Sigvald wrote:

Robb_K wrote:

Sigvald:  What makes you think that if Gemstone does the groundwork in assembling a Gottfredson Library, that Egmont won't take advantage of that, and print their own versions in Scandinavia and Germany a few years later?

There must be a misunderstanding here? What you are saying is exactly what I am thinking. I do believe that Egmont will publish a Gottfredson Collection/Library as long as Gemstone does so. Furthermore I believe that Egmont's version will be uncensored (at least more than Gemstones version) - just compare CBSV with CBL and you'll understand what I mean.

It was your use of the word "someday"-as if to mean some time in the distant future in a project completely unrelated to Gemstone's.  I guess that you were thinking exactly what I was thinking, that the Egmont versions will start only 3-4 years after Gemstone's, to give the initiators of the project a chance to sell out, before eating into their market.  You certainly would be willing to wait 3-4 years to get a better and more readable (for a Norsker) version.

There are many Western Europeans who would buy the Gemstone version, regardless of a version coming out in their own language, as they'd want it in the original printed form and writers' own language.  But, there probably are a lot more, who would rather just have it in their own language.  That is one major reason why Egmont's would have to wait a few years.

Is Gemstone going to use Egmont's material? Printing plates and coloring etc...

Timo

Olivier wrote:

Sigvald wrote:

By the way, I also hope that there will be a Paul Murry Mouse Library sometime in the future, limited to the majority of his stories that take place in the Mouse-universe.

The world needs a Taliaferro Collection.

That is a good idea Oliver.  In fact they should have collections of stories by every Disney Comics Artist.

Robb_K wrote:

If there will be 10, $990.00 plus tax will be a lot better than $1,500.00.  Does this mean they have decided on a lower quality?

No—it just means that for the moment, Amazon happens to be taking advance orders at a discount rate. Amazon's pricing decisions on our products reflect their own decisions, entirely independent of our own budgets and suggested retail prices.
As for our publishing schedule, and the use of Egmont's material, color, etc., all decisions are still up in the air. Sorry not to have more information yet.

Robb_K wrote:

Do we have to order now, and pay NOW to ensure the $990.00 price?  Or are the only taking pre-orders for [Set] 1 at $99.00?

They're only taking preorders for Set I; at $94.50, actually (not $99.00, at least as of the time I'm writing this). We Gemstoners have no idea whether Amazon will offer later sets at similar bargain prices.

Robb_K wrote:

I have pre-ordered "The Carl Barks Collection, Volume I" at $94.50, and "The Floyd Gottfresdon Library Volume I: Mickey Mouse 1930-1933" for $26.37 with a 5% discount on that

Oh, and I was about to happily inform you of this price change. :p

They always do it for pre-order items, so I believe it will be this price for a long time (even with the very frequent adjustments and fluctuations).
The "older" volumes of the E.C. Archives are still at the same reduced price as the whole new and pre-order ones, though.

Maybe I will place my pre-order now nonetheless; I can always add something to it later, update the credit card information, ...
It is much cheaper for me to order this from the U.S.A. than from amazon.fr; they used to have good prices at the beginning, but even with the dollar-euro rate largely in our favor, their prices have been higher for some time-- when I say higher, I mean it's more expensive even with the oversea shipping included!

Robb_K wrote:

a rebate of $30.00 US for buying them with a new Amazon.com credit card.  This is my first financial transaction over the internet.  I hope I haven't made a mistake in doing this.

Tempting as the offer is, I have never subscribed to amazon's card.
However, I don't think you will regret order from amazon.com, unless you maange to find it cheaper elsewhere. They are very reliable, the books/CDs/DVDs are well-packaged (often held o to a cardboard using a plastic wrapso that they cannot move around in the box, and/or padded with plastic airbags), and they offer good service: everything has always gone fine the few times I have had to have something replaced (an unplayable scratched DVD), and they refunded the return shipping costs.

Thanks for the info on the discount of the Barks Library on Amazon! I just preordered a few hours ago.  I figure the worst that could happen is that Gemstone does not publish it and then I am still not out any money.  And this way I get to lock it in at a good price.  I have never had any problems with Amazon in the past and think the are a highly reputable online store, so no one should have worries about ordering from them.

Onto a few other items.  Roger, I also would like to see a Taliaferro collection, but with Olivier's "smiley face" I am not sure he was serious when he suggested it.  I know Taliaferro is no Barks, but I really do enjoy his Donald comic strips and think it would be great if Gemstone published one or more collections of his work.  I am not sure, but I think during Gladstone series I, there was talk of such a collection, but because they could not include some strips due to censorship, the project never came about.  Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I was sorry to hear from David's post that most people who are writing Gemstone are not asking for a 3rd monthly title!   I am not giving up though, and neither should anyone else who wants one!  So if you would like a 3rd monthly title, *please* email them and ask for one!  I imagine one email or snail-mail request for such a title is worth 10 times as many requests for one here on the forum or the DCML.  I am going to keep emailing John Clark about a 3rd title, but I imagine he is going to get tired of hearing from me after a while...

Finally, if more people do want one-shots, specials, etc., can't we have some that are mostly or totally composed of new-to-North-America content?  Now I have no problems with a Barks Library, a Rosa Library, etc.  In fact, I am thrilled about them!  However, there are *so* many stories that have never been printed in North America that it would be a shame to only focus on older re-reprinted stories and miss out on all the stories we have yet to discover.  What do others think about this?

amazon.fr does have a huge section of "Books in English"; I get my Gemstone comics from them as a matter of fact; each one is cheaper in the U.S., but the shipping costs outweigh the save dollars.
However, French bookstore unions have been lobying for a ban on free shipping from amazon.fr (when the order contains only books), so this option may disappear.

I have often found a yellow diamond sticker on packages from amazon.com and DeepDiscount informing me the order did not conform to European regulations or such scary things (even though the package was unopened).
Fortunately, I have not been taxed in a long while-- except on orders from Mile High Comics, but that's because I choose FedEx to be sure no box of 50-70 rare comics will be lost; it's still very interesting, and depending on the order, I manage to average 3 euros per book (including comics from the '70's or '50's, or really scarce $50 books-- my top average must have been 4+euros per book).

(I forgot to include this in the message, and I still cannot edit my messages.)

Hedberg wrote:

On the other hand, I want the American edition of this book, not Ellstree Lithorian Publishinghouse Lt., London...alas, I have recieved books printed i Singapore or Spain etc. when ordering i USA!

I don't see the problem. For centuries, books marketed for a specific country might have been printed in another country. My British Doctor Who Encyclopedia was printed in Italy. The Danish Anders And & Co. 9/2008 was printed in Germany. Are you arguing that these publications aren't British or Danish, but Italian and German?

The Egmont Starship Carl Barks samlede Værker was produced and printed in Denmark along with the Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and German editions.

It's okay to co-produce, but do you remember what caos it made, when someone found out that - in a portion of the Danish editions (50 of 1800) - the Duck suddenly spoke German!  (I guess of the 1800 buyers, at least 100 were speculators, who has not looked in their books - but in time will try to sell a mint condition Danish/German book, ha ha)

Egmont switched over the "German" books without any delay for the two persons of whom I've heard about - with books imprinted "Forlags kopi" (or something?)

This would not have happened in an all-American book, would it?
Maybe in an Taiwan/Hongkong produced book in English/Malaiian language?

I have just checked Egmonts Danish homepage and here is my translation of it:


So we lift the veil of the content of CBSV vol. 9 - the secondlast with Carl Barks' collected Disneycomics.

As usual we again have articles, that is solely writen for the Danish CBSV.

In earlier volumes you've been able to read about Barks' rejected story about the Golden Apples. Barks told, among others, the American Disneycomic-artist Robert Klein about the story. From Barks memories, Klein has sketched the story, and in vol. 9 you can see Klein's sketch of page 8 of the story and read about his meeting with Barks.  Here's a little except:

"We also talked about "The Golden Apple Story", that Malcolm had already told me was being dicarded by Barks' Editors.  He said, that not alone it was never printed, but that the original drawings had been lost. It was planned for WDC&S # 144 i 1952.  Carl told me, that the story was about Daisy's jealousy, that Donald had a crush for the Beautyqueen of the Duckburg Apple Festival. He said his Editor (Chase Craig) thought that Daisy's "rages" over Donald, where she threw  "whatsoever in the face of him" was to "unfeminin"."


....this might be of-topic, but I didn't know where to put it (but the fun part for me was that Robb_K is mentioned!)

Thank you for enlighting me, Robb, I've got what I deserve - actually I got more than I deserve, because you provided me with insider-informations that is so dear to me - understanding the relations you had with Mr. Barks ...

Give me more! 


As for my translation, it only goes to show how much effort one has to put into that work. I just did it as I went along (not verbatim, as you mentioned, isn't the English syntax okay?).

The translation, syllable by syllable, was actually the main problem in the first three sets of books in Denmark (the first seven books, if I'm not wrong).  We were arguing with Egmont, that the translation was made with Babelfish, but never got through with our arguments! (Till this day, I think, the Chiefeditor still can't (wont) see the problem!) 

I even wrote to Geoffrey Blum, telling him that his articles was next to non-understandable - he admitted that his writing was full of colloquialisms and playfull and ironically at times, so he, himself, could very well understand that it was a demanding job.  I look foreward to read his "colloquialisms and playfull and ironically" articles in his native tungue, because 1/3 of them was translated "as a broken leg" (as we playfully and ironically say in Danish!)