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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Gary Leach and Everyone:</FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>With regard to a third prestige title, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Gary</st1:place></st1:City> wrote: “There’s lotsa puzzling and
pondering ahead”.</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Well, I would never presume to understand the intricacies
of publishing that exist on Gary and Gemstone’s side of the process, but on “our
side”, as end consumers, the start up of a third (...and we’re not really asking
for a fourth, only a third) prestige title, presumably to be titled DONALD AND
MICKEY, DONALD DUCK AND MICKEY MOUSE, etc., seems to be the common sense
solution that would appear to satisfy more of us than otherwise.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">The mechanism(s) to produce a periodical in that
particular format have been “up and running” since the coming of Gemstone in mid
2003.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That format, the only
surviving one to date, would seem to be successful enough to support a third
title, picking up the support of the readers of the four canceled titles.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The content for some
never-to-be-published issues of DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS, MICKEY MOUSE AND
FRIENDS, and the digests has been assembled – or at least has been announced
through PREVIEWS and other venues – and could easily make up the initial issues
of the new title.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Of course, there are probably certain considerations that
may be lost, in our consumer’s view of the matter, but it sure seems like the
way to go from this perspective.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">One additional bit of perspective from “our side”...
well, certainly my own personal side, would be this.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Each time a Disney comics publisher cuts back or outright
ceases, be it Gold Key or Whitman ending, Gladstone I being invaded and occupied
by Disney, the Disney Comics Implosion, Gladstone II ending, or Gemstone
“reducing” from six titles to two, there is always the feeling of something
having been taken away from us.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It
has been such for me, each and every time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Uncle Scrooge would be the first one to tell us that,
ultimately, economics rule the day.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>...And would be the first one to cancel his own title, if it failed to
perform.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I think most of us
understand and accept the market conditions and economic realities that are
behind the Gemstone Downsizing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">That said, would not the oft-suggested, hypothetical
DONALD AND MICKEY prestige title be exactly what is needed to soften, if not
outright remove, those feelings of something having been taken away?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Anything we presently miss about DDAF,
MMAF, DDA and MMA could be a part of this new title.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>And, instead of taking chances on a format readers may or may not embrace
(...such as the so-called “Shonen Jump” black and white format, which I,
personally, would not support), and the requisite set up costs and effort
involved, Gemstone could, with nary a beat skipped, continue to serve us the
content we’ve lost in the format that has proven the most successful in the
marketplace. </FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">It makes sense to me.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What say the rest of you?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Oh, and thanks to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Gary</st1:place></st1:City> for being there to address our
concerns.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Contrast the open,
honest, and willing response from representatives of Gemstone with the
stonewalling and misinformation spread in the wake of the Disney Implosion of
1991, and you can’t help but appreciate all that these folks do for us, in what
must be trying times for them as well!</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Joe Torcivia </FONT></P>
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