The Zodiac Stone

Kriton Kyrimis kyrimis at alumni.princeton.edu
Thu Jun 16 11:06:25 CEST 2016


I guess this is another question for David.

Now that the Zodiac Stone is finally completed, I was wondering what its 
reception was in the US.

The story was originally published in 12 issues of Topolino, in the space of 
three months. This is a lot of time for a kid to wait, so publishing the story 
in the course of an entire year seems absurd to me. What kid (or adult, for 
that matter) has the patience to wait an entire year, to read a story? 
Certainly not me, who resented having to wait for *an entire week* to read the 
second part of a two-part story!

I think that the Greek publishers were aware of this, as the story was first 
published complete in a single volume, and only ten years later, after the 
story had become known, did they reprint it in weekly installments.

When I raised this question in my blog, someone answered that US readers don't 
mind such long-running stories, and that a Batman story ark, e.g., was 
recently completed after five years. On the other hand, sites listing upcoming 
comic books say that "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories returns to 
'done-in-one' stories this issue" for next issue. Given that they all use the 
same phrasing, I assume that they are quoting an official press release. 
Coupled with the fact that the next issue will be deploying modern Disney 
comics' heavy artillery (Casty), does this mean that the long story ark was 
not popular with the readers?

So, to reiterate, what was the reception of the Zodiac Stone in the US?

         Kriton.
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"First law of space-time travel: avoid voids."
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