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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rich Johnston produces a weekly online column
called "Lying in the Gutters". In his words, "In its various forms, Lying
In The Gutters has covered rumors and gossip in the comics industry for twelve
long glorious and quite scary years."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In this weeks column: <A
href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13">http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>which was posted Monday afternoon he
writes:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"
color=#000069 size=3><B></B></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"
color=#000069 size=3><B>DUCK SEASON ENDS </B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Gemstone have cancelled four of their ongoing Disney comics titles, and have
let all their freelancers go "until things get better." A number are still owed
thousands of dollars, and there has been uncertainty as to when they will be
paid. Maybe February, "but we can't promise." </P>
<P>Rich gives one of three lights to each story. Once again in his words,
"All stories are sourced from well-connected individuals and checked with
respective publisher representatives before publication. Mostly. The veracity of
each story is judged by me and given a spotlight - Green is the most reliable,
Amber means there's likely an interest involved or the likelihood isn't set and
Red means even I can't quite bring myself to believe it."</P>
<P>For what it is worth, he gives the Gemstone story a yellow light.</P>
<P>Of course I don't have the slightest idea if what he has written is
true. I sincerely hope it is not! Gary and/or David may likely not
want to comment on this piece of gossip at all, and I don't blame they if
don't. *If* the story is true though, it sounds like things at
Gemstone may be even worse than we thought. Just thought people on the
list would like to read this "info" whether true or not. Let's just pray
that all of this is nothing more than untrue
gossip!</P></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>