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Author

Topic: Uh-oh...

(312 messages)
Charlie Brown
Quote from user: Baar Baar Jinx.. it effectively means that Boom still owns the classic license but will not be putting out the books ..
That would be really sad. I thought that 2011 was Boom's great "The classics are back"-year. And now they are canceling them after just a few issues? The sales can't be so bad.
Dean Rekich
*If* (and that is a big if) Boom has not lost the license to Marvel or someone else, and instead just has decided to quit publishing the standard titles, it raises a few questions:
1. Why stop now? Boom made a big deal late last year about Boom Kids 2.0 and then began publishing more traditional stories in their standard titles. Why would they make such a big fuss about this, and get rid of the standard Disney titles after only about 6 months? Were the titles with the more traditional stories selling *that* badly?
2. Why not tell the readers the reason why they are not publishing the standard titles anymore? Even though it is *very* frustrating, Boom having a non disclosure agreement would explain why there has been deafening silence from Boom on the cancellations. If they are just choosing to no longer publisher them, why would they just not come out and admit that? The only reason I could come up with it that they do not want to hear a lot of "yelling" and take a lot of abuse from us Disney comics fans. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense though. After all, at some point they will have to come out with why they canceled them ; why put that off? Also, they came out and said that the Chip and Dale:Rescue Rangers comic was canceled. If they would announce that, why would they not say why the Disney standard titles were canceled?
3. Would or could Boom stop someone else from publishing Disney comics until the summer of 2012? I have *no* idea about how licenses work. Can a license be taken back if a publisher is no longer using it? Or does the publisher have the right to basically do nothing with the license if that is what they choose? Also, if someone else wanted to publish Disney comics before Boom's license was through, would Boom allow that? I would like to think that Boom would not stand in the way of some other publisher wanting to publish Disney comics and not make them just wait until the summer of 2012, but who knows...
Just a few things to think about.
Baar Baar Jinx
Quote from user: Dean Rekich*If* (and that is a big if) Boom has not lost the license to Marvel or someone else, and instead just has decided to quit publishing the standard titles, it raises a few questions:

1. Why stop now? Boom made a big deal late last year about Boom Kids 2.0 and then began publishing more traditional stories in their standard titles. Why would they make such a big fuss about this, and get rid of the standard Disney titles after only about 6 months? Were the titles with the more traditional stories selling *that* badly?

2. Why not tell the readers the reason why they are not publishing the standard titles anymore? Even though it is *very* frustrating, Boom having a non disclosure agreement would explain why there has been deafening silence from Boom on the cancellations. If they are just choosing to no longer publisher them, why would they just not come out and admit that? The only reason I could come up with it that they do not want to hear a lot of "yelling" and take a lot of abuse from us Disney comics fans. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense though. After all, at some point they will have to come out with why they canceled them ; why put that off? Also, they came out and said that the Chip and Dale:Rescue Rangers comic was canceled. If they would announce that, why would they not say why the Disney standard titles were canceled?

3. Would or could Boom stop someone else from publishing Disney comics until the summer of 2012? I have *no* idea about how licenses work. Can a license be taken back if a publisher is no longer using it? Or does the publisher have the right to basically do nothing with the license if that is what they choose? Also, if someone else wanted to publish Disney comics before Boom's license was through, would Boom allow that? I would like to think that Boom would not stand in the way of some other publisher wanting to publish Disney comics and not make them just wait until the summer of 2012, but who knows...

Just a few things to think about.

Your points are all well taken, especially in view of the fact that they had no hesitation admitting that they had cancelled CDRR. Until I realized that Darkwing and DuckTales were both going to continue, I believed it was more likely that Marvel was taking over than that Boom decided to stop publishing the classic line. But I really can't explain how they can keep putting out Darkwing and DuckTales if they have truly lost their licenses to Marvel. I also find it hard to believe that Marvel is going to put out the classics and maybe CDRR, but Disney will let Boom continue DuckTales and Darkwing.

This is very frustrating and it's terrible that we have been discussing this for two months and are still in the dark ...
GeoX
I think the most likely explanation is just that they were put off by poor sales, and they didn't have the guts to try to power through, better promote their comics, and improve things. You may remember that they actually stated that the "Atombrella and the Rhyming Man" one-shot was cancelled due to poor presales or some bullshit like that, so I don't think it's unreasonable to extrapolate that to the classic lines in general.
Dean Rekich
GeoX, I wouldn't be surprised if Boom canceled the Disney standard titles due to poor sales. I still can't fathom though why they wouldn't just come out and say so though. Comic book companies cancel comic book titles all the time for poor sales. Plus Boom recently canceled a Disney title (CD:RR). Why would they have a problem announcing they canceled the Disney standard titles due to low sales?
For that reason alone, I still lean toward a license loss and a NDA. At this point, who knows though? I just hope we get some answer in the near future, but I am not holding my breath...
Steet
Yeah, I could also believe Boom! has not lost the licence and decided to stop the classics; but the fact that Boom! does not comment on it while they announced the cancellation of Rescue Rangers, does not make sense.
Also, why stop all the classics at the same time (while some of them seemed to sell moderately well like Uncle Scrooge), And why are they still releasing trade paperbacks? (remember, when they lost the Pixar licence to Marvel, they were still able to release trade paperbacks after that)
Roger North
I can't imagine why the classic titles are selling so poorly. They used to sell like hotcakes back in the 80's and the 90's during the two Gladstone Eras and the Disney Comics Era during their three year hiatus. I guess a lot of people don't seem to like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck as comic book characters. I would have included Scrooge McDuck but he is in the Duck Tales comic. I think more people should send more messages to Boom Studios until they either explain why they cancelled the classic titles or bring them back. They should be tired of hearing us complain sometime. I don't know if it will do any good but it wouldn't hurt to try.
Richie
Quote from user: Roger NorthI can't imagine why the classic titles are selling so poorly...I guess a lot of people don't seem to like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck as comic book characters...I would have included Scrooge McDuck but he is in the Duck Tales comic.
I'll have to disagree with you there, good sir. To succeed, there has to be proper marketing. Making people aware about the existence of these comics, and most importantly, their quality, is absolutely essential if one plans for them to sell. The public can't buy something they don't know that exists, and once they do, you gotta give them a reason to open their wallets.

Just look at this year's Free Comic Day, when Fantagraphics' offering was a Mickey Mouse comic. I've read lots of positive impressions coming from many who picked it up for kids they knew or just for the heck of it, and ended up hooked themselves, surprised at it being actually good, and beyond. I don't doubt for a second that now they, who got to experience Floyd Gottfredson's excellence personally, would be interested on the hardcovers Fanta is now releasing. Mouth-of-mouth never hurts, either, and since these are Disney characters, they're easy to recommend as a good read for all sort of audiences.

Oh, and since volume 1 of Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse was released, all sort of articles concerning Mick's "obscure yet awesome" status as an intrepid adventurer have popped up over the web. Which means people WILL enjoy these dinamic, deep versions of the characters...Those annoyed at Donald Duck's behavior on the cartoons could rediscover the character (and how!) via classic Barks, Rosa, Van Horn, what have you....You need to let them KNOW they're out there first, though. It can be done, but effort is needed!
Roger North
I'm just guessing the reason why the classic titles are selling so poorly. If that's not the case then I guess the people at Boom Studios are getting lazy. Normally I wouldn't say this about a Disney Comics company but Boom Studios has jumped the shark by dropping the classic titles.
Steet
I heard from Aaron Sparrow (former Darkwing Duck comic creator) tweets that Boom laid off several people recently, and at least one was working on the Disney classics.
Roger North
Boom is laying off people? That's not good. The same thing happened with Gemstone two years ago. I hope Boom doesn't suffer the same fate as Gemstone.
Vesuvius
I think it's a company-wide problem for Boom. Both of the comic shops I go to said that aside from Irredeemable, Darkwing Duck and Duck Tales, they've cut back on all of Boom's other titles because thet just don't sell. I don't know if that's because of quality, bad marketing, or just the general state of the comics industry, but Boom seems to be in a downward spiral at this point.
They've announced a Darkwing/Ducktales crossover, so it looks like they're trying to generate interest in the last two titles they are publishing...but it could also be they're compacting 4 months worth of issues into two months, to get out a fast trade paperback before the end of both of those series...
Roger North
A Duck Tales/Darkwing Duck crossover? That does sound cool. If I could find a way to get that Tradepaperback I would.
Rodney
Roger, have you considered Amazon.com?
Roger North
Yes I thought of that possibility but doesn't cost a lot of money to order something from there?
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