Gemstone Publishing has announced the July release of the first volume in a series of 'manga-size' (5.5' x 7.5') full color trade paperbacks featuring the standard Disney characters such as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Uncle Scrooge.  These editions are intended primarily for bookstore sales and will be attractively priced at $7.95 for 128-page color books.  Starting in July these 'Take-Along' books will be published on a bimonthly basis through the end of the year.  In 2004 Gemstone plans to up the frequency to one per month. 

 

Rather than including the classic Carl Barks Duck stores, or even works by more contemporary fan favorites such as Don Rosa, these pocketsize 'Take-Along' books will feature stories from the various European Disney publishers, providing Gemstone with an outlet for the enormous amount of European-created Disney comics that its Disney license provides (see 'Interview With Steve Geppi, Part I').   It appears that the Barks, Rosa, and Van Horn material will be released in larger, more expensive (and art-friendly) formats targeted at collectors.

 

The first volume in the 'Take-Along' series contains three feature-length stories: 'The Deep,' a 48-page Donald Duck adventure that takes place on an abandoned oil rig; 'Panicking Pachyderm,' a 37-page Mickey Mouse epic; and 'End of Days,' a 39-page Uncle Scrooge adventure in which the cantankerous miser is transported to a future ruled by a digitized version of Scrooge himself.