Well, at the very least this proves that Disney comics can command attention in the U.S.!

In a nutshell, Mickey Mouse has to deal with a Lara Croft -ish character named Katarina (pictured). She’s after a particular jade cat… but is she the only one?

This thing was fun to work on! Egmont’s take on Katarina’s outfits seemed a bit on the “garish” side, though, so I decided to spruce ‘em up a bit.

(Okay, so this is a bit of a Technorati hack. I just realized I hadn’t tagged the other post, and they won’t index the tags I add to it now. Bear with me please.)

This year, FCBD is on May 5th (yup, that’s this weekend) and if you go to ComicSpace you’ll find a five-page preview of this year’s book from Gemstone (six if you count the cover). A new page is being revealed every day from now until Friday.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the free preview, then head out to your local shop on Saturday to pick up the free book!

At least then you can say you know what I do for a living.

David recently had an interview with Jen Contino at Comicon.com, whick includes a bunch of cool preview art for our Walt Disney Treasures book! I stumbled on this tidbit, too:

Newspaper strip source materials often tend to be in worse shape than stories originally created for comic books. In the case of Walt Disney Treasures‘ Brer Rabbit story, which came from newspaper strips, the line art looked beautiful, but there were dozens of specks on almost every panel. Our fearless art director, Travis Seitler, did a magnificent job of cleaning it up: so perfect that you wouldn’t guess it had been repaired, which is as good as repair work gets!

Source: Comicon PULSE: Gerstein & Walt Disney Treasures

Oh, David — you shouldn’t have!

Meanwhile, commentor Bring Back Zot wants hardcover editions of our books. How about you? Would you like a hardcover edition of Treasures, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck or our DuckTales books?

Alright, it seems a number of Blogathon participants are running contests, which is a cool idea! I think I’ll take that idea, repackage it and make it seem brand new…

Introducing the Blogathon 2006 Second Mouse Comment Contest! That’s right, you can win just by commenting here! I’ve got a number of fabulous prizes to give away to winners in the following categories:

• Most [new] comments [overall] (spam will be baleeted, and won’t count toward totals)
  This award goes to whoever (“whomever”? I can never remember which is used where) post the most new comments in my blog during the Blogathon (9am-9am Eastern, July 29th-30th). The winner in this category will receive a complete set (volumes 1-10) of Mickey Mouse Adventures!
• Most thought-provoking comment
  This winner will receive a copy of Walt Disney Treasures Vol. 1: 75 Years of Innovation!
• Most unrelated comment
  Um, this winner gets a postcard. Unless it’s my little sister, in which case she gets to see her nephew again.

I’ll pay the shipping (USPS Priority Mail) on all of that stuff. So how come I’ve got so many Disney comics books to give away? Well, I’m the Disney Comic Books Art Director at Gemstone Publishing, and these are my comp copies! That’s how much I love y’all. Or comments.

I felt bad about not announcing a winner on Saturday, but Joshua Felix insisted on making you guys wait.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and be on the lookout for more giveaways in the coming months!

I’ve got two (2) copies of Mickey Mouse Adventures #10 (on sale July 5th) to give away! Here’s how to enter:

1. Visit the Mickey Mouse Adventures lens at Squidoo.
2. In the section highlighing Mickey Mouse Adventures #10, find the “win a free copy!” link and click on it.
3. Fill out your name and e-mail address (required), type “The Farce Is With Me!” in the message box, and send it in!
4. You can get an additional entry if you have a blog: just link to this post! (Be sure to include your blog’s URL in the contact form when you enter — that way I know who to credit.)

This contest is open to U.S. residents only. Entries must be received by June 30, 2006. Winners will be selected at random on July 1st. I’ll post the results here, and winners will be notified via e-mail. If you win, I’ll need your mailing address so I can send you your book (via USPS Priority Mail). If you include it with your entry (in the “Contact the Lensmaster” message box), I can send the books out that much quicker!

Gemstone Publishing (that’s where I work) puts out a bunch of Disney comic books each month, including two 128-page manga-size series: Donald Duck Adventures and Mickey Mouse Adventures. This month, I’ve got two (2) copies of Mickey Mouse Adventures #10 (on sale July 5th) to give away! Here’s how to enter:

1. Visit the Disney Comics: This Month Mickey Mouse Adventures lens at Squidoo. (Oy vey! Squidoo accidently deleted the lens! No fear, I’ve got a backup…)
2. In the section highlighing Mickey Mouse Adventures #10, find the “win a free copy!” link and click on it.
3. Fill out your name and e-mail address (required), type “The Farce Is With Me!” in the message box, and click “Send”!
4. If you have a blog, spread the word and you’ll get an additional entry by linking to this post! (Just include your blog’s URL in the contact form when you enter — that way I know who to credit.)

UPDATE: This contest is open to U.S. residents only. (Sorry I didn’t specify that sooner!)

Entries must be received by June 30, 2006. Winners will be selected at random on July 1st. I’ll post the results here, and winners will be notified via e-mail. If you win, I’ll need your mailing address so I can send you your book (via USPS Priority Mail). If you include it with your entry (in the “Contact the Lensmaster” message box), I can send the books out that much quicker!

32 pages
$2.95

Contents:

• Farragut The Falcon by Carl Barks
• Monkey Sea, Monkey Do, by Stefan Petrucha and David
• The Careless Genie, by Michael T. Gilbert and Rodriques

Description:

Uncle Eider sends Donald Farragut the Falcon, and it’s not long before the feathers fly in Carl Barks’ famed 1944 falconry epic! Then fan-favorites Michael T. Gilbert (Mr. Monster) and Paco Rodriguez spin an all-new tale of Duck magic and mayhem when Donald becomes a powerful but Careless Genie. Finally, Goofy joins the ranks of Sea-Monkey owners in Stefan Petrucha’s Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Buy It:

Amazon doesn’t carry this book, so visit the Comic Shop Locator Service to find your nearest retailer, or look for it on Froogle!

(From Disney Comics: This Month at Squidoo.)

32 pages
$2.95

Contents:

• The Photonic Muffler by Luca Boschi and Romano Scarpa
• A Shot In The Dark, by Andreas Pihl and Mårdøn Smet
• Power Goofy, by Sarah Kinney and Mar�al

Description:

Gemstone proudly presents The Photonic Muffler, a hitherto lost Mouse epic by fan-favorite Romano Scarpa! Pegleg Pete wants to sell super-powered army tanks to the highest evil bidder, and he’s making captive techie Blint Brandon build them for him. Mickey settles Pete’s hash — but good! Great Danish artist Mårdøn Smet wraps the book with Donald Duck’s A Shot in the Dark.

Buy It:

Amazon doesn’t carry this book, so visit the Comic Shop Locator Service to find your nearest retailer, or look for it on Froogle!

(From Disney Comics: This Month at Squidoo.)

Augie de Blieck at Comic Book Resources just gave a glowing review of Carl Barks’ Greatest DuckTales Stories, vol. 1:

“This is an important book and one which should be an easy sell to more than just Duck readers. For those who got the bug from Rosa’s LIFE AND TIMES last year, this is the next logical step. These are great self-contained stories in the classic mold that are easily accessible.”

“The print quality of this book is exceptional. It’s amazing what you can get for $11 these days. Gemstone didn’t skimp on anything to get the book down to this price point. It’s a full-sized full color book, with a solid spine and everything. It sold out at my shop — get it while it lasts at yours today. Special order it if you must.”

Augie also had some kind words to say about Kneon Transitt’s exceptional coloring in Uncle Scrooge #354’s Passport to Lisbon:

“The coloring for the story is credited to ‘Egmont and Kneon Transitt.’ It’s different from any other Duck story I’ve ever seen. The Duck stories use mostly flat colors. You might get a slight gradient in the background when there’s no detail in there, but that’s about it. This story, though, looks like it was colored by a Marvel or DC colorist.”

So go check out the whole column… and then buy the books!

And that’s not even counting our 32-page books, Mickey Mouse and Friends #289 and Donald Duck and Friends #340. Whew!

As we get closer to the 2006 Eisner Awards, I’m sure that more and more folks are going to be checking out Floyd Gottfredson — in fact, Kneon Transitt’s Squidoo lens on Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse work was ranked #57 (out of approximately 20,000 lenses) on the site! Nice work, Kneon!

Last night I got a copy of an ad for the new Walt Disney Treasures trade paperback Gemstone Publishing is producing — so I wanted to let y’all know about it ASAP!

Below the quoted text you’ll find links to the images I was sent: be sure to spread the word, because this thing is gonna be great! (Kneon Transitt’s already posted a sneak peek of Foray to Mount Fishflake, a classic by Eisner Hall of Fame Inductee Floyd Gottfredson!)

Are You A Donaldist?

don � ald � ism \ dän’-ld-iz’-em \ n : the research of Disney comics, and/or the fan culture that is found among Disney comics aficionados (Jon Gisle, 1973)

Go on, admit it. You like reading about comics history… but you love reading historically important comics themselves. You want a real Disney comics archival book�a thick trade paperback full of those extra-esoteric Duck and Mouse tales that just wouldn�t fit in anywhere else.

You�re a Donaldist. And we know where you�re coming from.

Dive into the 160-page

DISNEY COMICS: 75 YEARS OF INNOVATION

for

• Great Donald sagas by Carl Barks (a newly-restored �Race to the South Seas�), Don Rosa (�Fortune on the Rocks�), and Al Taliaferro (the seminal �Donald�s Nephews�)
• Never-before-reprinted Mickey tales by Floyd Gottfredson (�Mickey Mouse Music�) and Romano Scarpa (�AKA Cormorant Number Twelve�)
• Ducks by Daan Jippes, Dick Kinney, William Van Horn, and Daniel Branca
• Mice by Byron Erickson, C�sar Ferioli and Paul Murry
• Renato Canini�s Jos� Carioca, Gil Turner�s Big Bad Wolf�and Brer Rabbit too!

WALT DISNEY TREASURES � VOLUME ONE

July 2006

(Any similarity between this book and the Disney DVDs you love to collect is purely intentional!)

The book will be listed on Gemstone’s Disney Comics site soon, and in the meantime it’s available for pre-ordering at Amazon.

Grab the ad and the cover, and share them with the Disney fans in your life!

I’m just trying to get the word out here…

This lighthearted painting of Mickey Mouse and Pluto at the dog races was the third in the series of 24 paintings originally commissioned by collector Malcolm Willits from 1978-83. These remarkable works were the only full-scene Mickey Mouse paintings that Floyd Gottfredson did. Gottfredson was the primary creator of the Mickey Mouse daily newspaper strip, and his first daily debuted on May 5, 1930. Each painting in the commissioned series was based on a storyline that Gottfredson created for the newspaper strip, and this work was based on “Mickey Mouse and Pluto the Racer,” which ran from December 30, 1934 through February 3, 1935. The storyline was also used in the 1936 Big Little Book, Mickey Mouse and Pluto the Racer. The caption for this work (reproduced on page 11) in The Malcolm Willits Collection of the Mickey Mouse Paintings by Floyd Gottfredson reads, “Mickey’s pride is his dog, Pluto, and even a pair of crooks who use drugged dog biscuits at the Pooch Park racetrack cannot keep Pluto from winning the final race and receiving the jubilant acclaim of his young master.” Pluto only appeared in three of the Gottfredson paintings, and this is the only one where he takes center stage! This fabulous mixed-media on paper mouse-terpiece has an image area of 20.5″ x 16″, is framed, and is in Excellent condition. The painting was signed by Gottfredson at the lower right.

At the time I’m posting this, the current bid is $2,400. That’s a bit too rich for my blood, but if you’re interested, go on and check it out!

Kneon Transitt loves Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey. Kneon loves the man’s work so much, in fact, that he’s started a Gottfredson fan club!

This is wonderful news, and ties in well with Gottfredson’s impending Eisner hall-of-fame induction! These are exciting days for mouse fans… maybe we’ll put those ducks back in their proper place!

Be sure to check out the fan club site! It’s a great resource for learning (or learning more) about Floyd Gottfredson’s work. Nice job, Kneon!

For all the details, visit the Free Comic Book Day official web site.

I think I’ll start posting regular reminders here: you can keep up with the latest Disney Comics offerings from Gemstone at a Squidoo lens I’ve set up. It includes details on each book’s contents, as well as links to reviews and a number of ways to get the books in your hands!

• Kneon Transitt is now blogging. Sweet!
• I have finally seen Disney’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was good, except it seemed they couldn’t decide who to have up front: Peter or that lion dude.
• We moved servers. Hosting is now graciously provided by Plus Web Design. No longer do I need to beg for mercy from some fly-by-night operation that doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “customer service.” (Thanks, Joshua!)
• Easter sunrise service at Beachmont, followed by an Easter cantata at Hanover First Church of God and hours of fun with the family. Good stuff!

Now that the server transition seems to be complete, I’ll get back in the swing of things!

The nominees for the 2006 Eisner Awards have been announced, and guess who’s been chosen by the judges for entrance in their Hall of Fame? Floyd Gottfredson!

If you don’t know Floyd Gottfredson from Moses (despite the former looking nothing like Charlton Heston), check out a great little Gottfredson biography David Gerstein put together, complete with samples of Floyd’s work from 1930-1975.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for Gottfredson’s classic Mickey Mouse tales in upcoming issues of Walt Disney’s Comics!

On May 6th, 2006, there is something you must do: Go into a comic shop, and get free merchandise.

That’s right; for the fourth year in a row, the American comic book industry is dedicating one day to spreading the love of comic books far and wide with freebies! In most cases, publishers (such as, say, Gemstone) produce special books for this event — though I’ve known some independant publishers to take the opportunity to clear out their backstock, too. Either way, it isn’t very often you can walk out of a bookstore with a pile of free books! (Well, with their permission, at least.)

Not only can you grab a bunch of free swag, though; Free Comic Book Day is also one of the best opportunities (outside of a convention) to meet your favorite creators! That’s how I first met Buzzboy’s John Gallagher. (My Buzzboy Diner t-shirt is hands-down the most prized possession in my wardrobe, John!)

So now that I’ve hyped the event so much, you’re probably wondering, “what will Gemstone Publishing be offering this year?” I thought you’d never ask! This year’s FCBD issue contains the following selections from an all-star cast of creators:

• Metaphorically Spanking, by Don Rosa
• Queen of the Ant Farm, by Pat and Shelly Block
• Their Loaded Forebear, by William van Horn

It doesn’t get much better than that! So track down your nearest comic shop (you can use the Comic Shop Locator Service box on the sidebar or call 1.800.COMIC.BOOK) and beat a path to their door on Saturday, May 6th!

(Shoot, I almost forgot to post this!)

In last month’s Diamond Dialogue, Diamond Comic Distributors published their Top 100 Graphic Novels of 2005 (HT: Comic Book Resources), and The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa made #59 on the list, which was heavily dominated by DC and Marvel books. Ooh, that’s nice.

If you don’t know what The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is, shame on you! It’s only about the best graphic novel ever published, with over 260 pages of some of the finest comic book storytelling out there. Go get yourself a copy now!

Is it wrong for me to chuckle at what we’ve done?

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #666 was shipped out to retailers on February 15th. Yes, you heard right: issue number 666… and as Bill at Comix Connection pointed out, in this issue, “Mickey Mouse goes to Hell.”

And he’s right! In this issue, we’ve got a 37-page Italian adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, complete with Alighieri-inspired terza rima stanzas! I really have to hand it to Dwight Decker and David Gerstein; they did a smash-up job with the script!

You can see some of the art over at Scoop! The ending is a bit of a surprise, too! ::wink, wink::

I just think this thing’s cool. It’s neat how “the job” spills over into the rest of my life, too: I was asked to read over the script, and decided to take the opportunity to finally read Dante’s original work (translated, though — I don’t know Italian that well!). It struck me that his journey through Hell seemed to be more an allegory for this life than an account of how he pictured the everlasting Gehenna.

I have to admit I didn’t finish reading Inferno before I had to return it to the library, but I was drawn to the beauty and genius of his poetry in a way I never would have been if I’d had to read his work in school. In other words, a comic book led me to appreciate classic literature in a way no teacher ever could.

From Scoop:

Mickey Mouse #286 starts the party with “Coming Up Short,” a feature-length epic by Stefan Petrucha (The X-Files) and Paco Rodriguez. Mickey and Eega Beeva time travel to the island of Torgania in the year 2225, where they’ve heard that futuristic jousters participate in a thrilling tournament, riding atop giant dogs and cats. But wouldn’t you know it? Torgania in 2225 is ruled by despotic king Torga, whose animals are really normal size. The jousters have been shrunken to rat-size with a ray… and Mickey soon meets the same fate! To win back his size and freedom and return to 2006, our highly embarrassed Mouse must become a master jouster, a position he’s in no way physically suited for. Uh-oh!

You know how they say, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”? Well, that’s doubly-true for Mickey Mouse & Friends. I’ll bet few could have guessed that lurking behind an innocent-looking “Mickey trips while cat chases Pluto” cover lies a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat adventure featuring both time traveling and gladiatorial battles! Yup, we like to under-sell and over-deliver here at Gemstone.

Speaking of selling and delivering, this issue is slated to be on shelves February 22, so if you want a copy, you’d better act fast! Just enter your ZIP Code in the Find a Comic Shop search box on the right (or call 1-888-COMIC BOOK), and you’ll get a list of the comic book shops nearest you. Call one of them up today to reserve your copy! (Special thanks to Diamond Comic Distributors for providing the Comic Shop Locator Service!)

Or perhaps “squidone?” Whatever — I’ve set up a Squidoo lens on Gemstone’s Disney comics and I’m having a blast!

What’s a squidoo lens? It’s essentially about.com on steriods, chain-drinking espressos. Anyone is welcome to sign up and create a new lens (or sponsor an existing one), filling it with info, links, amazon products, blog feeds — there so much you can do with ‘em!

Yuck!

From time to time I check in on ICv2’s Top 300 Comics Indexes — as they themselves say, “these are estimates of the sales by Diamond U.S. to comic specialty stores,” and as such do not include backorder or subscription numbers. Still, it is a decent showing of what books retailers are ordering, and I’ve been keeping a tally of their reports for Gemstone’s comic book sales.

2005 ended on a mediocre note for Gemstone’s monthly titles, as Mickey Mouse & Friends and Walt Disney’s Comics rose above the 4,000-unit mark, and Uncle Scrooge dipped back down below 5,000 after hitting a peak in November (likely due in part to the cover story, Don Rosa’s Last Sled To Dawson). Donald Duck & Friends continued to hover around 4,500.

Over the past six months, all four monthly titles have essentially fallen into holding patterns at 3,700-4,700 issues per month. (Put into perspective, icv2.com’s monthly reports show the top-selling comic books hit 180,000-250,000 in the same time period.) In other words, retailers ain’t buyin’ it.

But we intend to change that…

The Sequential Tart, that is.

David Gerstein, our Archival Editor here at Gemstone, talks all things Good Housekeeping in an interview with Tart’s Jennifer Contino. If you had any questions about Mickey and the Gang, check it out!

I have held it in my hands, and I have wept. (Though not at the same time, mind you.)

Mickey and the Gang, nicknamed “the Good Housekeeping book” in our offices, is primarily a collection of one-page Silly Symphony summations that appeared monthly in Good Housekeeping magazine in the ’30s and ’40s. That’s just the beginning, though; there’s so much additional material in here that I figure it’ll take me a good six months to read!

All of our blood, sweat and tears are bound up in this coffee table-sized book (it’s huge!). The paperback edition’s only about $20.00 at Amazon right now; I can highly recommend this as a Christmas gift! (That’s not because I worked on it, BTW… except that I know how much work went into making this one of the best Disney publications ever made.)

Anyway, since I like y’all so very much, I’ll make it easy for you: if you want to learn far more about Disney Comics then you ever thought possible, swing on over to the Disney Comics Mailing List and sign up! It’s free! Folks around the world participate! Some messages are in foreign languages!

But yeah, I get a kick out of it. =)

From Scoop:

Uncle Scrooge #347 leads off with Escape from Forbidden Valley, a new Don Rosa sequel to a classic Carl Barks epic. In search of Amazonian nutmegs for Scrooge’s favorite tea, our ducks approach Forbidden Valley, a lost world of live dinosaurs whom Donald once stampeded. The local Stickaree Indians, whose village the saurs savaged, get even by abandoning Don in the valley… alone! It’s up to Scrooge and the boys to save him, and wouldn’t you know it: the big rescue is made a little more difficult by a certain profit-making opportunity Scrooge runs across! This feature-length story is graced by a magnificent Don Rosa front cover. (continue…)

I for one would love to hear from anyone who’s read this issue. What’d you think?

I just got my (complimentary) advance copy of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck This collection is, hands down, the best “classic Disney character” stories I’ve ever read!

I’ve been tracking sales numbers for Gemstone Publishing’s Disney Comics over the past two years (as reported by ICv2), and here’s what they look like:

Does this mean they aren’t selling? Nope. Just that they aren’t flying off the shelves in the first month… which is still stinky for a periodical whose sales mostly depend on retail stores.

The good news? Both Uncle Scrooge and Mickey Mouse and Friends got a boost in sales last month, and they’re still above “Archie and Jughead” numbers. Here’s hoping that sort of thing continues.

Please note: this chart is based on publicly available numbers, and does not display any “corporate secrets.” These numbers are only as official and accurate as ICv2’s monthly reports (read: “ballpark estimate”). Your mileage may vary.

Just got my comp copies of Mickey Mouse & Friends #275 and Donald Duck & Friends #326 dropped off on my desk today. Can’t wait to take these home and read them to Katie!

FYI: These issues were scheduled to ship yesterday, and probably won’t be available in stores until March 23rd. So ha-ha-ha!

“I am saying that you, Jonflip, are the Great Platypus!”

(Source: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Get a copy. Shoot, get three copies!)

Thank you David Gerstein!

David dropped off a few back issues of Gladstone’s Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories that include reprinted Mickey Mouse daily strips by Gottfredson. Wow. This is the Mickey I love!