I recently lettered this little number: The Claws of the Cat. It’s a two-part story slated for Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #687 (pre-order your copy now!).
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. 
Geppi announced that… Gemstone Publishing will be… relocating to York, PA effective the first week of October 2007.
[snip]
“York has an exciting dynamic to it. It’s definitely a city and a region on the move, and we’re excited to be a part of that. This is a terrific entry into a rich marketplace, both in terms of the history to be found and the collectors with a vibrant interest in it. I am personally very pleased to be able to create this opportunity,” Geppi said.
Yup, that’s right: moving from Timonium, MD to York, PA in just a couple of weeks: “The new facility, located at 3679 Concord Road, York, Pennsylvania 17402, is expected to be fully up and running by the first week of October 2007.” Gemstone is now under the “Geppi Entertainment” banner, along with Diamond Intl. Galleries, Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, Hake’s Americana & Collectibles and Morphy Auctions.
Wanna see my boss’ latest venture? This pop-culture museum (right beside Oriole Park at Camden Yards and across the light rail from the Baltimore Convention Center) has been attracting a lot of attention since it opened in September ’06, including this segment of Retirement Living’s The Daily Apple:
I said it once, but I’ll say it again (just to be safe): check out the 5-page ComicSpace preview, then go grab your free Disney comic book tomorrow!
(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.) 
secondmouse isn’t primarily a blog about my day job, but I’d be silly in the head if I didn’t tell y’all about this: each year comic book publishers in the USA get together with retailers to offer free books! Usually created especially for the event, these freebies are given away at comic book shops around the country on Free Comic Book Day.
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!
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?
32 pages
$2.95
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.
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
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.
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!
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!
