The Zodiac Stone

[Kriton Kyrimis]

I guess this is another question for David.

Now that the Zodiac Stone is finally completed, I was wondering what its
reception was in the US.

The story was originally published in 12 issues of Topolino, in the space of
three months. This is a lot of time for a kid to wait, so publishing the story
in the course of an entire year seems absurd to me. What kid (or adult, for
that matter) has the patience to wait an entire year, to read a story?
Certainly not me, who resented having to wait for *an entire week* to read the
second part of a two-part story!

I think that the Greek publishers were aware of this, as the story was first
published complete in a single volume, and only ten years later, after the
story had become known, did they reprint it in weekly installments.

When I raised this question in my blog, someone answered that US readers don't
mind such long-running stories, and that a Batman story ark, e.g., was
recently completed after five years. On the other hand, sites listing upcoming
comic books say that "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories returns to
'done-in-one' stories this issue" for next issue. Given that they all use the
same phrasing, I assume that they are quoting an official press release.
Coupled with the fact that the next issue will be deploying modern Disney
comics' heavy artillery (Casty), does this mean that the long story ark was
not popular with the readers?

So, to reiterate, what was the reception of the Zodiac Stone in the US?

Kriton.
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[Francesco Spreafico]

On Thu, Jun 16, 2016 at 11:06 AM Kriton Kyrimis <
kyr...@alumni.princeton.edu> wrote:

The story was originally published in 12 issues of Topolino, in the space of
> three months. This is a lot of time for a kid to wait, so publishing the
> story
> in the course of an entire year seems absurd to me. What kid (or adult, for
> that matter) has the patience to wait an entire year, to read a story?
> Certainly not me, who resented having to wait for *an entire week* to read
> the
> second part of a two-part story!
>

How weird, for me it's the *exact opposite*. As a kid I *loved* multi part
stories, the longer, the better. You could really *live* inside the stories
for weeks, think about them, speculate on what could happen next, and
re-read them many times to be ready for the next part. "Paperolimpiadi",
"Zodiac Stone", "Messer Papero", "Marco Polo", "Il vento del Sud"... I have
the best memories of these, not only because they're great stories, but
also because the were kept alive for many weeks.

When Topolino started publishing multiparters on the same issue I was very,
very, very sad (and I still am!). Luckily we still get a few multipartes
nowadays...

(This list is still alive? Wow...)

--
Francesco

[Kriton Kyrimis]

> When Topolino started publishing multiparters on the same issue I was very,
> very, very sad (and I still am!).

I, on the other hand, love those multi-parters, that are completed in the same
issue; long stories without the wait! I guess the Italian publisher feels the
same as I, publishing long adventures in a single issue, but splitting them
into parts, so that they can be reprinted in other countries, e.g., the US,
where comic books have far fewer pages than Topolino.

> Luckily we still get a few multipartes
> nowadays...

I also love that the new Greek publisher often publishes these stories
complete in one issue, or in batches of two parts or more, if they won't fit.
E.g., they recently published all five parts of "Dove osano le papere" in one
issue, which I enjoyed tremendously.

I guess I'm not a very patient person!