Gladstone Publishing, Ltd.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

All right, here's a burning question I meant to ask on the now-defunct Disney Comics Forum but never got around to ...

Was Gladstone Publishing, Ltd., really named after Gladstone Gander, or after "Bruce Hamilton's cousin, Gladstone Hamilton III, who put up the money for the company"? The official story has always been the former, but I think it's odd that they would have wanted to invoke the image of Donald's obnoxious cousin, who's generally considered an antagonist. The latter story sounds more credible, but I only read it in an early Disney Comics, Inc., letter column written by Bob Foster, and couldn't be sure if he was being serious or not (he prefaced it by saying the company was originally intended to be named after Gus Goose).    

[Matilda]

My understanding has always been that he named the company after Gladstone Gander because a comic books publisher needs a lot of luck.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

May 15, 2016 3:39:10 GMT Matilda said:

My understanding has always been that he named the company after Gladstone Gander because a comic books publisher needs a lot of luck.

That is the official line, and the story that Bruce Hamilton himself provided in the letter columns of their very first issues, but the "Gladstone Hamilton III" story seems weirdly specific, so I'm not sure if it was a joke on Bob Foster's part or a case of Gladstone Publishing concocting a narrative to fit the circumstances. Gladstone Gander may be lucky, but he's certainly not the most likeable of characters, so to name a comic book company after him doesn't strike me as an obvious first choice (although I like how Rosa incorporated that into one of his early ten-pagers, "Nobody's Business" ... a joke that makes no sense today, of course).

[Scrooge MacDuck]

May 15, 2016 11:33:23 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

May 15, 2016 3:39:10 GMT Matilda said:

My understanding has always been that he named the company after Gladstone Gander because a comic books publisher needs a lot of luck.

That is the official line, and the story that Bruce Hamilton himself provided in the letter columns of their very first issues, but the "Gladstone Hamilton III" story seems weirdly specific, so I'm not sure if it was a joke on Bob Foster's part or a case of Gladstone Publishing concocting a narrative to fit the circumstances. Gladstone Gander may be lucky, but he's certainly not the most likeable of characters, so to name a comic book company after him doesn't strike me as an obvious first choice (although I like how Rosa incorporated that into one of his early ten-pagers, "Nobody's Business" ... a joke that makes no sense today, of course).

And makes no sense in his continuity, either. The only way it makes sense is if "Nobody's Business" takes place around when it was written. Although since it was just his second story, perhaps that's because he hadn't come up with his "no-post-1967" self-imposed rule yet.

[Ramapith]

"Gladstone Hamilton III" was a joke.

[hex]

What I think is a bit strange is that the first issues from Disney Publications had a letter page, and answered questions that were written to Gladstone. So Gladstone must have given the new publisher mail they had received?

The "Hamilton III" answer is in WDC&S #548, the very first issue in this series from Disney Publications. I read it just now and the editor (probably Bob Foster) ends with "But that’s only what I heard" – so it sounded like a joke the way he wrote it too.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Naming the company after Gladstone Gander still seems like an odd choice to me, luck nothwithstanding, but whatever.

While we're on the topic of Disney Comics Inc. letter columns, Bob Foster was constantly providing sardonic responses to his readers' letters, to hilarious effect. One guy wrote in to DuckTales saying that he hated Webby, wanted to see more Donald, and that Huey was his favorite character (yes, Huey in particular, not HD&L as a unit!) and then went on at great length to hammer that point home. Foster's response: "We were going to do a book-length story with Donald having to rescue Huey, and no Webby, but I guess no one wants to see that kind of thing". The very next letter writer said she liked Webby the best. Foster's response: "What's the matter? Don't you like Huey?" The letter columns often made me laugh harder than the comics themselves.

And yes, I did think it was weird that Disney Comics, Inc. was responding to letters written to Gladstone. I'd love to know how that came about. The new titles (not previously published by Gladstone) had some kind of introductory feature that filled their letter columns pages until new letters came in.

[nectaria]

I'm also wondered if Gladstone Publishing Ltd. was named after Gladstone Gander or from a person with the same name but after reading David Gerstein's answer on the "Gladstone Hamliton III" name, I realized that this name was a joke. Well, I don't think naming a company after a Disney character was an odd choice. I always thought that this choice was an interesting choice.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

May 15, 2016 18:46:48 GMT nectaria said:

Well, I don't think naming a company after a Disney character was an odd choice.

A Disney character, no. But that Disney character ... well, he's unsympathetic and odious. I'm thinking "Neighbor Jones Publishing, Ltd." might have been a good choice.

[That Duckfan]

Was the name of Gemstone a conscious throwback to Gladstone? I always liked the parallels between the two names.

[nectaria]

May 15, 2016 19:59:05 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

May 15, 2016 18:46:48 GMT nectaria said:

Well, I don't think naming a company after a Disney character was an odd choice.

A Disney character, no. But that Disney character ... well, he's unsympathetic and odious. I'm thinking "Neighbor Jones Publishing, Ltd." might have been a good choice.

OK, I know that Gladstone Gander wasn't much of a sympathetic character but he still have his own fans like other Duck characters. I think that "Neighbor Jones Publishing, Ltd." might have been a funny choice for a Disney Comics company .

[squeakyboots]

Assuming that names like Mickey Mouse Publishing or Donald Duck Publishing were off limits to them, Gladstone just seems like the obvious choice to be honest. I doubt that they cared about his likability when they were coming up with that name and were only thinking about his natural good luck. (In that regard, how is Neighbor Jones, a character who is a jerk to Donald most of the time, any better?)

[geox]

I rate for "Neighbor Jones Publishing." That would've been awesome.

[Ducks and Mice]

May 15, 2016 19:59:37 GMT That Duckfan said:

Was the name of Gemstone a conscious throwback to Gladstone? I always liked the parallels between the two names.

Gemstone has been around since at least 1994 when they started publishing the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.  They got the US Disney comics license in 2003.  So, I don't think their name is intentionally similar to Gladstone.

[RobbK1]

Jun 4, 2016 13:25:20 GMT Ducks and Mice said:

May 15, 2016 19:59:37 GMT That Duckfan said:

Was the name of Gemstone a conscious throwback to Gladstone? I always liked the parallels between the two names.

Gemstone has been around since at least 1994 when they started publishing the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.  They got the US Disney comics license in 2003.  So, I don't think their name is intentionally similar to Gladstone.

Their owner, Steve Geppi, ran Diamond Distributing Co. (comic book distributor).  So, "Gemstone" was a natural choice for an affiliated firm.  I suppose they could otherwise have chosen "Ruby", "Sapphire", "Emerald", or the like.