Roger North wrote:

Is Gemstone going out of business?  I hope not. It's bad enough that they had printer problems once but twice is really bad.

Why do you say that Gemstone has had printing problems a 2nd time?  I haven't heard of a 2nd problem?  They are just not catching up as fast as they had planned.

Morequack wrote:

Robb_K wrote:

Why do you say that Gemstone has had printing problems a 2nd time?  I haven't heard of a 2nd problem?  They are just not catching up as fast as they had planned.

Because it's obvious that they are having perpetual problems—meaning on more than one ocassion. They have been behind now for forever and a day—has it been a year? Wasn't it about 5 months ago that they posted that the problem was fixed and that they were well on their way to be caught up soon—even put out a schedule projecting they would be caught up within a few months. That seemed long ago. Clearly there ARE problems. Anyone knows otherwise, please straighten me out.

It seems evident, that they have a small staff, and can't afford to add more, and operate at the level of profitability they desire.  Given that, they are limited to what that size staff can handle, and in their ability to catch up on their original planned schedule.  But, that does NOT mean that they are in danger of going out of business.  It only affects how soon they will catch up.  They may decide to abandon the attempt to catch up, and just leave a gap, and change the date to current.  Even if they do that, they are no closer to going out of business than they were when they started operations.  Unforeseen problems pop up now and then in businesses.  Sometimes the way firms handle them or adjust to them can show symptoms of monetary problems, and other times not. 

I wouldn't get overly worried about Gemstone folding until I hear some concrete news regarding that issue.  I seem to remember that when Gladstone's own staff knew they would stop operations, we were told in advance.

Me Too Charlie Brown.  You're probably right Robb. If they do go out of business they will let us know in advance.  They are probably on hiatus or something.

I hope not.

Otherwise, we should make a page with ALL the Disney Comics and Stories around the world.

Sure, there are some good ones, but they don't have the full stories and there are many that aren't released in America!

Charlie Brown wrote:

I don't think Gemstone is going out of business. But it has been very quiet since December. No new comic books. No new announcements. Even David didn't show up here.

Hopefully not. But *no one* can say. In today's volatile economy, anything can happen—and often does. 598,000 individuals reportedly lost their jobs last month in the U.S.; worst in 35 years! And the forecast shows no light at the end of the 2009-tunnel.

Keep that favorite comfort food within quick reach!

Robb_K wrote:

the 5-6,000 Gemstone customers

Only 6,000 worldwide. That's not too much.

The question is, if any other publisher will take the business if Gemstone is out of business. I think Egmont might be pretty interested. The license to print all Disney comics in English as well could be a good 2nd income in many European states. And they have a lot already made in English before translating it into German or Norwegian (take a look at this pdf samples of Carl Barks Collection) but they have no right to publish it.

But that's all just guessing. Gemstone won't go out of business

But you can download and read the pdf files named "Seite". They are in English

Here are more English pdf files: http://www.barks.de/e3/e10/e21/index_ger.html

I think we shouldn't paint the sky too dark.

How do you know that many already have lost their jobs?
How do you know that there's no light at the end of the tunnel? Some forecasts show a light in mid-2009 for the US and end-2009 for Europe!

And we should remember that Disney build it's company up in the 30s - the great depression! He painted the sky blue

They're finally putting out the Rosa & Barks collections, they can't go out of business now!

toaddawet wrote:

They're finally putting out the Rosa & Barks collections, they can't go out of business now!

That *promise* counts for nothing in this fickle landscape until it is delivered.

I received the same message Rancid.

That sounds like "we are done" to me.  Scaling back doesn't usually mean cease to publish your main book.  There are no English language Disney comics available from any other countries, are there?