Eisner Award: Best Title for a Younger Audience

[Chris Hilbig]

   My congratulations to Rosa and the U$ title. (Even if it is the 
"younger audiences" title.) Maybe if Scrooge showed a li'l more 
skin/feather, U$ will get nominated for the big-boy title. :P  Yeah, 
the lack of Disney nominations does continue to set a bad precedent for 
Disney Comics in the USA and elsewhere. The *for youngsters* stigma has 
been choking Disney for quite some time and will continue in the 
future. Sadly...

   Maybe Steve Geppi and Gemstone could come up with a campaign to bring 
in more readers. It will of course have to be a targeted campaign to 
either attract kids or adults. (Or both if they could afford it.) 
Gemstone could most likely take advantage the newly acquired "younger 
audiences" title and push Disney comics as a family friendly affair. 
Maybe even throw in another new Disney franchise that consists of a 
movie, TV series, and comic book series published by Gemstone. 
(Ducktales is good example.) Plug Gemstone Comics every other 
commercial break during ABC kids (saturday mornings), ABC family, Toon 
Disney, and the Disney Channel. Then buy time on other networks such as 
Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, etc. "So how the heck would you plug a 
comic book on TV?" Well, some examples for possible TV spots can be 
found at Egmont Ehapa Verlag's Lustiges-Taschenbuch site. 
<http://www.lustiges-taschenbuch.de/content/rundumltb/tvspots.html> 
Last but not least, have a graphic/ad on Disney's many websites, 
prominently displayed that links to the official site. (Gemstone's or 
the comic's). Disney's Danish site has an easy to find link to the 
Anders And & Co. site, I don't see why Disney couldn't do the same for 
Gemstone.

   For Adults, Gemstone could either create a prestigious format 
adult-title  or retool U$ as an adult oriented title. (Basically a 
title with stories written at an adult level, nothing sleazy.) Start an 
ad  campaign in magazines and or radio that have readers that could 
possibly be pulled in to the  local bookstores or online shops and buy 
a comic book that won't shame them. Push it as an 
adventure/suspence/mystery book. (Okay, it doesn't have to be all 
three, if you don't want.)  Of course the cover will have to have a 
more adult look, how ever you define that. :P Inside the bookstore, 
have a prominent display at the front. Make it the first thing you see. 
This would be good for book stores located in malls like Walden's and 
B. Dalton's. Rosa and Rota would be prefect for starters and maybe 
Gemstone could buy work from Disney Italy. They've done some more 
adult-oriented material in the past. Or even take the risk of 
commissioning new material.  This could all be orchestrated under the 
Gemstone imprint or a new one just for that title or other books that 
could be pushed to adults. I've seen that Gemstone or a sister company 
now publishes the EC titles. (or at least sells them.)

   Not bad for 6 in the morning. :P   But these are just some long-term 
possibilities to bring in readers and renew and expand readership, 
weather Gemstone embraces the stigma or not.

Cord:

"Or what do you think: Are there really kids (ages 8-15) out there who
buy "Uncle Scrooge" on their own?"

  When I was in that age group, I was enough of a freak to buy U$ and 
other Disney books on my own. But I lacked the money to buy them on a 
monthly basis. But I think today's kids at that age are more likely to 
buy a pack of pokémon cards or a DVD.


Chris