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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>John:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>> Graphic novels (and trade paperbacks collecting comics)</DIV>
<DIV>>>> are the fastest growing section of the bookstore trade.</DIV>
<DIV>>>> Gemstone should grab it's share of that. Of course, it's
critically</DIV>
<DIV>>>> important that only the best material be collected.</DIV>
<DIV>>>> [...] top-quality material (by a variety of creators) all
unified</DIV>
<DIV>>>> by some themes: Christmas, sports, wacky monsters, space
adventures,</DIV>
<DIV>>>> birthdays, etc. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Darn good points I can't argue with.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I like these themes better than "Spring Fever",
which does not quite seem as appealing. </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>We know
the selection will surely be good, but what can a non-Disney (Travis'
"lector tiro" :D )reader think? "cute birdies & bunnies, flowers
& cuddling"?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anything "adventure" / "weird" is most universally
appealing, I imagine.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Birthday" is a great idea, because it's always
someone's birthday.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To maximize the shelf life (Gary's point),
I think those all year-round themes would be better than "Spring
Fever" (sorry for insisting on this one; it just apears to be the weak link to
me).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Of course, as shown by the "oh, that's right"
/ "I hadn't thought of this angle" remarks, we are mostly discussing this as
readers in quite an idle fashion-- however much thinking we may do, it's still
occasional, and in the comfort of our carefree reader's position, which is
totally different from that of the editors and publishers who spend days
thinking about it, discussing it, and are much more aware of the ecomonic
constraints and marketing strategies, which we eventually get to know (or be
reminded of) through this discussion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My absolute favorite TPB is the "Walt Disney
Treasures". This was genius, and the cover was very nicely colored (in a way
that emulated the DVD tins, without looking artificial). The only problem is
that I haven't seen ads for the book on the DVD or in the cases, whereas the
book advertises the DVD.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The choice of stories was remarkable, too:
every major author, artist and character was featured in a good story, which
must have been quite tough to achieve.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jonathan on my suggestion of online
extras:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>> Who at Gemstone would manage it? :) Gemstone's pretty
small</DIV>
<DIV>>>>> (miniscule compared to Egmont) and I doubt they'd have the
resources</DIV>
<DIV>>>>> to maintain something like that on a regular basis.</DIV>
<DIV>>>>> I say keep the occasional articles in the book where more
people -</DIV>
<DIV>>>>> for now - are apt to see them.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Scoop!" is
linked to Gemstone, isn't it? Therefore, there already is someone savvy enough
to put articles online.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The biggest part of the work, I
think, would really be desining the page once and for all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Then, whenever an artist, an editor, or some other
contributor, hands in a paper, they would not be so limited; I guess they are
set a maximum allowed of characters, but an editor still has to go through
it; being able to put the whole thing online could make some decisions easier
("shall I keep this sentence?" "what a shame to have to drop this paragraph to
make room for a larger picture").</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm sure John Clark himself would love to be
able to write beyond the constraints of the inside cover and that, even
with experience, he still has to go over his introduction several times to make
it fit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There could be only one picture (to identify the
comic immediately), but to make it really simple (and safer copyright-wise, as
the licence may not extend to online articles), I suppose there could even be no
picture at all, and simply references to the issue within the
article.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Could a trial run be considered?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Olivier</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>