Another Rainbow Publishing
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | Bruce Hamilton, Russ Cochran |
| Headquarters | Scottsdale, Arizona (originally), Prescott, Arizona (Gladstone subsidiary) , United States |
| Products | Books, comic books, fine art lithographs, figurines |
Another Rainbow Publishing was founded in 1981 by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran with the purpose of republishing and promoting the works of Carl Barks. Its subsidiary, Gladstone Publishing, launched in 1985, took charge of non-Barks Disney comics and emerged as a prominent Disney comics publisher in the United States throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Following the completion of the thirty-volume Carl Barks Library, Another Rainbow stopped active publishing activities but continues to offer its existing titles for sale.
Name
The company’s title is inspired by Barks’s phrase "always another rainbow," associated with his character Scrooge McDuck, which also serves as the name of one of Barks’s oil paintings depicting the wealthy duck.
Publications
Beginning in 1983, Another Rainbow released the complete collection of Barks’s Disney comic stories—over 500 in total—compiled into the ten-set, thirty-volume Carl Barks Library. These large-format hardback editions showcased immaculate black-and-white line art that closely resembled the original sketches, supplemented by articles, interviews, and critical essays. This publication endeavor concluded in 1990. Subsequently, Gladstone Publishing republished Barks’s entire output in color between 1992 and 1998.
Another Rainbow also produced the acclaimed The Fine Art of Walt Disney's Donald Duck by Carl Barks, an extensive compilation of Barks’s Disney duck paintings. The company further introduced limited-edition fine art lithographs personally signed by Barks, who created original pieces specifically for this series.
Disney figurines
Branching out from publishing, Another Rainbow created limited edition bone-china figurines inspired by Barks’s Disney characters, mainly Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck. These were crafted by Connoisseur of Malvern (UK), a manufacturer renowned for commissions from Buckingham Palace and the White House. Under Barks’s supervision, seven figurines were produced, with prices ranging from $1,980 to $19,500. While initial editions sold swiftly, some later releases remained unsold following the expiration of Another Rainbow’s Disney license.
In 2001, due to a licensing conflict with new management at The Walt Disney Company, all unsold figurines were destroyed.
Gladstone Publishing
Established in 1985, Gladstone Publishing revived the inactive Disney comic book license, issuing works by Carl Barks, Paul Murry, and Floyd Gottfredson, as well as early comics from contemporary Disney artists Don Rosa and William Van Horn. Gladstone was among the pioneering U.S. publishers to consistently include European-produced Disney comics. Originally headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1987.
Death of Bruce Hamilton
Bruce Hamilton, co-founder and vital contributor to Another Rainbow Publishing, died on June 20, 2005, after enduring a prolonged illness.