Gemstone to suspend four of its six monthly titles

Posted on October 22nd 2006 in Americas, Disney comics

Due to raising paper prices, Gemstone Publishing in the United States has indefinitely suspended its four monthly titles Mickey Mouse and Friends, Donald Duck and Friends, Mickey Mouse Adventures and Donald Duck Adventures. Should paper prices fall, or better marketing opportunities present themselves, the Baltimore-based publisher might return some of the suspended series.

On a related note, Gemstone’s two prestige titles Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories will undergo a small price hike — the first since 1997, and only a matter of fifty-five cents per book (from $6.95 to $7.50, starting in two months).

Secondly, Gemstone Publishing is moving full steam ahead with plans to make their Walt Disney Treasures an ongoing series; to introduce two new 80-page annuals; and to release several thick-but-inexpensive Shonen Jump-style black and white books per year—some specially targeted to collectors, others to all ages. Bringing these onto the schedule means that Gemstone will actually be publishing more Donald and Mickey in 2007 than they did in 2006!

Mickey Mouse 293 is out now, and 294 and 295 have yet to come out. As for Donald Duck, issue 344 is out now and 345 and 346 have yet to come out.

Mickey Mouse 296 and 297, Donald Duck 347 and 348, Mickey Mouse Adventures 13 and Donald Duck Adventures 22 have been listed in Diamond Previews as these were planned, but they will not come out.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Americas, Disney comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Gemstone to suspend four of its six monthly titles”

  1. Christopher M Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 3:35 am

    I don’t understand why Gemstone fails to market to children in the USA. In Sweden, Disney Comics are found in almost every store, prices are low, and readership widespread. Gemstone appears to have been marketing chiefly to collectors. The lack of adversting in the comics certainly hurt Gemstone’s bottom line. For me, I wouldn’t mind leafing through a few pages of ads for a lowest cost product.

  2. Roger North Says:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 8:44 pm

    I think it is sad that Gemstone is cancelling most of their Disney Comics. I hope they don’t go out of business completely. When The Walt Disney Company published their own comic books they had an implosion in 1991 and then Gladstone had an implosion near the end of their second run in 1998.
    I guess Disney Comics companies don’t sell very well no matter who publishes them. It’s kind of sad in a way.

  3. Mike Hobart Says:
    February 9th, 2007 at 7:11 am

    It’s sad to see Disney comics still can’t succeed in the mass market in English-speaking countries the way they can abroad. Growing up 50 years ago in Australia, every child had a stack of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse comics; unfortunately the same doesn’t hold true today.

  4. Michael Says:
    September 19th, 2007 at 5:03 am

    I think Gemstone needs to decide what it’s target market is: Collectors or Kids.

    If it’s collectors than you find a way to bundle subscriptions together at a discount.

    If it’s kids than you need get the comics into the mainstream at a cheaper price. How many kids have $100 bucks a year lying around to invest in comics nowadays?

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