AW: Eisner Award: Best Title for a Younger Audience

[Cord Wiljes]

Chris Hilbig made some interesting suggestions how Disney comics could
be promoted in the U.S.

One questions remains to be addressed though. I will put it here in all
bluntness:

   Are Disney comics outdated? 

Are we here on this list just a bunch of old fools reveling in
nostalgia, trying to recapture the vanished wonders of our youth? 

If this is true, then a marketing campaign to attract new readers
(children or grown-ups) will have a snowball's chance in hell.

How many children read the current Gemstone Disneys? And how many
actually buy them on their own (instead of receiving them as a gift from
adults)? This may not be as pronounced here in Europe, but the trend
seems to indicate that we are on the same downhill slope: High-priced
editions for adults are selling rather well, while print-runs of the
lower-priced entry-level editions are constantly declining.

A small detour: If you have children, watch how they react to the old
classic Disney cartoons: Do they love it? Do they ask for more? Or are
they easily distracted and clamoring for new material (Dragon Ball Z
et.al.)

And how many of the copies Gemstone sells to grown-ups are just stashed
away, feeling "this is a good thing to support - I will read them as
soon as I have time" - and then patiently wait in their boxes - unread
und forgotten?  

Please don't misunderstand me: I love Disney comics and will keep on
reading them probably until my deathbed. But then I also love old silent
movies. And I would never expect them to become a financial success in
today's marketplace or ask any film studio to shoot new silent movies.

Maybe there is a time to let go and to admit, that time went on? Disney
comics (expecially those by Barks, Gottfredson, Taliaferro) are classics
today and will probably always be available and read by a small audience
in the future.

Cord