Keskustelujen arkisto

Amazon Germany (http://www.amazon.de/Carl-Barks-Collection-Set-1/dp/1603600639/) still says November 5, 2008. But that date didn't change since months.
I think, we have to wait for a statement from someone at Gemstone.

This is an amazingly good post with quite a number of valid key points and I am surprised that no one has really jumped to respond to give it due props.

Quote from user: impulse1. I know for a fact that at least ONE Barnes and Noble store keeps a steady supply of Gemstone Disney Comics on hand. (of course being as that I work there and make sure we always have some in stock that could be the reason! ;)
The old Books-a-Million store I'd go to back in Birmingham used to keep a steady stock of the pocket books on hand and - just as I was saying prior to them getting cancelled - the best books of those (usually anything with Cavazzano, Scarpa, or Fecchi) they were never able to hold on to. Many issues featuring Toni Bancells exclusively (seriously, who thought printing his work over the other three or anyone else with a livelier style of artwork for that matter was a good idea?) I can guarantee you still haven't sold to this day.

There is something to be said for subjective taste. :)

Quote:2. Secondly, comics in general are still very very popular. However the types of comics have changed. Most of the kids these days read mangas, and the Shonen Jump magazine is one of our biggest sellers. (my store just hosted a manga party for the release of the newest volume of the comic Naruto and had over 100 people show up. 80% under the age of 14) Even DC & Marvel have there own line of digest sized books to try and fit in with the manga market. So comics are still popular, but the old format of monthy magazine type issues sold on newstands or in comic shops are what is dying out.
Second agreement. Say what you will about manga and its format, but not all manga stories fit the mold of Dragonball, Naruto, Inuyasha, or Bleach in terms of dragging the story out ad nauseum. Those four in particular were more victims of thier own popularity in terms of why their respective stories seemed to keep going on and on without end - Inuyasha being the biggest and IMO worst offender of the four, even over Dragonball, whose creator strived to at least try and make each storyarc original at the pressing of Toei animation to keep going.

Manga is a far different beast from US comics. I seem to have noticed that on the occasion, when US companies tries to copy manga on some superficially cosmetic degree, they either end up falling on their faces or their product just winds up looking like tacky knock offs because they just don't seem to get it. It amazes me that no one has yet to try and do a valid compromise of the two styles - by that I mean an american or european style comic with manga sensibilities. Not on a superficial level mind you. A lot of American stories could really lend themselves to the format without realizing it I think. Not all comics fit into this mold mind you. Disney/Archie are not really made towards this style of storytelling. Disney in particular is littered with a wide variety of stories from 10 pagers to 26 pagers to the occasional sweeping epic. Suere they do maintain continuity, but an ongoing continuity from book to book in the style of...say, Sonic the Hedgehog is not something that Disney has really experimented with to a large extent. Only in the sense that some consider Scarpa, Van Horn, and Rosa to be direct continuations of what Barks and Gottfredson did while some do not. It's one of those, "Your Mileage May Vary" things.

This would make for excellent on/off topic discussion in a different thread I think.

Quote:3. Although I agree that the market for Disney Comics in the US is not very large, it can be made bigger by rethinking the marketing strategy. Bookstores are definately where the comics are selling these days (mangas and TPBs) plus they have a longer shelf life than a standard traditional comic book. (I usually order in back issues of Gemstone Christmas issues of WDC&S and US for display each christmas and because its considered a standard "book" and not a "periodical" they can still be ordered and sold years after their month of publication.)
I've been saying the same thing since I started posting here.

The marketing levels as done by Gemstone compared to thier Gladstone days are absolutely bewildering. But I am of the opinion that it might not be their fault to some small degree. This group seems to work with a much different mindset than the previous one and although the same people are involved in the creation of it, you can tell that the group is much smaller and care just as much IF NOT MORE about their work as the old group did. I'm surprised no one has brought up the obvious yet, but I think the fact that Diamond is the controlling financial backbone this go round probably has a lot to do with it. You would think that a company that is in charge of previews and distribution would do a lot to remedy that, but obviously - with so many years having passed since the line restarted and no change in the way distribution and advertising are handled among the core line - that is not the case.

Gladstone had Marvel in the late 90's to do distribution, Disney had themselves in the early 90's, and the comic industry was still healthy enough for Gladstone to do it themselves in the 80's.

The "sticker shock" of the initial price tag of the books for the collectors market doesn't help things one iota either even if it does even itself out. You'd be surprised at the amount of people who screen the two books out now for good material before they buy it because of that. Personally, in the older days of Gemstone, I tended to flat out not buy books that featured the same stuff I've read before (nauseatingly endless Rosa or Barks reprints - especially anything from the Disney era) as well as those that were heavy on specific writers/artists from Europe whose stories I personally haven't really warmed up to but many see differently. I still do that with some books on occasion only acquiring gaps waaaaaaay on down the road. I tend to make an exceptions in some cases, but my situation comes more out of necessity of my college budget than anything else. That's why I am far more enthusiastic for a properly completed Gottfredson library over a Barks one (as much as I love Barks it has to have something very different or new to it for me to bother this go round; that's just the practicalities of it for me.) and especially a Rosa one as the majority of his stuff is still very easy to find and/or come across and Gemstone themselves have retrofitted or improved the flaws of the ones produced in the Disney era.

Quote:I think a wise strategy would be for Gemstone to try and focus its marketing in the bookstores more than in the comic shops, and newstands because thats where all the new readers are. ( In fact last christmas i ordered in a whole bunch of copies of "Life and times of scrooge mcduck" and had it prominately displayed in the kids section. many of the kids would stop and look through the book while they were browsing the store and by the end of christmas i had sold every single copy.)
For as much smack as I talk about them, I often wonder if Gemstone would be better with Disney stepping in to do marketing for thier main line or be a backdoor funder or....I dunno, something.

That route has the strong potential to be a double edged sword, but I just cannot see this happening under the current Diamond brand of Disney comics no matter how much sense it makes - largely due to something that is so filled with common sense having not happened already. :(

What you suggested for the trades especially, should have been something that was been done on DAY ONE. That is part of the whole reason that Marvel and DC - and very gradually - even Archie, have realized in terms of how trades benefit overall sales of the line.

Quote:would this suddenly make disney comics as popular again in with the American public as they were in their heyday? No, but i do think the growth would be a greatly improved.

thats my 2 cents anyway!
And a damn fine 2 cents it is IMO.

The fact that your username is based on the only Superhero comic I ever liked from start to finish, biases my view a tad though. :)

Quote from user: Charlie BrownI hope they don't change too much in quality. The European Carl Barks collection is really great!
That is what I have heard, and if Gemstone chooses to go off that template in making a definative one then I for one am all for it. I would like to see the Jippes redrawn material included though. That's the only way the library can be truly complete in my own eyes. They may have a different artist but they are still Barks stories through and through as far as I am concerned

Quote from user: MorequackI've always considered color an inseparable?and therefore essential?part of the comic experience. I could not enjoy a story that's black line art?no matter how artistic the line or famous the artist. The addition of color is so much more aesthetic than plain black lines?but I suspect that's subjective. Less subjective is the fact that the human eye is designed to transmit color to the brain, and the brain functions to make decisions about the world based on color. It's confusing and taxing to the brain?at least MY brain?to be made to decipher a pattern of similar black scribbles without the relief of color to make the image more understandable, familiar and comfortable.
Eh. I don't really agree with this.

As a professional artist myself - something like this is VERY subjective. That type of pigeonholing in the mind of an executive who doesn't know beans about the general process often tends to lean towards artistic suicide depending on how its handled.

Some artists benefit by the addition of color. Some artists do not. It's as simple as that.

Except in rare cases - arguably early newspaper strips? - Disney comics are geared more towards color. They work better in color. Many are drawn with color enhancement in mind. The same goes for some superhero comics and even a few funny animal books (Sonic comes to mind.)

But no matter how much science you try to pigeonhole into it, that argument as a whole does not hold water for every single thing and its more grasping at straws in the case of many artists/series that exist. Your brain may be wired different, but others brains are not. Again - it all really boils down to how much your mileage varies on the topic. But to call the entire comic experience "inseparable" without color? Absolutely not.

There's way more out there than just Disney you know.

Quote:I could never read through the Another Rainbow volumes of black ink. I would require a padded room thereafter?and I'm not referring to their exorbitant price. The actual comics for which the drawings were designed are so much more enjoyable.
I think that the original CBL's (the hardcover ones in the 80's) were black and white but I cannot be sure. Again however - Disney comics IMO were geared towards color ever since the Dell days - so I think I would agree with you to some extent on that. Especially on the enjoyability factor.

David, do your have any news about the Carl Barks Collection?