Gemstone Publishing

Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone is the current publisher of licensed Disney comic books, starting in June 2003. The company also reprints EC Comics of the 1950s. Additionally, the company is the current home of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. [http://www.gemstonepub.com/]

The core of the experienced editorial staff (John Clark, Gary Leach and Susan Daigle-Leach) previously worked at Gladstone Publishing. Archival editor David Gerstein previously worked at Egmont and is author of "Nine Lives To Live - A Classic Felix Celebration", a collection of 1920s Felix the Cat comic strips published by Fantagraphics Books.

Gemstone also issues annual editions of Christmas Parade, Vacation Parade and Spring Fever, a giveaway for Free Comic Book Day, and occasional special editions (including comic adaptations of "" and "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas"). Its first book, "Mickey And The Gang: Classic Stories In Verse", a compilation edited by David Gerstein of Disney cartoon story pages published from 1934 to 1944 in Good Housekeeping Magazine, was issued Nov. 2005. Gerstein has since edited two softcover collections that are official tie-ins to the Walt Disney Treasures DVD collections: "Disney Comics: 75 Years of Innovation" (2006) and "Uncle Scrooge: A Little Something Special" (2008).

Russ Cochran and EC Comics reprints

Gemstone have also been heavily involved in the reprinting of old EC Comics titles. Gemstone's "Comic Book Marketplace"-editor Russ Cochran had previously published (in 1973) a dozen reprints of EC titles including "Crypt of Terror", "Weird Science", "The Haunt of Fear", "The Vault of Horror", etc., before moving to Gladstone Publishing and then to Gemstone, which has been the home of Cochran's EC reprints for over 15 years.

Reprinting the Cochran/Gladstone-reprints of "The Haunt of Fear", "The Vault of Horror" and "Weird Science" (all 1992), Gemstone also republished (in single issue and 'annual' - four issues per 'annual' - format):
*"Crime SuspenStories", "Shock SuspenStories", "Two-Fisted Tales", "Weird Fantasy" and "Weird Science-Fantasy" in 1992;
*"Incredible Science Fiction" (1994)
*"Frontline Combat" (1995)
*"Panic" (1997)
*"Piracy" and "Valor" (1998)
*"Aces High", "Impact", "M.D." and "Psychoanalysis" (1999), and
*"Crime Patrol" and "Extra!" in 2000.

Oversize, hardback, slip-cased collections of these comics had been previously published in black & white by Cochran during the 1980s as "The Complete EC Library". This Library was then added to by Cochran/Gemstone with 2005's "Picto-Fiction" collection, comprising the EC comics: "Confessions Illustrated", "Crime Illustrated", "Shock Illustrated" and "Terror Illustrated", along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before". [ [http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/Home_Complete_EC_Library_31.html The Book Palace's "Complete EC Library" pages] . Accessed 12 March, 2008]

Full-color hardbacks

In 2006, Cochran and Gemstone began publication of a series of full-color EC Archives editions. Promising that " [e] ach EC Archive volume will reprint six complete issues (24 stories)" [ [http://www.eccrypt.com/ EC Comics Online, home of Gemstone's EC pages] . Accessed 12 March, 2008] , the first volumes of "Weird Science" and "Shock Suspenstories" both saw print in December, 2006, with forewords from (respectively) EC fans George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Ostensibly beginning to publish two volumes every two months, the schedule changed to one-per-month and recently one every couple of months.

In addition, "Deluxe" versions of "Weird Science" Vol.s 1 & 2 (both signed by artist Al Feldstein), "Shock Suspenstories" Vol. 1 and "Tales From the Crypt" Vol. 1 have been published.

References

External links

* [http://www.gemstonecomics.com/ Gemstone Publishing's Official Disney Comics site]
* [http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=1823&si=124 interview with editor John Clark on the launch of Gemstone's Disney comics line]
* [http://www.eccrypt.com/ Official Gemstone "EC Comics Online" webpage at www.eCrypt.com]