those two titles continued. So to me it just looks like an easy solution would be to have a 3rd monthly prestige title. We could then get more stories each month in a format that makes a profit for Gemstone.
Maybe, but I think there's another factor there that you are not considering, that being how many $7.95 prestige books can Gemstone carry successfully on a regular monthly basis? They may still be making enough money (at the increased cover price) to continue publishing the two core monthly prestige titles, but how would tossing in a third possibly impact things? The market for these books (fans like those of us, here) is small. Sure, a certain number of us (most likely the ones of us who were buying all of the now defunct titles back then when they were being published, too) would be able to absorb another monthly $7.95 title. But what about the rest of "us" (the Disney comics buyers) who cannot? They'll either not support the new title or have to switch from one of the current ones to the new one. (Since they weren't supporting the Mickey or Donald $2.99 titles sufficiently enough to continue them before, I'm figuring they would probably repeat this with any new prestige title Gemstone might try to launch, although I'm only speculating here, of course.)

Quote:Of course since the end of 2006 perhaps things have changed at Gemstone and they no longer have the staff, the money, etc. to spend on a 3rd monthly title. If that is the case, I would like to hear so.

Even if that is the case though, I would gladly exchange not having the annuals, specials, etc. for having a 3rd monthly title. Yes, I do like the specials, annuals, etc. and would love to have them *and* a 3rd title! If I had to choose one though, I would choose a 3rd title.
Not me. I've come to look forward to the annual "Christmas Parade" and "Vacation Parade" books so much that they are now my favorite books, aside from some of the trades (like the "Disney Treasures" line). Then, again, like I said earlier, I'm just now coming to this whole Disney comics thing and my preference right now is the vintage U.S. stuff. The "annuals" tend to do more of this than the regular monthlies, which focus more on the more recent European market material. I like that stuff, too, but it just doesn't excite me like the older U.S. stuff does. So if it was a question of if I'd like a monthly Mickey/Donald book composed of primarily the newer stuff with maybe one or two older U.S. stories tossed in each issue, as the current two monthly prestige titles do it, versus the various seasonal annuals which give me much more of the older U.S. material per issue, I'd with no hesitation say, "I want to keep my 'Parade' issues, please!" :)

Quote:Young Trek, I also like your idea of a "robust" (great word!) line of TPBs. I just think there is *so* much more Gemstone could do on this front than one "Treasures" and one "DuckTales" volume a year! I could easily see a market for quarterly or bi-monthly TPBs. There are *so* many stories that have never been printed in North America plus *so* many stories people want to see reprinted that possibilities would be alost endless! So along with a 3rd prestige title in 2008 or 2009, I also hope Gemstone will publish many more TPBs.

As always, I would love to hear what others have to say about my ideas.
I think that they need to go about expanding the line gradually. I'd personally leave the monthly prestige titles at two, for the time being. I'd get the trade paperbacks up to a quarterly schedule, Disney Treasure book in December (to correspond sort of with the DVD releases). I'd probably do my first increases in the area of doing two of the Barks/Rosa books per year (I've seen several of the more casual Disney comics buyers on another list I frequent say that they only buy the Rosa stuff, so I'd definitely keep doing those) and increase the "Treasures" books to two per year, as I suggested in another thread. I'd definitely do at least one trade, maybe two, devoted to the vintage Disney newspaper strips per year, starting with the Mickey ones (as they are already planning to do). I'd also do the Donald Duck strips, definitely. And hopefully I'd be able to work the other strips in, too, although they might have to be contained in the regular monthly WDC&S and annual "Disney Treasures" trades as they probably wouldn't sell well enough on their own.

I would look at releasing a third monthly title possibly around 2009 or so, after I'd gotten the trades program going strongly again. I'd take a good hard look at what would be most likely to succeed in a third title. Perhaps a single combined Mickey/Donald book. Or perhaps instead two bi-monthly books alternating on the schedule. I'd personally want the book/s to be more evenly split between the older U.S. material and the newer European stuff. Closer to a 50/50 split per issue than the current two monthly titles customarily are.

I do think that the Gemstone Disney line is going to be very dependent on the trade sales from here on out (if they aren't already so). If you will recall, when they contracted the line they talked about all of the new trades they'd like to do. I have to think that the trades actually make more money for them, thanks to their being more easily marketable to regular book stores and online book retailers like Amazon than the regular ongoing monthly prestige comics like Uncle Scrooge and WDC&S are (which I do still love and which I hope Gemstone is able to continue publishing throughout their time as Disney comics license holder; I'd really hate to lose those two traditional Disney titles at any point due to lack of sales; they've really become the "Action Comics" and "Detective Comics" of Disney comics publishing). :)

I wonder whatever happened to their idea of trying a regular black-and-white trade series, formated similarly to the popular manga trades? I don't think I would have enjoyed them quite as much (although I definitely would have bought them, at least at first, to continue to add to the Disney material in my personal collection while at the same time continuing to support Gemstone's Disney line; plus, I'm used to black and white reprint comics via the Marvel "Essentials" and DC "Showcase Presents" trades), but I thought that it was a good idea to try to market the line a bit differently and towards the younger marker (since the color "Adventures" books didn't do very well; they were probably too expensive for the number of pages you were getting with them; I know that, while I was disappointed to see those avenues for the longer Disney stories gone, I have to admit that I was already on the fence as to whether or not I could continue to justify buying them much longer as they just were my least favorite of the Gemstone Disney titles).

>Gemstone needs to continue to be careful...
I'd guess a third prestiege title is not feasible. Either way, I'd rather see a series of Mickey Mouse trade paperbacks. They have a longer shelf life and would get wider distribution via book stores.
LL

Hi. I had to wait awhile again to respond, until I felt that I had the time to sit and think about my comments a bit:

Quote from user: Dean RekichThanks Young Trek for all that you wrote! I doubt I will be able to comment on all of it, but here I go!

Just because the two newsstand titles did not sell enough for Gemstone to make money on them selling them for $2.95 does not mean they were not selling well enough. The price at which Gemstone could sell them was a very important part of the equation as we have Gemstone themselves saying that.

I will try and give an example now. Lets say a book publisher buys a new author's book. They may look at the manuscript and say that they could not make money selling the book as a hardcover for $30.00. They may instead choose to sell the book as a paperback at $7.99. So in this case the exact same book could lose money or make money for a publisher *solely* on what format and price point the publisher chose to sell it.
I think I see a problem or two with your example but more important, I don't think you can really use a "real book" (non comics) scenario to try to support a point about a comic book. Comics publishing has its own realities and costs, etc. The way I see it, just because the two newsstand titles did not sell well enough for Gemstone to make money on them selling for $2.95 does indeed mean that they must not have been selling enough. Why do I say that? $2.99 is the industry standard right now. Look at DC's and Marvel's monthly output. Do they have book that cost more? Sure. But the general industry standard price for a standard 32 page comic ("floppy") is $2.99. And, again, DC and Marvel in 99% of the cases concerning those books have to absorb not only the printing costs but the costs associated with producing new material each and every month (pay for artists, writers, etc.). I don't know exactly how Gemstone's budgeting breaks down on their Disney books (I'm sure they have to have at least some work done on these books before they are ready for publication but I would imagine it takes a lot less separate sets of "hands" working on each book than it does DC or Marvel). So the fact that the books did not succeed at $2.95 itself tells me that they were not selling well enough to continue those titles.

Now, am I saying that the material wouldn't sell in a different format and price point, such as the third prestige title idea? No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that it seems pretty clear to me that poor sales is what killed the two monthly "floppy" titles (and the two bi-monthly "Adventures") books, and that apparently Gemstone realized that that particular format was not going to work for them at this time (like I said earlier, they started to solicit issues at a $3.50 price point but must have realized that rising the price on those two standard 32 page titles wouldn't, either; I think that was smart as I know that I would have had a hard time justifying continuing to support those two titles at $3.50 per issue, cover price).

I fished around and found these two webpages that some might find of interest in this discussion.

First, the announcement on Disney Comics Worldwide back on October 26, 2006 about the cancellation of four of Gemstone's Disney titles: http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/blog/2006/10/gemstone-to-suspend-four-of-its-six-monthly-titles/ .

Second, there's a listing (with cover showing the new $3.50 cover price) for the never released Mickey Mouse and Friends #296: http://www.vtww.com/Mickey-Mouse-And-Friends-296.html .

And here's the same for Donald Duck and Friends #347: http://www.vtww.com/Donald-Duck-And-Friends-347.html .

As you will see in the announcement, Gemstone claimed at the time that it was due to "rising paper costs" that they were dropping these titles and raising the cover prices on the two prestige titles. Now, I'm not saying that I doubt them when they say this. On the other hand, Marvel and DC have used the "rising paper costs" argument for years now, pretty much every time they've raised their prices. But, again, DC and Marvel have seem to have settled (for the moment, at least) $2.99. If they can succeed at this price (with all of the additional costs that go with producing new material), then I have to assume that Gemstone's level of sales was a key factor in the decision that it was just no longer viable for them to continue publishing the the standard format monthlies. Sure, the rising costs of paper was part of it too, I'm sure. But if sales had been significantly better that that time (say, twice as good), I'll bet we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

(And it's too bad that Gemstone, as you noted, determined later that the "several think-but-inexpensive Shonen Jump style black and white books per year" just wasn't going to be feasible, either. You will note, however, that they were indeed planning on adding "two new 80-page annuals", which is one of the things I said I personally would like to see (giving us one per season). More on this below...)

Quote from user: Dean RekichYou ask how many prestige format titles Gemstone could successfully publish on a monthly basis. You are right that Gemstone could just not publish a ton of prestige format titles a month and make money on them all. At the same time though I strongly feel that Gemstone could successfully sell a 3rd prestige title each month. Can I prove this or have some inside knowledge of this? No. I do have a basis for thinking this though.

From what I have been able to find out and read about, I don't think Gemstone was in the situation where their 2 newsstand titles were selling *that* much less that their 2 prestige titles each month. If anyone from Gemstone or anywhere else knows this to be different, please correct me though! So let's say that the two prestige titles were selling about 6,000 copies a month (a guess, but hopefully in the ball park). I don't think the lowest selling of the two newsstand titles was selling less than 4,000 copies. This to me indicates that a lot if not *most* of the Disney comics fans and buyers were buying all 4 of these monthly titles. Gemstone is small enough and has devoted enough fans that it was possible for most fans to buy all 4 titles a month. Obviously when you move on to a publisher such as DC or Marvel, very few people buy all of their titles each month due to the high number of titles they publish.

That brings us to a possible 3rd monthly prestige title. If *most* fans were buying MM&F and DD&F at the same amount as US and WDC&S, I don't see why *most* of these same people wouldn't want to buy a 3rd prestige title each month that had the same stories in it that MM&F and DD&F did. Yes it would cost 2 more dollars a month. But the prestige titles have already gone up 1 dollar each since the two newsstand titles were cancelled. I just think most people would be willing to spend two dollars extra a month, especially when you consider that you get the stories on better paper. Could I be wrong about that? You bet. But that is how I see the situation.
Well, perhaps you are right in what you say here about, "If *most* fans were buying MM&F and DD&F at the same amount as US and WDC&S, I don't see why *most* of these same people wouldn't want to buy a 3rd prestige title each month ..." To tell you the truth, I had no idea just how much less the two standard monthlies had been selling as I hadn't been following the sales charts that closely back then (nor do I, today). I thought that they must have been selling much less. But looking back at the sales charts for December 2005, I found these estimated figures (number in first column is Diamond ranking that month based on unit sales, number in last column is "estimated sales" figure):

Quote:220 Uncle Scrooge 349 $6.95 Gemstone 4,700
222 Donald Duck & Friends 335 $2.95 Gemstone 4,500
230 Walt Disneys Comics & Stories 664 $6.95 Gemstone 4,000
231 Mickey Mouse & Friends 284 $2.95 Gemstone 4,000
( http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Dec05charts.html )

So, yes, according to these numbers (which can be considered an idea of how well the titles were selling; this is just one piece of data but a pretty important one, sales to direct market comics shops who buy their books via Diamond), Donald Duck and Friends was selling only about 200 copies less per month (again, going only from this one month's numbers) than Uncle Scrooge and was actually selling 500 copies more than Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (which survived the cuts, albeit with an increased cover price). And Mickey Mouse and Friends was selling (I keep saying "selling"; I guess I should be saying "was purchased by retailers in the same quantity as...") WDC&S. Interesting. Going by this, I'd say that the primary reason we don't have those two titles anymore is that Gemstone probably felt (rightly so, IMO) that they couldn't get away with raising the cover prices on them; you can get away with $7.50 and $7.99 on prestige books but $3.50 for a standard 32 pager would probably result in quite a few comics buyers balking at the price).

Note: Here are the numbers for November 2005, which tosses an issues of Christmas Parade into the fray:

Quote:222 Uncle Scrooge 348 $6.95 Gemstone 4,800
228 Donald Duck & Friends 334 $2.95 Gemstone 4,500
233 Walt Disneys Christmas Parade 3 $8.95 Gemstone 4,200
235 Mickey Mouse & Friends 283 $2.95 Gemstone 4,100
237 Walt Disneys Comics & Stories 663 $6.95 Gemstone 4,000
( http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/Nov05charts.html )

Interesting how close together these ordering numbers were, huh? There's a 300 copy difference between Uncle Scrooge[/i[ (4,800) and [i]Donald Duck & Friends, and 300 again between DD&F and Christmas Parade (which, thanks to its $8.95 cover price, would probably have been ranked higher than DD&F and maybe even Uncle Scrooge if this was ranked by dollar sales instead of unit sales). And from there the differences shrink to 100 copies.

Quote from user: Dean RekichAs far as prefering the 2 "Parade" annuals and the annual "Spring Fever" issue, that is of course your right. I am not sure that your logic makes sense though. You are more interested in reprints of classic stories than new stories from Europe. In that case, I *still* think you would get more reprinted classic stories out of a years production of a 3rd monthly prestige title than the 3 annuals. The 3 annuals have I think 80 pages and the prestige titles have 64 pages. So with 3 annuals you get 240 pages where with 12 monthlies you get 768. Even if the annuals do reprint more stories than the monthly titles (I am not sure I agree with that), I believe in the end you would get more reprinted stories with 12 monthly issues.
Well, I just happened to finish my personal story index database of all of the Gemstone issues done so far (from the first Free Comic Book Day issues, May 2003, to the October 2007 cover dated issues). Perhaps this will demonstrate what I mean. (Or, on the other hand, perhaps it will disprove it!) :)

Going by the story codes (for simplicity sake), in 2003 Gemstone reprinted 21 U.S. stories (including a few "S" codes, U.S. studio stories created specifically for foreign markets). This is out of a total number (if I'm counting correctly) of 115 stories done that year. Now, how many of these U.S. stories were done in the two monthly prestige titles (U.S. and WDC&S)? 13. As there were twelve issues of U.S. and WDC&S done in 2003, that's an average of just over one U.S. coded story per monthly prestige issues that year (although in reality it didn't break down that way; some issues had more than one U.S. story, some had zero). In comparison, there were 5 U.S. coded stories in the single annual prestige book done that year (Christmas Parade #1). So, going by Gemstone's introductory year, the ratio of U.S. coded stories in the monthlies is 1-to-1 (one story per issue) versus 5-to-1 for the "annuals". (Totals: 13 stories in the prestige monthlies verses 5 in the annuals.)

But that's just the first year, which was hardly indicative of the standard Gemstone Disney comics year.

2004: 54 U.S. coded stories reprinted out of 255 (again, if I counted right; I'm having to factor out non-story entries like covers, single-page illustrations, and "cut pages"). Number of these 54 U.S. coded stories done in the two monthly prestige titles: 34. U.S. coded stories per monthly prestige average (24 monthly prestige issues released in 2004): 1.4. Number of U.S. coded stories done in the two "annuals" in 2004 (Christmas Parade #2, Vacation Parade #1): 13. Average there: 6.5. (Totals: 34 in the prestige monthlies vs. 13 in the annuals.)

2005: 62 U.S coded stories reprinted out of 272 (again, I think). Number of these 62 U.S. coded stories done in the two monthly prestige titles: 31. U.S. coded stories per monthly prestige average (24 monthly prestige issues released in 2005): 1.3. Number of U.S. coded stories done in the two "annuals" in 2005 (Christmas Parade #3, Vacation Parade #2): 8. Average there: 4. (Totals: 31 in the prestige monthlies vs. 8 in the annuals.)

2006: 93 U.S coded stories reprinted out of 296 (again, I think*). Number of these 93 U.S. coded stories done in the two monthly prestige titles: 42. U.S. coded stories per monthly prestige average (24 monthly prestige issues released in 2006): 1.75. Number of U.S. coded stories done in the two "annuals" in 2006 (Christmas Parade #4, Vacation Parade #3): 9. Average there: 4.5. (Totals: 42 in the prestige monthlies vs. 9 in the annuals.) (* Gets a little tricky here as they started reprinting the newspaper strips over several issues. Since the purpose of this is to determine the average number of U.S. coded stories per issue, I counted, say, "Mickey Joins the Foreign Legion" as four stories as it was broken up over four prestige monthly issues. Only the first chapter of "Foreign Legion" appeared in 2006, though, so the latter three chapters count below in 2007 figures.)

2007 (Jan to Oct): 43 U.S coded stories reprinted out of 126 (again, I think). Number of these 43 U.S. coded stories done in the two monthly prestige titles: 34. U.S. coded stories per monthly prestige average (20 monthly prestige issues released in 2007): 1.7. Number of U.S. coded stories done in the two "annuals" in 2007 (Vacation Parade #4, Spring Fever #1): 7. Average there: 3.5. (Totals: 34 in the prestige monthlies vs. 7 in the annuals.*) (* Note: Skewed because 20 out of 24 of the regularly scheduled monthly prestige issues came out in 2007 but only 2 out of 3 of the annuals. I don't know how many U.S. coded stories were planned for Christmas Parade #5 but I imagine it was probably in the area of three to five.)

Okay (wheww!!!) Now, what does all this mean? Maybe not a lot. But the way I figure it, if Gemstone were to launch a third monthly prestige title and they kept the ratio of U.S. coded stories to European coded stories the same as it has been, we'd be looking at an extra 24 U.S. coded stories per year, tops (20.4 using the 1.7 average). On the other hand, if they were to do four annuals (Christmas, Spring, Vacation, and fall), we'd be looking at somewhere around 14 to 18 U.S. coded stories. That is, again, assuming that they kept the current ratio of U.S. versus European stories in the annuals constant with what's been done so far.

So, okay, I guess you're right, the total number of U.S. coded stories per year would be slightly higher with a new monthly prestige title by these numbers (roughly two more U.S. coded stories per month) versus four "annuals". The only way it would be higher would be if Gemstone increased the number of U.S. stories per annual back up to an average of 6.5 like they did in 2004.

Still, I have to admit, I love the "annuals". Even looking at these number I think that if the choice were mine, I'd take the four annuals per year over the third monthly prestige title, if I had to choose between the two. (Of course, the best scenario is to have both!) :)

(P.S.: And just to toss this in, here's the breakdown of U.S. vs. non-U.S. coded stories released per year by Gemstone, based on my numbers above (which, again, I don't make any guarantees as to their being perfect or anything):

2004: 54 U.S. coded stories out of 255 total (21.2%)
2005: 62 U.S. coded stories out of 272 total (22.8%)
2006: 93 U.S. coded stories out of 296 total (31.4%)
2005: 43 U.S. coded stories out of 126 total (34.1%)
2004-2007 (total): 252 U.S. coded stories out of 949 total (26.6%)

So, at it's highest, we're talking about around one third of the stories released in a calendar year by Gemstone being U.S. coded stories, two thirds European and other markets (U.S. "S" coded stories, created for foreign markets, counted amongst the U.S. coded stories), and overall just over one-fourth of the stories Gemstone has released so far (2004-2007) have been U.S. coded stories. Interesting. Of course, this does not address number of pages per story. This can vary from one page stories to full issue length stories. My little "study" here does not take that factor into account.) (I don't have the energy to try to break it down by page count!)) ;)

Once again, Young Trek, I can't thank you enough for writing all that you wrote! You obviously have spent a lot of time and energy on what you posted, and all of that is very much appreciated. I just hope you don't mind that I still disagree with you on some points! :)
I agree that comic book publishing and book publishing are different, but I still think they are close enough that my analogy between hardcover and paperback books makes some sense. Just because you can not make a profit selling an item at one price point and/or format does not mean that same item can not make money at a different price point and/or format.
I must admit that I wish Gemstone had continued publishing the newsstand titles for $3.50. Of course though, I would have still bought them for even $4.00. I realize that I would probably be in the minority in that though.
If I had to guess why Gemstone decided against continuing printing them at a price of $3.50, I have two thoughts. One, they might have realized that even with raising the price 55 cents that they *still* would not make a profit. Two, they might have realized that they would not even be able to hold them at the $3.50 price for long. After all, Uncle Scrooge and WDC&S were at a price of $7.50 for only a few months before they had to go up to $7.95. I can see how if they were going to have to raise the price on the newsstand titles to $4.00 in say six months that they just decided to quit while they were ahead.
As far as Gemstone not being able to make money on newsstand titles at a price of $3.50, I would think a big part of that would be how many copies they could sell each month. Assuming Gemstone titles sell about 4,000 to 5,000 issues a copy, while selling 4,500 copies each month at $3.50 might not make them much money, selling 20,000 to 30,000 copies each month for $3.50 might have been plenty profitable.
There are of course *huge* differences between DC and Marvel, and Gemstone. If DC or Marvel had the license to Disney comics, *none* of the titles Gemstone published would have lasted probably even 6 months! :( There is just no way that DC or Marvel would ever consider 4,000 to 5,000 copies of a title to be worth publishing long. Fortunately, Gemstone does not have any expectations that their titles have to sell in the 20,000 or 30,000 range. While we would all *love* if Gemstone could sell even near that many copies each month, that is just very unlikely to ever happen. The cold hard truth is that Disney comics are just not that popular in North America. I can not express how sad I am over that, as I wish with all my might that they sold much (or even a little) better.
One good point about Disney comic fans in North America is how dedicated we are. There may not be many of us, but those of us that are here are fiercely loyal and obsessed with Disney comics! :) That is perhaps the *main* reason that I think a 3rd monthly title is such a great idea. By the way, thank so much for the sales figures that you provided. When in December of 2005 the highest selling Gemstone comic sold about 4,800 issues and the lowest of five titles sold 4,000 it just goes to show united Disney comics fans are. They fact that the lowest selling title only sold 20 percent less than the highest selling title is very reassuring. I am sure that if DC or Marvel could have their lowest selling titles sell *50 percent* less than their highest selling title they would be *thrilled*! :) If the two monthly prestige titles are still selling about 4,000 copies a month, I just see no reason that a 3rd monthly devoted to Duck and Mice stories would not sell near the same amount. Of course there is no guarantee of that, but then Gemstone will never find out until they try...
While Gemstone does have some costs in printing their comics, you are very much correct that they do not have near the costs they would have if they were actually producing stories themselves. Sadly, because of a lack of money, outside of some covers and a few stories, they have not had the financial resources to commission much work. Happily, however, there is *so* much material available for them from overseas that they can easily continue publish comics for as long as such stories are produced in Europe. I am sure that I am underestimating how much work still has to go into coloring, lettering, etc., etc., so I don??t want to imply that it costs nothing for Gemstone to publish their comics. However, not having to commission most stories must be a great advantage.
Wow, Young Trek, I don??t know where to start about those stats you produced of how many U.S. coded stories Gemstone printed each year! And you were even more ??generous" than I would have been when it came to what I would count as a reprinted story. The S-coded stories that we produced in the US but never published here still count as ??new" stories to me. I am glad you mentioned though how your study did not take in account how many pages these reprinted stories were. Please do *not* attempt to figure that out though! After all, I want you to have the energy and the sanity to be able to read whatever stories Gemstone publishes! :)
I don??t blame you one bit for still preferring four annuals versus a 3rd monthly even if the stats don??t come out your way. After all, isn??t one great thing about being a human being that we can like something that doesn??t totally make sense? :) And of course I *totally* agree that the best option would be to have the annuals *and* a 3rd monthly title!