John Clark (left), along with Gary Leach and Susan Daigle-Leach stand before a Carl Barks oil painting of Uncle Scrooge, Donald, and the nephews.

It was announced in December 2002 that Gemstone Publishing had signed the license to publishing Disney comics in North America. John Clark, who served as the editor-in-chief for Gladstone, the last North American licensee for the Disney titles, has now officially joined Gemstone as editor-in-chief of the new Disney comics line. Scoop talked with him about the launch, the recent announcement that they'd be participating in Free Comic Book Day, and how he got into the business.

How has the reaction been to the announcement of the Disney comics returning?
Thus far, quite positive. The marketplace has seen such a dearth of material suitable for children in recent years that virtually everyone who has learned about the new Disney books, fans and laypersons alike, have applauded Gemstone for taking this step. And the "man on the street" response is, I think, what is vitally important to the whole comics industry.

Whenever I've had the opportunity in recent months, I've mentioned the job I've taken and the plans that are underway to non-fans and, almost to a person, they comment that they haven't read (or seen) a comic book for years and that it will be great to have Disney books for parents to buy again, and this is what comic books need. As many titles have become more "mature" oriented over the years they have experienced more and more of a decline in sales to young readers and especially to the parents of young readers. When I was a kid, my mom bought comic books to read to me, so when I got older, I knew what comic books were and started buying them for myself. That scenario, sadly, doesn't happen anymore and I believe it needs to start happening again if the comic industry is to ultimately survive. A revival of this buyer's profile is what we hope to achieve.

Gemstone had previously announced that the Disney comics line would start with Walt Disney's Comics & Stories and Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge, but you're actually going to put out one book before that. What can you tell us about it?
Shortly after I arrived in Timonium, Steve Geppi, John Snyder, and I had an impromptu meeting to discuss the possibility of doing a book to include at this year's Free Comic Book Day. Steve decided it would be a shame to not have the Disney comics represented at such a prestigious celebration, so we banged our heads together to come up with a way to get our offering before the public. John Snyder finally suggested that we reprint the classic Carl Barks story, "Maharajah Donald" from Boy's and Girl's March of Comics #4 [1947]. Steve liked the notion of offering a reprint of one of the most collectible giveaways of our time as a giveaway, so we pressed forward. Titled Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures, the book is 32 pages and will feature "Maharajah Donald" along with Barks' original 2-page backup story, "The Peaceful Hills", along with a cover put together from Barks panel art from the story, colored by Gemstone Art Director Gary Leach, and the original March of Comics cover on the back. This gives Disney enthusiasts an opportunity to own the complete contents of a $7,000 collector's item for it's original price: FREE!

What is the initial line-up of titles Gemstone will be publishing?
The Free Comic Book Day issue I already mentioned will come out first. About a month and a half after that, we'll start hitting the stands with our regular titles. Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge will hit first, around mid-June. They will both be monthly 64-page prestige-format books at $6.95, which is the same price they were when last produced, in 1998. We hope the prestige format will be well-received now, as it was before, as this allows us to present material that would pose more of a problem with a lower page count, such as the longer Carl Barks and Don Rosa stories. In the first issue of Uncle Scrooge (#319), for example, we'll be printing Rosa's "The Dutchman's Secret" in its entirety. In a smaller format, we'd be obliged to run it in three installments.

Three months later, about mid-September, we'll release two more titles, Walt Disney's Donald Duck and Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and Friends, which will each be monthly 32 pages in a regular comic book format at $2.95. We hope to break back into the mass market with these and start reintroducing the comic book to the new generation of youngsters and parents - many of whom will have never read a comic book before - so I'm sure we'll have our work cut out for us. But they will also be desirable for Disney fans of long-standing in the direct market, as we plan to fill them with the same sort of high-quality material that will be going into the prestige books - William Van Horn, Pat Block, all the good European creators, and of course Barks.

There are, of course, other projects in the works. But they're still in the planning stages so I'll decline to comment on them for now.

The first set of titles will be the $6.95 prestige format 64-pagers. The second set will be regular 32-pagers. Was this a reaction to retailer input asking for the comics to be as accessible for children as possible? Are you still looking for more feedback?
Yes, and also a function of our own discussions regarding the necessity of making these books available to children and parents. And, of course, I'm always interested in hearing feedback and getting new ideas. That's one of the ways we're going to make this work.

There's been a long time between the last Disney comics published in the US and the one that will come out for Free Comic Book Day. During the downtime, did you ever think the deal would finally get done, and did you expect the reaction from the retailers, fans and other publishers Gemstone received once it was announced?
Frankly, no, I didn't think Gemstone would ultimately seal the deal. Sales had sunk pretty low by the end of the Gladstone run and I figured Steve would finally conclude that it was too big a risk to take them over. But I applaud his resolve, as does, apparently, everyone else, and I do believe we can turn the downtrend around.

Did I expect the reaction to the announcements? Well, yes and no. Naturally, I knew there would be Disney fans who would be happy to get their rations of Barks, etc. again. I have been pleasantly surprised, however, to see the universal acclaim the return of the titles has been getting in fandom in general.

What was the first comic book you ever read, and what were the circumstances?
The first comic I read myself? Or the first comic my Mom read to me? The latter is hard to answer, but I can tell you my Mom frequently read comics to me for entertainment and she chose mostly from Harvey and Dell humor titles. I can remember her reading Spooky, Casper, Wendy, Ruff 'n' Reddy, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, DC's Fox and Crow, and of course Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, and Mickey Mouse to me. Shortly before I got old enough to read to myself, she started buying me more DC titles. Batman and Tomahawk come to mind. One day she brought me a copy of Brave and the Bold #31, the first appearance of Cave Carson, and that was the first book I read to myself. We were living in Corpus Christi, Texas at the time.

Did you start reading them regularly at that point? If not, when did you?
Yes. We moved to Phoenix, Arizona, shortly after that and I became an avid reader of comic books. I loved super hero titles like JLA and Challengers of the Unknown and also the DC and Marvel suspense titles, like House of Secrets, My Greatest Adventure, Journey into Mystery and Strange Tales. I got into the Marvel super hero books early on as well. The first title that I saw in Arizona was Fantastic Four #3. I bought it and became an instant Marvelite.

Prior to becoming editor-in-chief for Gemstone's Disney comics, what was your background with comics in general and Disney comics specifically?
Well, I'll take you back farther than that. My undergraduate degrees, from Phoenix College and Arizona State University, respectively, are in Journalism and Mass Communication. Additionally, I have an MBA from ASU.

Getting out of graduate school in 1980, unfortunately, qualified me to get a job nowhere, so I set out on a desperate search to find anything. Enter my old friend Bruce Hamilton. He and Russ Cochran and a couple of other partners were just starting to enter into negotiations with Disney to produce a coffee-table edition of all of Carl Barks' oil paintings, and he needed someone to take over running his end of Jellyroll Productions, the outfit that produced record collector price guides. I took the position and shortly after that, Bruce sold his share in Jellyroll to his partner and asked me to help with two new Disney licenses, The Carl Barks Library and the Barks lithographs. I started doing that and about a year later, Bruce got the Disney comic book license. Gladstone was formed, Byron Erickson was hired to be Editor-in-Chief and I signed on as a production artist. (During all of this, from 1976-on, I had freelanced writing and lettering for Charlton, DC, Eclipse, Blackthorne, AC, and others.) Byron eventually left to take a position with First, and then with Egmont in Denmark, and that's when I took over as Editor-in-Chief at Gladstone.

What excites you about working on the Disney comics?
It's what I've done for a major portion of my adult life and it's always good to return to what you know and like. Moreover, it is satisfying to produce a book, to take it to completion, and to see that book on stands nationwide and know you were responsible for it.

Have you ever been surprised by someone you thought unlikely to be a Disney fan? If so, can you say who it was?
One of our subscribers at Gladstone was Wendy Carlos, formerly Walter Carlos, who recorded a hit single "Switched on Bach" on the Moog Synthesizer in the '70s. Beyond that, there are a number of professionals whom I respect who are not necessarily "unlikely" Disney fans, but it is gratifying to know they are Disney fans. Names that come immediately to mind are Alan Dean Foster, Walt Simonson, Joe Staton, and Jack Chalker.

What are some of the things involved in starting up this portion of the operation?
Planning, organizing, planning, organizing, planning, and, let me see, organizing. Basically the first month or so of start-up was consumed with sitting down with Gary Leach and Susan Daigle-Leach and planning out a timeline for production, choosing material to go into the first books, getting that material ordered, identifying creators who have the time and inclination to work with us, getting material and a production schedule to them, identifying potential service bureaus and printers, getting quotes from them, setting production schedules with said outfits, avoiding run-on sentences. That sort of thing.

Now that you're up and running with the Disney comics operation at Gemstone, do you have a "usual day" yet, or is it too early for that?
I believe it's far too early to specify a "usual day" at Gemstone yet. But from prior experience, I can say that a typical scenario will involve Gary and Susan doing production and coloring work on covers and editorial pages. Gary will typically interact with freelancers and try to answer questions or solve problems that they might have. He will also undertake to develop specialized logos or other designs that might be important to a given issue. He will also color some covers and stories in-house.

Susan will manage our traffic flow and interact with freelancers, service bureaus and printers to make sure we're on schedule. She will also lay out letters pages, editorial pages, etc. and will color and/or letter some of our stories in-house.

I will interact with our contacts at Disney and make sure that all material scheduled for publication is approved and meets with Disney standards. I will also liaison between my staff and other Gemstone/Diamond departments. I will make contact with and interact with freelancers as well. Additionally, I will letter some of our stories in-house.