Reprints in October Gemstone comics

[deanmary]

    Well, I am less than pleased to see so many reprints in the
October Gemstone issues. :(   I was wondering if Gary could tell us if
this is an exception, or if this is now going to be par for the
course?  I afraid due to comments such as, "In response to numerous
requests that Donald Duck and Friends contain more vintage material"
and a similar one for Mickey Mouse and Friends, that we will be seeing
a lot more reprints than we did see in the first 16 months or so of
Gemstone titles.  At least the reprint stories in these issues of MM&F
and DD&F are stories that have not been reprinted to death...

    As far as Rosa's "Son of the Sun" being reprinted in US#335 and
the requests for it, I am as baffled as Derek Smith is.  Why reprint
this when is was just printed in 1987 and then re-reprinted *4* times
later in various albums?!?  I realize that there are many fans of
Rosa's work.  I am a huge fan of his work myself.  And it would be
great if *every* issue of US had a new Rosa story.  However since Don
only creates 2 or 3 stories a year, there can only be 2 or 3 issues a
year of new Rosa stories.  Do people really want to read reprints of
Rosa stories in US each month instead of new European stories that
have never been printed in the USA?  I am afraid that Gemstone will
start reprinting *all* of Don's stories rather frequently in upcoming
issues! :(  Are there really a lot of people who want to see say "Cash
Flow" reprinted in the December US and then say "Last Sled to Dawson"
in the February 2005 issue?  I don't think so, but I would love to
hear from members on the list who agree or disagree with me on that.

    It seems to me that readers of almost no other comics series than
Disney comics readers have to put up with the re-re-reprints like
Disney comic readers do.  I realize that there are HUGE differences
between Disney comics and superhero comics from DC and Marvel.  Still
though, imagine if issues of Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, etc. had on
a regular basis reprints of stories from the past.  I think very few
fans of these comics would buy these issues that had all of these
reprints.  If they don't have to settle for old stories, why should
Disney comic readers?  Plus it is all the worse with Disney comics in
that there are literally *thousands* of European stories that have
never been printed in North America before!  Gemstone could publish
all their titles for *years* without once using a reprint if they
wanted to.

    I think the saddest thing is that this does not have to be a
problem.  There are at least two ways to make fans of new and old
stories both happy.  One if for Gemstone to start publishing TPBs of
classic Disney stories.  I am so emphatic about that that I would have
written the whole last sentence in capital letters except that  it
would be very annoying to read! :)  I was surprised that Gemstone did
not very early on start publishing such TPBs.  Then I thought they
might start early in 2004.  It seems that in at least one letter
column a month that Gemstone mentions publishing them someday.  Well,
I have been reading that month after month for so long that I am
starting to think of Gemstone in this regard as "The Boy Who Cried
Wolf"!  Maybe someday we will see such TPBs, but I am not exactly
holding my breath...

    The other option would be a "Walt Disney Classics" monthly title.
Imagine if in October Gemstone had a "Disney Classics" 64 page
prestige format issue like US and WDC&S.  They could have reprinted
"Son of the Sun", "Westward Whoa", and "Snow Day" in this *one* issue!
Then the other titles could have new European stories in them.  In
this case, wouldn't fans of old and new stories both be satisfied?

    I can understand why many European members on the list don't have
this as a big issue one way or another.  However, for North America
and the English reading population, Gemstone is our only outlet for
these stories.  It is not like if they publish a lot of reprints that
we have the option of getting new Disney stories from someplace else.
So I would really appreciate if members on the list gave their
thoughts on this reprints issue pro or con.  It wouldn't have to be a
long piece, just a few sentences saying how you see the issue and why.
And if anyone from the list or from Gemstone for that matter want to
tell me why my views on this subject are wrong, unfeasible, etc. I
would *love* to hear that!  I may still not like there being so many
re-reprints, but perhaps then I would at least understand why.

Dean Rekich