Publishers

Over three years since BOOM! Studios stopped publishing monthly Disney comics in the United States, another publisher has finally stepped up to the plate. IDW Publishing recently announced that beginning in 2015 fans can expect to see the first wave of classic Disney comics in English return, with ‘multiple monthly series’ featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and many more.

IDW CEO Ted Adams said: “There’s nothing quite like Disney. Despite the fact that nearly all of the titles in its library were originally intended for kids, adult collectors have long sought high quality and regularly published collections of classic Disney material. IDW is thrilled to present these beloved stories in quality packages for both entry level comics readers and serious collectors alike.” More »

Back in May, Walt Disney Studios launched Kingdom Comics, a new division tasked with re-imagining and rejuvenating Disney’s live action films as 128-page plus graphic novels. The company’s other goal is to create original material that will have the potential to be made into new film projects.

The new division is overseen by actor and novelist Ahmet Zappa, producer Harris Katleman and graphic novelist, actor and producer Christian Beranek. Zappa commented: “The ability to create new publications based on properties from the Disney vaults, and to develop original ideas for graphic novels and possibly future Disney films, is a dream job filled with enormous fun and potential. Being a storyteller myself, I can’t wait to work with some of today’s top writers and artists in bringing a fresh approach to graphic novels and the movies. We’re also excited to discover and develop promising new talents in this field.”

At last weekend’s Wizard World in Chicago, Kingdom Comics co-founder Christian Neranek gave out some more details about his Kingdom Comics. “Think totally in the spirit of National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean,” he said. “Our purpose is to go back and re-imagine stuff that Disney may not have thought of, or they may have a mandate like ‘Look, we have a lot of equity in something that is thirty years old that people are fond of.'”

“We’re not going to be interested in doing the single-issue format,” he said. “It’s going to be on a book-publishing schedule every four months when we launch. We’re shooting to have the books out Fall of next year.”

Read more on last weekend’s panel at Wizard World on Comic Book Resources.

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.

Newsarama has some more news about the Disney comics from Boom! Studios that will come out in September. They spoke with the publisher’s co-founder Ross Richie, who confirmed that Boom has indeed acquired the comic book license for comics with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and the gang (yah!). They will begin publishing the new titles through their Boom! Kids imprint.

Richie said: “The Gemstone material that was being printed most recently are some of the greatest comics in the world – you’re talking about Carl Barks and Don Rosa and all these incredible creators, but what we’re going to be doing is branching off and going in a completely different direction. We’re going to start to approach the Mickey and Donald material from a completely different direction, and we’re going to try to have something that at the same time is less the ‘greatest hits’ reprints and more dovetails into what the Boom Kids stuff is, which is sort of an add to and extension of, modern presence creative take on these classic characters that I think can connect with kids today.”

Above: a page from Ultraheroes, a multi-part series from Italy that will be published in the first few issues of the new Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories to be released by Boom! Studios starting in September

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I just returned from a rather disappointing trip (we drove to Florida to see a space shuttle launch that was canceled) and came home to some awesome news that has me all cheered up again. According to reports on comiXtreme and Bleeding Cool there’s an ad in the latest Previews catalog from Diamond Distribution for new Disney comics by Boom! Studios!

This confirms last month’s rumor and it means that Disney comics starring classic characters, including Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and the gang, will soon return to the United States. The news comes just months after it became clear that Gemstone Publishing, who ran Disney comic titles from 2003 till the end of 2008, lost its license due to financial problems. The quick turn-around on this is impressive, especially in these economically tough times. Negotiations with Disney Publishing Worldwide must have gone very well for them to win the license this quickly. Last time it took several years for a new publisher to pick up the license (Gladstone’s run ended in 1999 and Gemstone started in 2003).

Boom! Studios already had the license to publish comics based on characters from Disney/Pixar’s animated feature films. The first issues of Cars and The Incredibles, featuring original new stories, came out in March and quickly sold out. Now Boom! Studios can add a whole range of new titles to their line-up. The first new issues to be released in September are Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories #699 and Mickey Mouse & Friends #296, but more titles will be announced in the coming months. More »

Columnist Rick Johnston at Comic Book Resources is reporting that Boom! Studios in the United States has picked up the Disney license that Gemstone Publishing lost earlier this year. This is definitely not an official statement and the page is sort of a rumors column, but if this is true it is some great news!

Earlier this year Boom! Studios obtained the license to publish comics based on characters from Disney/Pixar’s animated feature films. The first issues of these new comics hit newsstands in March, including a Cars and The Incredibles series.

Now this young publishing company (founded in 2005) may add Disney’s classic characters to its line-up, which reportedly will include: Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories (a monthly comic that started in 1940 and by the mid-1950s became the best selling comic book in the US), Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck (both ended in 2006 already), Don Rosa’s The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (out of print for a while but still in high demand) and more.

Last time it took over four years for a new publisher to pick up the Disney license. Gladstone’s run ended in February 1999 and it wasn’t until July 2003 that Gemstone continued publishing Disney comics in the United States again.

I so much wish that this news is true and I hope that all the good people that lost their job at Gemstone earlier this year will be able to continue doing their great work at this new publisher as soon as possible. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Source: at Comic Book Resources here (via DCF)

Bad news from Gemstone Publishing, the publisher of Disney comics in the United States and the only publisher in the world that still publishes English-language Disney comics that are easily available. The economic recession has hit the Baltimore-based publisher hard as it is being sued for unpaid bills. Creditors Trade Association is suing Gemstone, Diamond and owner Steve Geppi for $373,000 on behalf of Global Interprint, which is the print broker for many of Gemstone’s deluxe editions such as the EC Archives. Gemstone owes the large sum for printing bills that were run up between December 2007 and September 2008.

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Egmont, one of Scandinavia’s leading media groups, has received the Disney Milestone Award at the annual Bologna Children Book’s Fair in Italy earlier this month. Tommy Melle, Vice president of Egmont Kids & Teens, received the award for 60 years of mutual beneficial cooperation with The Walt Disney Company. More »

Egmont, the world’s largest publisher of Disney comics, reported satisfactory financial results yesterday. In 2006, Egmont’s Kids & Teens division broadened its portfolio of leading children’s and youth media in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland to include yet more channels and genres. Revenue remained the same as previous years despite the changing media habits of children and young people. More »

Legendary Dr. Erika Fuchs, born on 7 December 1906 in Rostock and first editor-in-chief of German’s weekly magazine Micky Maus, would have turned 100 years old today. She became famous in Germany for her quality translations of Carl Barks stories and set a very high standard for the language used in the German Disney comics, a standard that is still followed today. More »