<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dean:<BR><DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><FONT face="Arial" size="2"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; ">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? ... I am sure though that Gary or David could explain why it is not such an easy thing though.</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV><DIV>In a way, the "easy" part would be to simply launch a third prestige book. All of the mechanics, so to speak, are in place to do so. The main question is just what title that should be - Mickey and Donald, Donald and Mickey, or perhaps simply Donald Duck. (Mickey Mouse would not be a contender for this third title because Donald Duck does, as the very figures you cited show, have a modest sales edge.)</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>While a third prestige seems likely to be able to pull its weight in the lineup, there are more doubts about what has been referred to as Shonen Jump-style books. The DC Showcase and Marvel Essentials projects are the true market touchstones for the idea, since they only have retail distribution, and we need to gauge our prospective sales performance at least partly in comparison to those. One approach might be to design them to present as part of a collection, rather than as merely a series of periodicals, so they would have a potentially longer store shelf life - a big plus for this sort of thing. However, that means they couldn't be simple replacements for the pocket books, but entirely new entities with very focused content. And just what focus these should have would be a matter of no small import.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>In short, there's lotsa puzzling and pondering ahead.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Gary </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>