As I predicted about a year ago, soon all classic Disney titles will be canceled, long before they get the chance to publish all those William Van Horn comics that have never been printed in English language before. This is exactly the reason they should have printed WVH comics on a more regular basis instead of printing those childish Italian comics nobody cares about. The editors' obsession with Italian Disney comics is something I will never understand.
As for the Disney Masters series, does anyone know what the release schedule is? This year's schedule seems pretty weird, 1 volume per month from May to August, and then 1 volume later in the year... Also, what's up with 3 of the first 5 books being dedicated to Italian artists???
I'd rather see an all-WVH Library series eventually.
I'd rather see an all-WVH Library series eventually.
I don't know if William Van Horn has the name value to warrant a series. Don't get me wrong, he has done some great work, but Barks, Gottfredson and Rosa, and to a lesser degree Al Taliaferro seem to be the biggest names. Daan Jippes, Paul Murry, William Van Horn and Romano Scarpa probably would do better as a part of the Disney Masters series before committing to a full-blown library treatment.
I'd rather see an all-WVH Library series eventually.
I don't know if William Van Horn has the name value to warrant a series. Don't get me wrong, he has done some great work, but Barks, Gottfredson and Rosa, and to a lesser degree Al Taliaferro seem to be the biggest names. Daan Jippes, Paul Murry, William Van Horn and Romano Scarpa probably would do better as a part of the Disney Masters series before committing to a full-blown library treatment.
I was always under the impression (from the Disney-Gladstone II-Gemstone days) that WVH was right up there in popularity after Barks and Rosa. WVH being the inheritor of the Barks 10-pager legacy while Rosa focusing on primarily longer, adventure stories. There dosn't seem to be much of a market for Disney collections, but I think WVH is certainly worthy of one.
Maybe they should just scrap floppies if they have trouble selling and focus on monthly or semi-monthly hardbound volumes geared towards Disney collectors. This could be the Masters series devoted to one creator/main story or you can use the WDC&S branding and have an assortment of characters/writers/artists in the same volume.
I don't know if William Van Horn has the name value to warrant a series. Don't get me wrong, he has done some great work, but Barks, Gottfredson and Rosa, and to a lesser degree Al Taliaferro seem to be the biggest names. Daan Jippes, Paul Murry, William Van Horn and Romano Scarpa probably would do better as a part of the Disney Masters series before committing to a full-blown library treatment.
I was always under the impression (from the Disney-Gladstone II-Gemstone days) that WVH was right up there in popularity after Barks and Rosa. WVH being the inheritor of the Barks 10-pager legacy while Rosa focusing on primarily longer, adventure stories. There dosn't seem to be much of a market for Disney collections, but I think WVH is certainly worthy of one.
Well, from what I can gather, perhaps he is so in the U.S.A., but he is far from having the same worldwide renoun as Barks, Gottfredson or even Rosa.
That being said, I once photoshopped a cover for a French WVH Libary as an April's Fools hoax, and everyone on the French website was fooled, so… take that with a grain of salt, I guess. But I doubt he's very famous in Italy, or the Netherlands, or Sweden.
I doubt that William Van Horn's work would have fared any better than anything else. In a way, the Italian work has the advantage of looking more modern and less like a reprint of a reprint of a Carl Barks story than more "traditional" comics would. Also, you have to factor in that comic books in general are not the huge sellers they once were. Disney Comics are a niche product within a niche market, rather than a mainstream product sold at supermarkets, convince stores and newsstands (are there any newsstands anywhere anymore?).
I think with more media buzz this could be a bit different...
You need to take in consideration a huge part of all those sales is europe and rest of the world, I can drive through my city in 15 minutes yet there is at least 40 places here where you can buy comics, so..
You need to take in consideration a huge part of all those sales is europe and rest of the world, I can drive through my city in 15 minutes yet there is at least 40 places here where you can buy comics, so..
I doubt all of them can order American comics, and if they can they won't order everyting Disney unless someone ask them to do it. You can check what comic shops use the Diamond Comic Distributor here:
I don't think the American Disney comics sell as well as people think in Europe. I live in Norway where Disney comics still are the best selling comics available ..even if sales have dropped significant here too. In my city I can by comics in every grocery, supermarket and kiosks/newsstand there is - but there's only one comic shop where I can buy regular American comics (+some bookstores have hardcovers). When IDW started publishing Disney comics my local comic shop ordered the TPB's to put on the shelves, but few were sold and after half a year they were thrown in the 50% discount box. Now they just order the harcovers from Fantagraphics and sometimes IDW to put on the shelves. And the monthly titles they wont order at all unless I ask them to (and now it's not even possible as they stopped distributing them to Europe in October)
I meant in general that in europe comics are more much popular and accessible and disney ones dont really need to be much more popularised and I know a lot of people that buy fanta stuff and some that get idw, I was one of them, so demand is here for american disney. I used to order idw comics from 4 uk shops
Can't speak for the other countries, but generally Italian comic book shops order their imported USA comics from their distributor, which in turn imports them from Diamond. That's why you see only 1 shop, but you'd likely be able to find, or most likely, order, American comics from most Comic Shops.
Also, the main imported USA comics aren't really big in Italy is mostly the price: the average USA comics already has a greater cost-per-page than the average Italian comics, then you add the import and they become quite expensive.
There are mostly 3 reasons people might buy imported comics:
1. Italian edition is no and it's unlikely will ever be available (usually some Collector's\Deluxe editions and stuff from smaller publishers)
2. Italian edition is bad(usually translation mess-up) or otherwise inconvenient (many comics are published in anthologies and one might not be interested in the other stories)
3. Collectors
Disney comics readers buying American Disney comics in Italy usually fall in either 1 and\or 3.