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 Gladstone logo, 1993–1998 | |
| Industry | Comics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986; 40 years ago (1986) |
| Defunct | 1998; 28 years ago (1998) |
| Parent | Another Rainbow Publishing |
Gladstone Publishing was an American company that publishedDisney comics from 1986 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1998. The company had its origins as a subsidiary ofAnother Rainbow Publishing, a company formed by Bruce Hamilton andRuss Cochran to publish theCarl Barks Library and produce limited edition lithographs ofCarl Barks oil paintings of the Disney ducks. The name referencesGladstone Gander.
Reprints of classic Donald Duck stories byCarl Barks and Mickey Mouse stories byFloyd 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 collaboratorJohn Lustig. The company also published translations of European Disney comic book stories produced byEgmont, Oberon andMondadori. These included stories by such famed creators asRomano Scarpa,Marco Rota,Daan Jippes andFreddy Milton.
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 licenseeWestern 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.
During the second run, there was another implosion in 1998, like the one thatDisney Comics had back in 1991. This time, only two comics did not get cancelled –Walt Disney's Comics and Stories andUncle Scrooge – both of which converted toprestige format.
During the first run Gladstone issued 28 albums and seven giant albums consisting mostly of reprints of stories byCarl Barks andFloyd Gottfredson. In 1990 Gladstone was licensed to publish a series of albums reprinting nearly all the Disney duck stories ofCarl Barks. These were known asTheCarl Barks Library in Color consisting of:
There were also three different series of Albums featuring stories by Don Rosa and William Van Horn respectively.
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 byDark Horse Comics), until 2003, whenGemstone Publishing gained the publishing rights.
Between 1990 and 1991, Gladstone reprinted fourEC Comics titles, in association with EC-fan and publisherRuss Cochran. (Two different EC titles per issue). These included six issues ofThe Vault of Horror (August 1990 – June 1991), six issues ofTales from the Crypt (July 1990 – May 1991), four issues ofWeird Science (September 1990 – March 1991), and two issues ofThe Haunt of Fear (May/July 1991). After four issues ofWeird Science, Gladstone changed it toThe Haunt of Fear. This tookThe Haunt of Fear fromThe Vault of Horror and replaced it withWeird Fantasy.The Haunt of Fear tookWeird Science as its second issue per comic.Tales from the Crypt keptCrime SuspenStories for its double sized horror.
Subsequently, Cochran and the EC reprints moved toDiamond Comics-CEO Steven A Geppi'sGemstone 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 andSusan Daigle-Leach – previously worked for Gladstone, also subsequently gained the rights to Disney comics, a license formerly held by Gladstone.)