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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>At this link: <A
href="http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/nov06sales.html">http://www.newsarama.com/marketreport/nov06sales.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>you can find the sales figures for the top 300
comics in North America. I took a link at how the Gemstone titles did and
thought I would share a few thoughts.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Before I go any further though, I realize the Gary
has said that these figures may not be very accurate, and also that these sales
estimates are just that: *estimates*. Still, it is all I have to go
on. Here are how the 7 titles sold:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Uncle Scrooge # 360 -- 4600 issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Donald Duck and Friends #346 -- 4500
issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mickey Mouse and Friends # 295 -- 4200
issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Walt Disney's Christmas Parade # 4 --3800
issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Walt Disney's Comics and Stories # 674 -- 3700
issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Donald Duck Adventures # 21 - 2500
issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mickey Mouse Adventures #12 -- 2300
issues</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A couple things I noticed. Not counting the
"pocket book" titles, the 5 other titles had fairly similar sales figures.
I think that that is a very good thing. What it seems to say to me is that
people who buy the Gemstone titles non-pocket book titles *tend* to buy all
of these Gemstone issues. Yes there is a difference from Uncle
Scrooge with 4600 to WDC&S with 3700, but in the scheme of things, that
is not a huge difference. Just look at some the sales figures for DC and
Marvel. It is not uncommon at all for the highest selling DC and
Marvel title each month to sell *5* times more than some of their lesser selling
titles. So overall, Gemstone deserves a lot of credit for keeping the
sales for all 4 of the regular monthly titles near each other.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Interestingly enough, the lowest selling title,
WDC&S, is one of the two Gemstone is keeping. I understand that
though in that it is the longest selling Disney title, it is already a prestige
format title, and allows for the widest body of stories of the 4
titles.</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The sales figures also seem to show that it was not
the sales of DDAF and MMAF that got them cancelled, but that financially
Gemstone could no longer support stories in such a format. That brings me
back to the idea I am perhaps pounding into the ground: how about a *3rd*
monthly prestige "Donald and Mickey" title? The sales estimates seems
to support the idea that there would be a market for it, plus since it was in a
prestige format, Gemstone could actually make a profit on it each month.
If Gemstone did not want to upset the numbering of DDAF and MMAF, it could
easily make each a bi-monthly title, keep the numbering, and still have a 3rd
prestige titles coming out each month. To me, the idea of such a 3rd
monthly prestige title seems like a "no-brainer". I am sure though that
Gary or David could explain why it is not such an easy thing though. I
would still love to hear from either of you why you think this might not work
and/or why such a 3rd title is not in the works. Feel free to demonstrate
to the whole list how little I know about comic book publishing! :) And of
course, I still would like to hear from more people on the list with their
thoughts on a monthly 3rd prestige title.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It looks like there *are* some problems with the
two "pocket book" titles. They were not selling near as well as the other
Gemstone titles. Just speaking personally, I tended to like the stories in
these two titles the least. Not that there weren't any good stories, and
of course I liked the Scarpa stories in them, but on the whole I was
underwhelmed by them. So perhaps when Gemstone starts its "Shonen Jump"
style B&W title they could focus on some of the classic Scarpa and other
stories that have never been printed in North America before.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>One other idea for future Gemstone TPBs:
collections of Gottfredson stories. While I am excited that Gemstone is
publishing the Mickey "Foreign Legion" story and will be publishing "The Gleam"
later on this year in WDC&S, I can't help but think how great these stories
would have made for a Walt Disney Treasures TPB. This way they would have
been collected all in one place and you wouldn't A: have to wait 4 months to
read the whole story and B: go through 4 separate issues each time you wanted to
reread it. So hopefully we will see some Gottfredson TPBs in the near
future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dean Rekich</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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