Holy !@#$, Disney buys Marvel Comics???

[Bad Bishop]

Here's a thread with industry insiders views:

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22765

Particularly interesting is this guy, whose business is Disney publishing related:

Dan Vado of SLG Publishing, home of Disney properties “Haunted Mansion,” “Tron,” and “Gargoyles,” among others

NOTE: Despite being a Disney licensee, Vado wishes it to be known that he has no inside knowledge of the Marvel acquisition, and that his remarks should be taken strictly as his own opinions based on news reports.

“Marvel is the big winner here. My opinion, Disney overpaid (and Disney never over pays for anything) so it is obvious that Disney sees a huge licensing bonanza from the characters well down the line. Marvel books will, at some point, gain a stronger bookstore distribution partner should they decide to have their books sold through Harper.

“However it is worth pointing out that Disney does very little actual publishing of its own and has made most of its money by licensing characters out to third parties. It could be, again strictly conjecture here, that Marvel will end up being reduced to a licensing company and that its publishing will be scaled back dramatically as emphasis is put on content like movies and video games and less emphasis on things like publishing. Disney published its own line of comics years ago and pulled out...

That's a boatload of strict conjecture. It's needlessly alarmist too, coming from someone who wasn't in on the negotiations.

There are bound to be lots of benefits from the Disney deal. But I just don't see single comic books (as opposed to trade editions and hardcovers) gaining much more space in bookstores. That's not where the best customers go for their weekly fix.

 

[TheBrew]

If Diamond goes, that will make this deal worth it.

 

[Hermiod]

Funny note in the paper this morning about this - apparently Disney saw this as an opportunity to recover the young male audience which they say they've lost in recent years.

No shit, really ? Here's a clue, Disney - for every screeching teenage girl you turn in to a fan with your singing pretty boy shows and movies you turn five teenage boys off of your products for life.

 

[Red Ranger]

Disney will fuck this up the way they fucked up the acquisition of ABC. Their plans for "synergy" always stink. Bad news, as they already want to do a "reboot" of Fantastic Four. -- RR

 

[Hermiod]

^I think that was already underway.

 

[Red Ranger]

^Ah, OK. I hope I'm wrong. If Disney just lets its movie folks make the superhero films they want, perhaps it will work out well creatively, and for Disney and Marvel, financially. The movies I'm awaiting anyway are Avengers and Iron Man 2. And I wish someone would do a decent Submariner movie. And while Avengers is technically a crossover movie, how cool would it be if they did a Fantastic Four & Spiderman flick, the way folks wanted to do a Batman vs. Superman movie? I'm sounding like a fanboy, I know! -- RR

 

[drychlick]

i love it i see it now donald the duck meet howard the duck lol love dr

 

[Hermiod]

^Ah, OK. I hope I'm wrong. If Disney just lets its movie folks make the superhero films they want, perhaps it will work out well creatively, and for Disney and Marvel, financially. The movies I'm awaiting anyway are Avengers and Iron Man 2. And I wish someone would do a decent Submariner movie. And while Avengers is technically a crossover movie, how cool would it be if they did a Fantastic Four & Spiderman flick, the way folks wanted to do a Batman vs. Superman movie? I'm sounding like a fanboy, I know! -- RR

I can understand that, believe me.

This fanboy still wants his Ms. Marvel movie.

Seriously, though, right now the Avengers do not have a female member as far as I know. I'm sure it'd more likely be Wasp than Ms. Marvel, but I can hope.

 

[Red Ranger]

^Ah, OK. I hope I'm wrong. If Disney just lets its movie folks make the superhero films they want, perhaps it will work out well creatively, and for Disney and Marvel, financially. The movies I'm awaiting anyway are Avengers and Iron Man 2. And I wish someone would do a decent Submariner movie. And while Avengers is technically a crossover movie, how cool would it be if they did a Fantastic Four & Spiderman flick, the way folks wanted to do a Batman vs. Superman movie? I'm sounding like a fanboy, I know! -- RR

I can understand that, believe me.

This fanboy still wants his Ms. Marvel movie.

Seriously, though, right now the Avengers do not have a female member as far as I know. I'm sure it'd more likely be Wasp than Ms. Marvel, but I can hope.

Marvel did a good job when they made the Wasp the Avengers' leader, and she "grew up" from the airhead heiress she was originally portrayed as. I wonder if Henry Pym will be Ant-Man or Giant-Man? I heard he will be Ant-Man, but I do recall at one point early on he had the ability to shrink as well as grow giant. -- RR

 

[TemporalFlux]

Disney will fuck this up the way they fucked up the acquisition of ABC. Their plans for "synergy" always stink. Bad news, as they already want to do a "reboot" of Fantastic Four. -- RR

Why is Disney being blamed with this Fantastic Four reboot? Fox is the one rebooting Fantastic Four in a desperate bid to hold on to the license (Fox only keeps the license as long as they're making Fantastic Four movies in a set time frame).

If Disney had never entered the equation, this Fantastic Four reboot would have still come up; it has nothing to do with Disney.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

I WANT TO SEE PIXAR DO A REAL CG SUPERHERO MOVIE!

Incredibles >>>> Fantastic Four

GAHH...look at Ultimate Avengers or Green Lantern and tell me all CG is the way to go...

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Hopefully with Disney buying Marvel it means perhaps some major retconing of Quesada's deconstructionist, very un-kid friendly rubbish. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Putting aside any views on Queseda's "deconstructionist" tendencies, this is definately something to watch. The entire direct market comics industry system is not kid-friendly in the least.

Then again Warners owns DC and never really did anything so who knows.

According to the press release, Disney has no plans to interfere creatively with Marvel Editorial...unfortunately...

 

[Hermiod]

Marvel did a good job when they made the Wasp the Avengers' leader, and she "grew up" from the airhead heiress she was originally portrayed as. I wonder if Henry Pym will be Ant-Man or Giant-Man? I heard he will be Ant-Man, but I do recall at one point early on he had the ability to shrink as well as grow giant. -- RR

I get the feeling the whole Ant-Man movie has been canned.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Hah, I'm waiting for The Incredibles to be integrated into the Marvel Universe in the inevitable sequel.

That actually wouldn't be too bad, since The Incredibles is arguably the best superhero movie of the last decade. And yes I am including Dark Knight.

Alex

NO!!!! A thousand times, NO!!!!!!!!

The Incredibles universe is different by design, mostly based on classic DC Comics tropes (fictitious cities like Metropolis and Gotham, fictitious corporations, nations, etc.) The Marvel universe is based as much as possible in the real world, with real world cities, nations, and sometimes, real products by way of product placement. Uniting both would be a mistake, and would destroy the integrity of both universes, plus Brad Bird would object strenuously as well, I'll bet.

Also, the art style and body design (based on the RenderMan software) seen in The Incredibles has no place in the Marvel universe-the Marvel Universe is based on real body types, facial expressions, etc; The Incredibles body types would make the Marvel superheroes look ridiculous, since The Incredibles was also meant to be somewhat exaggerated for a slight comic effect. How do you expect to take the Avengers or the Hulk seriously when they all look like Mr. Incredible?

Let's not jinx this merger (which most people feel uneasy about) with silly concepts like these, OK? A book similar to Avengers/JLA? Not a problem. But anything else is pushing it.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Meh, outside of the superhero comics of Marvel and Dc, most indie comics are nothing more than a collection of badly written, badly drawn stuff that focuses on sex, uber violence or a plot point the creators think is "high art" or some other pretentious wording.

Either you're not reading the right comics, or you have a very limited tolerance towards non-genre fiction.

 

[dru]

No shit, really ? Here's a clue, Disney - for every screeching teenage girl you turn in to a fan with your singing pretty boy shows and movies you turn five teenage boys off of your products for life.

Here's a clue: Women and girls do most of the buying.

 

[Hermiod]

No shit, really ? Here's a clue, Disney - for every screeching teenage girl you turn in to a fan with your singing pretty boy shows and movies you turn five teenage boys off of your products for life.

Here's a clue: Women and girls do most of the buying.

Here's another clue: Boys turn in to men. Men have money to spend.

And a third clue: Boys want to be entertained just as much as girls do.

It's absolutely moronic for an entertainment company to ignore young males for as long as they have.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, this is interesting. Since Marvel has been pretty much unreadable for years, things can't get any worse there; and there could possibly be improvement.

It would be nice if Disney used Marvel to bring back some of the comics they used to publish. I can remember when there were a ton of Disney characters on the stands.

And, yeah, animated Marvel by Pixar; that would rock.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Nah, I'd prefer if Pixar stuck to original material. I have a feeling that the moment they start doing adaptations would be the moment that they'd lose what makes them unique. I'm already kind of worried about them focusing on several upcoming sequels.

The Incredibles was about as close to an adaptation as I'd like them to get.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I have to say my initial thought was "Oh, fuck," but after reading the updated link, I'm intrigued by how Disney repeatedly cites their new relationship with Pixar. I can only see that as a good thing.

Secondly, I haven't read the comics since the 90's (largely because of my distaste for the Clone Saga and the return of Norman Osborn Who Did Everything Against Peter Parker Since He "Died") and I occasionally check back in and I don't like what I've seen. So who knows, maybe a new change will be better. *shrug*