Gemstone content, Rosa reprints, etc.

Elaine Ramshaw elaine1 at snet.net
Fri Jan 19 08:24:57 CET 2007


Since there was a request for others of us to respond..here's my
long-delayed two cents on some of the questions brought up in November
relative to Gemstone's choices about content (Rosa and Barks re-reprints,
etc.). I am, on the whole, happy as a clam with regard to Gemstone's
choices. On Barks reprints: personally, I own the complete set of Gladstone
U$ albums but only about a third of the Gladstone WDC and Donald albums.
Therefore, I'm pleased to get prestige-quality versions of Barks stories I
don't have. More to the point, I provide Gemstone comics to two young boys,
a neighbor and my godson, and I want them to get Barks stories. 

On Rosa reprints: yes, I have copies of most of Rosa's stories already, but
I've been pleased with Gemstone's reprints. Sometimes that's just because of
the additional material (Rosa's essay, or his Picsou pin-up), sometimes
that's because I want a copy in the prestige format (better paper/color, and
I can put it on a bookshelf). I'll be happy to have U$ 362's reprint of
"Return to Plain Awful," so I can shelve it next to the album of "Lost in
the Andes." And on that note, I'm also happy about the planned volume with
Barks' Peeweegahs and Rosa's sequel. I have long wanted Gladstone/Gemstone
to publish such volumes, pairing the Barks original with the Rosa sequel.
Even when I have both stories in album or prestige form (as is true with the
Peeweegah stories), I would still purchase such joint books. There's
something satisfying about the idea of having the two stories together under
one cover. I'm hoping that the Peeweegahs book sells well and Gemstone does
more such books. My vote for the next one would be for the Golden Helmet and
the Lost Charts, since the latter story has not been reprinted in the USA in
prestige or album or TPB form. I am also very pleased that U$ 368 will
reprint "Guardians of the Lost Library," since that also exists in the USA
only in old-style comic-book form. That story gave me the single moment of
greatest pleasure I've ever gotten from a comic book (when I figured out
where the story was heading), and I want it in prestige form, out of the
mylar and on the shelf. (By the way, I do trust that Gemstone will not put
any spoiler on the cover or in the editorial intro [if Rosa does so in an
essay, he'll label it a spoiler], as some nitwit publisher in Europe did on
their cover. I was so shocked when I saw that--if Gladstone had done
something like that, it would have deprived me of my Moment of Greatest Joy
from Comics!) The reprint of "Crocodile Collector" in VP 4 will be my third
copy, but it's a great story and I won't complain (I'm just curious to see
whether the name "African Queen" will reappear on the boat!). I was happy to
have the "Incredible Shrinking Tightwad" complete (with deleted bits
restored) and in one volume, and I would likewise be happy to have
all-in-one-book reprints of the other Rosa stories that appeared serially in
Gladstone's WDC (esp. "Treasury of Croesus"). There's yet one more Rosa
reprint that I'm very eager for: "Fir-Tree Fracas," which exists in the USA
only in an early Gladstone. For some reason it remains one of my top-ten
favorite Rosa stories (I know, there's no accounting for taste), and I keep
hoping it will turn up in a Christmas Parade or a December issue. Maybe for
Christmas 2007? 

On the idea of a third monthly title such as "Donald and Mickey": I would
subscribe to it if it were at least half Donald. I subscribed to DDF but not
to MMF. I am one of those people (a couple have so identified themselves in
letters to Gladstone/Gemstone over the years) who buy duck comics to read
stories about ducks. And maybe chipmunks. And I want Bucky Bug stories to
read to the preschooler, who finds them enthralling. But on the whole I am
unconvinced of the reality of Mickey as a character, and positively annoyed
when he shows up in a story along with Donald. There are only two Mickey
stories that I have set aside to keep for life: the Markstein/Noel Van Horn
"Surefoot Jones" Sherlock take-off, and the Rawson/Ferioli "Vacation Brake."
(That number will doubtless increase by 50% when Markstein's Mickey sequel
to his "King of the Bungaloos" is published, since I *love* that story,
despite its being duck-free.) 

And while I'm talking about content: one author I'd like to see more of is
Evert Geradts. His "Ringtail van Dukke" pirate story is my favorite duck
long-adventure story by someone other than Barks and Rosa (second favorite:
Wm Van Horn's "Black Moon"), and I've also found the humor in several other
of his stories particularly smart and engaging (e.g. Nature Park Ranger, and
Much Ado about Telepathy).

Elaine





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