Gemstone

[Margaret Rutledge]

My family is very, very happy with Gemstone, and we wish them all the  
best. It is very sad that Disney doesn't help with the promotions,  
but they have their own Disney Adventures publication to push. It has  
comics in it too, but not with the classic characters.

My brother and I loved the duck comics when we were children, and as  
an adult I bought them whenever I saw one, so I have lots of old Gold  
Key comics. When Gladstone began publication I subscribed  
immediately, and my children grew up on Uncle Scrooge and Donald  
Duck. My son later moved on to Groo and Asterix, but still reads  
every new one I get when he comes home from college. He loves Don Rosa.

We followed the Gemstone's efforts to get publishing rights since the  
Carl Barks fan club newsletter had updates on the incredible struggle  
negotiating with Disney's ever changing legal team. Steve Geppi  
deserves a lot of credit for persistence, and he must have done it  
for love because a normal businessman would have thrown up their  
hands and walked away.

The Gemstone people have all been very nice to us when we stop by  
their booth at Comic-Con. Last year they saved their only copy of the  
Duck Tales collection for me to buy after they showed it at their  
panel. We've met Don Rosa several times now, and once he talked to  
the children for quite a while. I gave my son a signed copy of The  
Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck for a high school graduation present.

I live in southern California and personally complained at  
Disneyland's city hall because they don't sell the comics, and didn't  
give them out during Free Comic Book Day. I have always thought  
Disney's reputation for marketing was undeserved - you couldn't find  
any movie-related items at the parks when Pirates of the Caribbean  
was packing them in at the box office. My daughter had to buy her  
Aztec gold necklace at a Lord of the Rings convention! I was told  
Disney didn't own the marketing rights to everything Disney-related,  
but that sounded pretty lame to me.

Margaret Rutledge
margaretrutledge at earthlink.net