New Titles

Searching for Boom! Studios on Amazon reveals a long list (see below) of upcoming trade paperbacks and hardcover books (Please note that these releases are not set in stone; in the past Gemstone titles listed on Amazon were later changed or never came out!). Some of the titles listed feature classic reprints of stories by Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson and Don Rosa. The first book, a hardcover Christmas album, is scheduled to come out in November and the other books in the first half of 2010.

A lot of fans will be pleased to see another reprint of Don Rosa’s The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which has been out of print for a while and is still in high demand, but Boom’s version will be more expensive than the previous release. It will take at least three of their 112-page volumes to cover the more than 300 pages in the Life of Scrooge series, which will set you back $75. When Gemstone released these stories in 2005 and 2006 they came in two paperbacks (of 268 and 208 pages respectively) for ‘only’ $16.99 each. At least Boom’s books will be in hardcover. More »

Last month I wrote about the new English-language version of Lustiges Taschenbuch that Ehapa Verlag in Germany plans to launch on July 1st. I had read reports at the time that the 276-page comic would be available outside Germany, but it seems that this is not the case, at least for now.

I received an email from someone at the communication department at Ehapa who wrote that, for the time being, the English edition of Lustiges Taschenbuch will not be available to order outside Germany. However, I was not the first one to express interest in getting the books and they are actually thinking about alternative ways to distribute the new title through channels such as Amazon.

The main reason for publishing the new English-language Disney comic in Germany is not to enter the international market, but rather to bring local children in contact with the English language at an early age as English becomes ever more important as the world’s lingua franca. Editor-in-chief Peter Höpfner commented that they are publishing the new English edition of Lustiges Taschenbuch because English is becoming more and more important as it gets taught as early as pre-school and elementary school and secondly, because access to learning another language becomes easier in comic books when words and images are combined.

This month, Dutch publisher Sanoma Uitgevers has launched a new men’s magazine called DONALD, targeted at adults. The new 154-page glossy magazine features articles about lifestyle, cars, sports, gadgets, travel and more, as well as comic stories with Duckburg’s famous duck.

It is no secret that many grownups across Europe read Disney comics every week; being subscribed to the local weekly Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse comic is a tradition that is deeply rooted in local culture. Making a magazine just for adults makes sense, and I applaud the publisher for trying this out.

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Ehapa, publisher of Disney comics in Germany, has recently announced that it is planning to launch an English version of its hugely popular Lustiges Taschenbuch. The 256-page books feature 3-tier Italian and Danish Disney comic stories starring Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Not much is known about the new English title, but the chief editor wrote in a German forum this week that the English version of the pocket books will launch on July 1st and will contain only stories that have already previously been published in Germany. More »

Disney Publishing Worldwide has announced a licensing agreement with Indian publisher Junior Diamond to publish Disney comic books in India. Two new titles are scheduled to launch this month: Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse will each be available in English and Hindi and the publisher is planning additional versions in regional languages for the south India market. The 32-page monthly comic books, which will sell for Rs. 25 (approximately US$ 0.50) will each have a printrun of 50,000 copies. More »

On January 22nd, Ehapa Verlag, publisher of Disney comics in Germany, is launching a new soccer Disney magazine titled Donaldo. The bi-monthly magazine will feature football-themed comic stories as well as news reports from the Champions League and Bundlesliga soccer championships, posters and activities.

The 52-page magazine is targeted at 7 to 10-year-old kids and will sell for €2,80. The first issue will have a print-run of 110,000 copies.

This month the United States sees the release of the first book in a new series of Gemstone trade paperbacks pairing Carl Barks’ classic Scrooge adventures with Don Rosa’s modern-day sequels! In Volume 1 of Uncle Scrooge Adventures: The Barks / Rosa Collection (buy online for $8.50) Barks’ classic “Land of the Pygmy Indians” is teamed with its follow-up, “War of the Wendigo”. When Scrooge grows sick of the big city’s rumble, his back-to-nature journey takes him to a pueblo untouched by modern times. There he meets the Peeweegah, Native Americans whose traditions haven’t changed in a thousand years… and whom he must defend from modernity’s encroaching grasp! The 64-page book that is released today features a beautiful original cover by Don Rosa:

Spring Fever is the first of a new seasonal special from Gemstone. The annual series will feature spring-themed stories. This year’s volume (out on 25 April; pre-order here for $9.50) contains the stories “Mystery of the Swamp” – a classic Donald Duck adventure by Carl Barks, “Lost on a Dog and Nap in Nature” – Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck short stories by William Van Horn, “Spooks Island” – a vintage Mickey classic from the 1950s. The cover is by Dutch artist Daan Jippes. More »

This year Gemstone Publishing will start a new series of trade paperbarks that will pair Carl Barks’ classic Scrooge adventures with Don Rosa’s modern-day sequels! The first Uncle Scrooge Adventures book in the series will come out on June 25th (pre-order here) and will feature Barks’ 1957 story “Land of the Pygmy Indians” and its 1991 follow-up “War of the Wendigo” by Don Rosa.

Duck Out, een vrolijk voetbalblad (‘a happy soccer magazine’), was launched in the Netherlands this week. The 52-page magazine features comic stories and editorials about soccer, such as games, player profiles, posters and contests. The first issue, which sells for €2.99, has 32 pages of comics. More »