Themed TPBs etc.

Elaine Ramshaw elaine1 at snet.net
Sat Nov 24 17:01:15 CET 2007


As a lector fanaticus, I would buy whatever Gemstone produced, with the
exception of almost anything that was mostly Mickey. (Sorry, but Mickey's
never become ensconced in my mind as a living character, and there are only
half a dozen Mickey stories that I've kept to re-read.) As I've said before,
if a third prestige title were at least half ducks, I would buy it. For me,
the main advantage of a third prestige title would be that WDCS could have
more variety--though that would be a much greater advantage, in my view, if
Gemstone could publish Mad Madam Mim stories! 

But I'd prefer more TPBs, on the whole. TPBs are a better value, have room
for stuff (including essays) that wouldn't fit in a monthly prestige comic,
and store better on bookshelves. I very much like John Lustig's suggestions
of thematic TPBs. To his list of themes I'd add pirates (oh, how I'd love to
have Ringtail van Dukke in a TPB!), ghosts (another chance for Ringtail!),
undersea adventures, and dogs (Barko, Bornworthy/Bolivar, and Snozzie, as
well as Scamp and Pluto). The birthday volume is a fine idea; not only might
it work well from a marketing angle, but it would be an opportunity to
reprint Rosa's The Duck Who Never Was (which has only been printed in a
stapled comic in the USA) and his Triple Distelfink (ripe for re-printing,
since the original USA prestige-comic printing of it is very hard to get).
[Though I have to admit that The Duck Who Never Was is not a good story for
a lector tiro; it's only hilarious if you are already familiar with Donald's
world.] Could a TPB of lighthouse stories somehow be marketed to the host of
lighthouse enthusiasts in the USA? Would the Lighthouse Depot catalog carry
it? (I bet they would!) I have to think that oodles of said lighthouse
enthusiasts would buy such a volume for the grandkids (esp. since there
aren't a lot of lighthouse-related gifts that would interest children). Two
of Barks's lighthouse stories are Christmas stories; that could help in such
marketing.

In the space aliens TPB, I want to see the Gilbert/WVH "Hail the Conquering
Loser!" along with some of the obvious Barks stories and Rosa's varmints.

On the seasonal titles: I also feel that Vacation Parade and Christmas
Parade work better as themed collections than Spring Fever, though I do buy
the latter (and pass it on to kids). I know my friend Lowell Handy has long
agitated for a Halloween annual, but personally I'm content to have the
Halloween-related stories in the October WDCS (and sometimes U$). I liked
the Disney Company's Autumn Adventures better than most of what they
produced, but I wouldn't argue strongly for reviving it. Though it's true
that Americans are spending more and more money on Halloween-related
stuff--so perhaps a Halloween-themed TPB (ghosts, monsters, or there could
be one with just stories that are actually set at Halloween) would sell
well.

(Here's a trivia question for all you folks: How many inventions has Gyro
come up with to address the leaf-raking issue? In what stories? I'm aware of
at least three different ones....) 

Though I think that the themed TPBs are a better bet to attract the lector
tiro than the "collected works" TPBs, as a lector fanaticus I'm looking
forward to the Jippes TPBs. And unlike some of you, I'm one of the people
who are exceedingly happy to have the Barks/Rosa specials. Yes, I would have
bought TPBs collecting all the Barks original/Rosa sequel pairs; but in this
case, I actually prefer to have the pairs of long U$/DD adventures available
individually. 

Elaine Ramshaw




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