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<TITLE>Re: DCML digest, Vol 1 #692 - 6 msgs</TITLE>
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Joe Gould wrote:<BR>
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Could it possibly be that TWO different companies<BR>
might vie for US Disney comic book rights ? Recently ,<BR>
the assets of Western Publications ( those that they<BR>
themselves owned ) were bought by an outfit...that<BR>
also bought the comic-book characters once owned by<BR>
Harvey Publications ( Richie Rich , Little Dot , etc.<BR>
) , a kids-oriented comic-book powerhouse in the US in<BR>
their own right ! With that many valuable<BR>
copyrights...Could they decide to start them up<BR>
again , and , to have even more , try to get the<BR>
account <BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE> for the Disneyverse ? Hm ?<BR>
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As reported in Comics Buyer's Guide #1452 (September 14, 2001 cover date), that "outfit" is Random House, which jointly with Classic Media Inc. won a bankruptcy court auction for the assets of Golden Books Family Entertainment Inc. The CBG article included a Reuters quote by Random House spokesperson Stuart Applebaum: "It's premature to discuss our plans, but, on the Random House side, the books will become part of a very successful Random House children's book division." Classic Media will be handling movie, TV, and home video products, as well as production, licensing, and merchandising rights for the properties acquired.<BR>
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In short, Random House/Classic Media have only one interest in this acquisition, the only one that promises any return on investment: exploiting the properties developed for Golden Books by Golden/Western and therefore actually owned by Golden/Western.<BR>
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Harvey, and Western, were comic book powerhouses, sure, but that was a long time ago. To try to revive those lines in today's U.S. comics market would be a staggering challenge, and I seriously doubt that Random House has any interest in tackling it. Indeed, rather than attempt to run a comics line themselves, they'd be far more likely to look for companies to license from them.<BR>
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Gary Leach
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