Gladstone's advertising

[DAVID.A.GERSTEIN]

      Dear Folks,

      Ed Berndt stated that after 1991, he only has some of the 
comics published by Disney and then Gladstone because at that point 
they started being impossible to find.
      Funny how 1991 corresponds to Disney's implosion.  When that 
occurred, if you recall, there were a lot of articles in fanzines 
(yes, articles in fanzines) about Disney's new direction under Bob 
Foster and Cris Palomino.  Disney sales climbed suddenly at all my 
local shops, I recall.  A lot of former Gladstone buyers came back to 
Disney at that time.  It just shows you what articles can do.  Also 
confounds me as to why Ed Berndt had trouble finding those same 
issues.  I remember seeing the Foster/Palomino Disney-Disneys all 
over the place.
      For me, they've become hard to find only with the advent of 
Gladstone II.  Well, okay, I have them all, since I put in a standing 
order at my local shop.  According to same shop, the number of such 
standing orders took an upward surge when Gladstone returned, but the 
number of people buying them off same shop's racks fell.  Gladstone 
made occasional rack-buyers into regular reserve-buyers.  But here's 
the important thing -- my local shop, and other shops whose owners I 
spoke to, haven't upped their monthly Gladstone order at all.  The 
change in how consumers buy the books thus means fewer copies on 
the racks;  the shop doesn't buy more so that it has the same amount 
on the racks as before.  The shops have no faith that anyone new is 
going to begin buying the comics in the foreseeable future!
      Another reason to ADVERTISE!

      David Gerstein
      <9475609 at arran.sms.edu>
      "Don't ask us, Unca Donald!  We're ruffians -- remember?"