<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">I feel about as happy as Donald Duck in a knitting circle, read on....<BR>
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To be run in the November-shipped issues of Gemstone comics:<BR>
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</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" BACK="#ffffff" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">You’ve stuck with us through several years of good news, readers—news about exciting stories, modern and classic writers and artists, comics and specials we’ve been bringing to market. Unfortunately, now we’ve got some bad news to deliver. We’re hoping you’ll stick with us through this, too.<BR>
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It all starts—like a lot of bad news—with the almighty dollar. Paper prices are going up... in fact, they’ve been going up for awhile. Until now we’ve dealt with the fallout as best we could, but at last it’s "put up or shut up" time: we must either take an unfeasible price hike on our $2.95 32-page comics and $7.95 Take-Along books, or else cease publishing <I>Mickey Mouse and Friends</I>, <I>Donald Duck and Friends</I>, <I>Mickey Mouse Adventures</I> and<I> Donald Duck Adventures</I> for right now.<BR>
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After serious cogitating, we’ve decided to take the latter option. Should paper prices fall, or better marketing opportunities present themselves, we might return to some of the suspended series. In the meantime, though, be of good cheer. For we have good news, too.<BR>
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Firstly, our prestige titles—<I>Uncle Scrooge</I>, <I>Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories</I>, and various specials—are as successful as ever, and the economics of publishing in this format are such that we can get away with a relatively small price hike: the first since 1997, and only a matter of fifty-five cents per book (from $6.95 to $7.50, starting in two months).<BR>
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Secondly, we're moving full steam ahead with plans to make our <I>Walt Disney Treasures</I> TPBs an ongoing series; to introduce two new 80-page annuals; and to release several thick-but-inexpensive <I>Shonen Jump</I>-style black and white books per year—some specially targeted to collectors, others to all ages. Bringing these onto the schedule means that we’ll actually be publishing more Donald and Mickey in 2007 than we did in 2006!<BR>
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Watch for news about our new titles in the coming months. And look forward to the future; we do, even when—as Carl Barks once put it—"Times are tough, huh, bud?"<BR>
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- The Gemstone Staff<BR>
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I think I could curse enough to make Scrooge in his Klondike days look like a nun, but I'll refrain. @#^Q!%!$%!<BR>
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This isn't nearly as bad as the dark days of 1999-2003, but it is unsettling to say the least. It's a struggle to type coherent sentences. *insert ineffable cry here*<BR>
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Let's pray for a collapse in paper prices. Because if the last three years are any indication, marketing opportunities will appear only by Herculean effort, luck, and/or a miracle. And even then, it would be doubtful.<BR>
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How high would the prices of the $2.95 and $7.95 books have gone if they had continued? Unless it was to be more than say $3.50 and $8.95 respectively, I say keep going! We're already paying top dollar (except the 32 pagers, they were priced in line with other companies' comics), another dollar wouldn't kill me surely.<BR>
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Argh!!! I mean, yes, there is good news! Treasures will be a regular series. Hurray! :) And a couple of new 80-page annuals will be released (I guess they'll be at least $8.95, but hey, no more DDA/MMA so money's freed up there. :p ) And there will be several black-and-white collections forthcoming (though I wonder what the paper quality on those will be).<BR>
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So there'll be more Disney comics in the future than there were before. Great news, just delivered in a slightly depression-inducing way.<BR>
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So I know I'm overreacting, but when you've bought every single solid, Gemstone Disney comic ever produced and you find out that some of your favorite titles have been cancelled, it's just awful. That because some American or Canadian or whatever, deforestor thinks their wood/paper is worth 50% or whatever more than it was last year, thus contributing to cancellation.<BR>
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This reminds me of the Gladstone days, where first they went to cheaper covers, then to canceling all but two titles, then even those two. While the Gemstone situation is more akin to taking away, but giving back as well, it's still a bit unsettling.<BR>
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I have an idea. As a way to raise money for Gemstone, maybe they should publish some ultra-rare, variant, CGC-graded editions of Disney comics. Something that'd go for like $5,000-$10,000 each. Those buyers are the discerning-type. But make sure it's a 9.8 and not 9.6. A 9.6 would result in at least a 95% drop in value. :p<BR>
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Anyway, to wrap this email up, thanks to the Gemstone staff for all they've done and will continue to do. I'll still keep buying everything that comes out. But it's still a sad day as far as I'm concerned.<BR>
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Derek Smith</FONT></HTML>