Gladstone Publishing was an American company that published Disney comics from 1986 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1998. The company had its origins as a subsidiary of

Another Rainbow Publishing Another Rainbow Publishing is a company dedicated to the re-publication and greater recognition of the work of Carl Barks that was created in 1981 by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran. Its name references Barks's saying that there would be "always ano ...

, a company formed by Bruce Hamilton and

Russ Cochran Russell Earl Cochran (born October 31, 1958) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions, having previously been a member on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He is one of the few natural left-handed players to win ...

to publish the Carl Barks Library and produce limited edition lithographs of

Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McD ...

oil paintings of the Disney ducks. The name references Gladstone Gander. Reprints of classic Donald Duck stories by

and Mickey Mouse stories by Floyd Gottfredson were the foundation of their output. Don Rosa, William Van Horn, and Pat Block are among the modern Disney comics artists who got their start at Gladstone. Some of the Van Horn stories had scripts by frequent collaborator John Lustig. The company also published translations of European Disney comic book stories produced by

Egmont Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

, Oberon and Mondadori. These included stories by such famed creators as Romano Scarpa, Marco Rota,

Daan Jippes Daniel Jan "Daan" Jippes (born 14 October 1945) is a Dutch cartoonist who's known for his work on Disney comics. In the 1980s and 1990s he drew many covers for Gladstone Publishing's Disney magazines. In the 1990s he redrew for Egmont old Juni ...

and

Freddy Milton Freddy Milton Larsen (born April 18, 1948) is a Danish comics artist and writer, mostly known under his pen name Freddy Milton. He has worked with the European editions of Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker. '' Familien Gnuff'' and ''Villiam'' are ...

. While still distributed on news stands, their orientation toward the collectors market was visible in their inclusion of scholarly articles, mostly by associate editor Geoffrey Blum. Unlike the previous Disney comic book licensee Western Publishing, Gladstone provided credits for the stories. Although Gladstone is no longer an active publisher, it continues to offer its back issues through its website.

First generation (1986–1990)

* ''

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip ...

'' * ''

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

'' * '' Mickey Mouse'' * ''

Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in Du ...

'' * '' Uncle Scrooge Adventures'' * '' Donald Duck Adventures'' * ''Mickey and Donald'' * '' DuckTales''

Second generation (1993–1998)

* ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'' * ''Donald and Mickey'' * ''Uncle Scrooge'' * ''Uncle Scrooge Adventures'' * ''Donald Duck'' * ''Donald Duck Adventures'' * ''Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse'' * '' Walt Disney Giant'' * ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Penny Pincher'' * ''Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck'' * ''The Adventurous Uncle Scrooge McDuck'' During the second run, there was another implosion in 1998, like the one that Disney Comics had back in 1991. This time, only two comics did not get cancelled – ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'' and ''Uncle Scrooge'' – both of which converted to

prestige format American comic book tropes are common elements and literary devices related to American comic books. Continuity Comics continuity almost-always refers to the existence and use of a shared universe, although any comic can have internal continu ...

Softcover albums

During the first run Gladstone issued 28 albums and seven giant albums consisting mostly of reprints of stories by

and Floyd Gottfredson. In 1990 Gladstone was licensed to publish a series of albums reprinting nearly all the Disney duck stories of

. These were known as ''The Carl Barks Library in Color'' consisting of: * Walt Disney Comics and Stories – Comic Albums #1–51 (With trading cards) * Uncle Scrooge Adventures – Comic Albums #1–56 (With trading cards) * Donald Duck Adventures – Comic Albums #1–25 (With trading cards) * Gyro Gearloose – Comic Albums #1–6 * Uncle Scrooge – One-Pagers – Comic Albums #1 & 2 * Donald Duck 1940s Christmas Giveaways There were also three different series of Albums featuring stories by Don Rosa and William Van Horn respectively. * The Don Rosa Library of Uncle Scrooge Adventures in Color #s 1–4 featured The first twelve chapters of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck * The Don Rosa Library of Uncle Scrooge Adventures in Color #s 5–8 featured all the Uncle Scrooge stories that Don Rosa did during his first two years as a Disney Comics Artist. * The William Van Horn Library of Uncle Scrooge Adventures in Color #s 1–4 featured all of the stories that William Van Horn did during Gladstone's first run. After its license expired in 1998, Gladstone ceased publishing new material, and there were no more Disney comics in the United States (except for occasional graphic novels based on the Disney films, put out by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...

), until 2003, when Gemstone Publishing gained the publishing rights.

EC Comics reprints

Between 1990 and 1991, Gladstone reprinted four

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, war novel, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through th ...

titles, in association with EC-fan and publisher

. (Two different EC titles per issue). These included six issues of '' The Vault of Horror'' (August 1990 – June 1991), six issues of ''

Tales from the Crypt Tales from the Crypt may refer to: * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (album), by American rapper C-Bo * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (comics), published by EC Comics during the 1950s ** ''Tales from the Crypt'' (film), a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Ric ...

'' (July 1990 – May 1991), four issues of '' Weird Science'' (September 1990 – March 1991), and two issues of '' The Haunt of Fear'' (May/July 1991). After four issues of ''Weird Science'', Gladstone changed it to ''The Haunt of Fear''. This took ''The Haunt of Fear'' from ''The Vault of Horror'' and replaced it with '' Weird Fantasy''. ''The Haunt of Fear'' took ''Weird Science'' as its second issue per comic. ''Tales from the Crypt'' kept '' Crime SuspenStories'' for its double sized horror. Subsequently, Cochran and the EC reprints moved to Diamond Comics-CEO Steven A Geppi's Gemstone Publishers, which naturally reprinted the Gladstone-printed issues as part of their EC reprints. (Gemstone, whose key editorial staff at startup – John Clark, Gary Leach and Susan Daigle-Leach – previously worked for Gladstone, also subsequently gained the rights to Disney comics, a license formerly held by Gladstone.)

References

* "A Gander at Gladstone" by Roger Ash. ''

Back Issue! ''Back Issue!'' is an American magazine published by TwoMorrows Publishing, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 2003 and published eight times yearly, it features articles and art about comic books from the 1970s to the present. Edited ...

'' no. 23 (August 2007) pp. 35–41.

External links

Gladstone official website

Geoffrey Blum's official website
* {{Comic book publishers in North America navbox 1986 establishments in Arizona 1998 disestablishments in Arizona American companies established in 1986 American companies disestablished in 1998 Publishing companies established in 1986 Publishing companies disestablished in 1998 Comic book publishing companies of the United States Disney comics publishers Prescott, Arizona Defunct companies based in Arizona