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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ditto to what Jonathan & Dean have said-- I
will try and go beyond this lazy statement, though.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Many licence agreements, financial constraints and
risks are to be taken in consideration, which I do not know about and probably
cannot imagine, but ideally speaking, as a reader, I suppose a third regular
title might be a good idea, idea.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This would naturally enable Gemstone to further
diversify the contents of WDC&S and give us even more comics to read--
and maybe not necessarily in the prestige format (beautiful & certainly
appealing to potential readers though it is), if this makes it easier on
the costs and makes for more pages.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There is one thing I would love to see return (I
have actually already said it here): articles on Disney comics and history,
whether 2 pages or even only 1 page long. Gemstone does run inside cover essays
by Don on his stories, but what made Gladstone particularly unique (to me, at
least, comparing to French publications; I think it's different with the Greek
Komix, for one) were all those "The Year That Was...", "Gladstone Profile", ...,
features.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regarding the stories themselves, the format per se
is not the problem, naturally, though the infamous 3/6-panel stories do take
some place in the star titles, which makes for even greater disappointment with
the lesser stories.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>(I have bought all the DDA & MMA pocket books,
but have not read them all yet-- I'm quite behind in my reading--; I am thumbing
through them to write this.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Script-wise, Dean has a point: many of those
stories appeared to be simple short stories drawn out over three times the
number of pages their plot required, through much padding. Some of them
tried to be hip and trendy, or plain goofy, which did not work because style
does not make (up) for substance. And then others tried to be smart and
(post-)modern but failed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The overall result was thus very uneven and
disappointing; Pat & Carol McGreal write good stories (there are some I
didn't like, though), Stefan Petrucha is reliable (his X-Files Mouse stories are
fun), the "TNT" series is rather original and fun (a comic MIB with ducks), ...,
but there were also "good premise but disappointing story", "what's the point?"
or just plain "how could they pick this?" moments.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A case in point of the latter, and the worst
story, is "Ring Thrice and I'll Clobber You, My Lad" (D98058, Mark Shaw &
Bancells), where Daisy becomes a bully who kicks and beats Donald every other
page, and it whole leads to an appalling climax where the "only" solution to the
problem is for Donald to beat Daisy to a pulp (to exorcize her), hitting her
first with tons of food, but then using a giant hammer, punching her
repeatedly in the head, taking her by the feet and smashing her against the hard
rocky ground-- and then the "cured" Daisy tramples him and kicks him with a
board.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I cannot understand how such a story could ever be
accepted by the Disney powers, and how Gemstone could publish such trash-- I'm
sorry for the creators, but there's not other word for it; I am not a prude Dr
Wertham, but there is no justifying so much senseless and pretty graphic
violence (it's not a "whirlwind" fight with only onomatopae, you clearly see
Donald punch Daisy several time) against a female character.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Actually, this story so totally ruined the book
(which featured a rather funny Italian MM story "The Imperial Vortex, and
another very good & original Petrucha story) that it certainly accounts for
my having stopped reading my collection of pocketbooks, so sour was the taste
left in my mouth.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hence my question: how were the stories chosen, and
how could this one in particular ever be printed? Even if it was part of a
batch, I can't imagine how Gemstone could print that.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I loved the Gutenberghus stories in Gladstone's
comics; they were true to the characters, and did not try to be sophisticated
nor to turn the characters into some odd stereotypical model of hip modern
"young" attitude. Like Barks & Van Horn's, the ten-pagers had simple,
straightforward plots that were nicely told, and even made a point.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Too many of today's stories lack all this. I would
rather have older but good stories.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As for the art, many of those stories were not
visually appealing either; it's all a matter of personal taste, of course, but I
don't like Flemming Anderson's distorted drawings, for instance; yet, beyond
individual taste, the artist's talent very obviously has an enormous impact on
the story, and can either enhance an average story, making it at least tolerable
and agreeable eye-candy, and in the best instances, improving on it (through
added nuances in the characterization, staging, ...), or make it even
worse.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For instance, as I said above, I found the "TNT"
stories pretty amusing, but I would have them enjoyed them more had tye been
drawn by someone else. And to more objectively illustrate the difference an
artist can make, you simply have to compare the covers with the stories: Michael
Nadorp's cover for DDA 15 is not only more nicely drawn, but a lot more
effective thant Anderson's page of the respective story ("Old Number One", p
31-- or more easily: final page minus 5); William Van Horn's cover for DDA 14 is
another example.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Such discrepencies obviously make for huge
disappointments.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm sure the comics would be more endurably
appealing to casual readers if you tried to return to the kind of stories
Gladstone used to run, rather than print such new stories, believing that their
being contemporary (cell phones, computers, future world biker Mickey, ...)
makes them more alluring. The truly good stories are never
outdated.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As for the books, special Daan Jippes books would
be great; I wish you can print more than two stories per book; you know you have
a certain number of guaranteed sales with us (I don't think there are many
people who don't like Jippes' work-- be it with Milton or Barks); a slightly
larger book with an attractive price, featuring 4-5 stories would probably help
gain readership.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Naturally, I'm still much in favor of a new
Barks Library, a Gottfredson Library, a Taliaferro Library, especially if
they are done like the E.C. Archives; I'll repeat my previous mesages on the
subject: these are the most splendid book I have; the quality of the
paper, the binding, the printing, and the coloring, is outstanding; each page is
gorgeous.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you do a Disney Library this way, though,
please try and include slightly longer essays; those in the E.C. Archives are
very interesting, but are too short; I will gladly pay 5 dollars more if
it enables you to print longer articles, in the vein of the first two
CBLs.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Olivier</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>