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<DIV>I have to side with Francesco as to the quality of the Casty tales in COMICS & STORIES. They have been the <STRONG>least </STRONG>of my worries re Boom! of late. I see the Castys as a heartfelt and well-executed tribute to the Gottfredson-Walsh era, and that's a-ok with me. What one <STRONG>can </STRONG>criticize is the formatting of the individual issues. Chopping up the backup stories, as well as the main story, takes the idea of "to be continued..." much too far. I'd much rather Boom! use full Duck stories as backups, even if that necessitates a larger number of parts for the Casty stories. That would help to balance the "all Mickey" aspect of the present C&S. </DIV>
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<DIV>The foibles of Boom! UNCLE $CROOGE are of much greater concern to me right now. The first couple of DUCKTALES-themed issues have fallen disappointingly short of expectations, though I am glad to see that Boom! is using complete stories (even ones filched from DISNEY ADVENTURES and more or less rewritten) in these books. </DIV>
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<DIV>Re the rest of the Boom! output, the decision to discontinue HERO SQUAD and WIZARDS OF MICKEY, take a hiatus on the DOUBLE DUCK stories in DONALD & FRIENDS, and bring back MICKEY & FRIENDS presents Boom! with a golden opportunity to win back some of the doubters who had sworn off the "new directions" of these titles. With these changes, Boom! will more closely resemble a "classic Disney comics" line than it ever has before (and yes, I'm counting DARKWING DUCK -- think early 90s Disney Comics before the implosion). Why not give Bill Van Horn some space in D&F for however many hitherto-unseen Duck stories he has produced? Or print unseen Ferioli- or Noel Van Horn-drawn stories in M&F? They're out there, they just need to be used...</DIV>
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<DIV>Chris</DIV></BODY></html>