“Excelsior!” – The Pros & Cons Of Disney Buying Marvel Comics
Everything Else By David D. on September 1, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I’m kinda freaking out here. My world was shaken to the core yesterday when I found out that Disney bought Marvel Comics. The initial reaction was shock, but now it’s time to try to decipher what this means for my awesome addiction to comic books and everything Marvel.
Let’s start by saying that I only read Marvel nowadays. DC lost me a few years ago with their whole Infinite Crisis gibberish and my brain melted from the convoluted and enormous storylines. But Marvel has been on a roll over the last few years with Bendis and Millar essentially taking over the creative reigns and launching their Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Civil War and Dark Reign storylines that told one logical and compelling story. With that being said, here are the possible pros and cons of this new deal.
Cons: Disney may run roughshod over Marvel, taking a hands-on approach to the product. Right now, Marvel is pretty dark and has geared itself increasingly towards the adult crowd. There are more “asses” and edited out curse words than ever. And the plots are lined with political jargon and parallels to our current government. The worst fears are that Disney will try to kiddie up Marvel, making it more accessible to the young market by having Peter Parker fall in love with Hannah Montana or something. But I’m optimistic because…
Pros: Disney already has the kiddie game on lock. It seems unnecessary to drop four billi on a product just to change it to an audience they already dominate. Disney has become irrelevant in the ever-important 18-34 demographic (unless your name is Common) and they want to tap into that market so it makes sense that Disney would steer clear of any infiltration. Just the sideways mention of a Jonas Brother would make a comic reader trash his whole collection.
If Disney plays its cards right, this could be a huge coup that could make comic books mainstream even moreso than it is now with the recent blockbuster comic movies. The amount of distribution and added mainstream appeal could really turn comics into a household and accepted institution. Not something that calls for wedgies and locker stuffings. And girls won’t pretend to like you then kick you in the sack before calling you David The Dingleberry.
Err…
I’m going to get a drink now.
Disney Buys Marvel Comics for $4 Billion [Yahoo News]
Sidebar: While looking for pictures for this post, I stumbled across this Michael Jackson cover. I honestly have no clue what the hell is going on but I may have nightmares about it.
18 Comments
Patrick M interjection: “NERD!”
Question from my friend:
“WHAT??? The Infinite Crisis was AWESOME”
With Disney owning Marvel; you will see a Spiderman/Chris Berman comic in the near future. And Punisher will go back to using Mercy Bullets and Magic Apples. lol
3 words…and a mathematical symbol
Kingdom Hearts + Marvel.
game over.
^ Kingdom Hearts is the dopest Disney game ever.
However, I just hope that this doesn’t water down what little bit Marvel was able to give us.
I know this might be the wrong post to ask this, but I need 5 people who wanna be in a fantasy league with 9th Wonder on ESPN, draft tonight at 8:00. Email your email addresses to me @ lakersfanman33@gmail.com
No bullshit.
Disney has been able to offer adult motion pictures in the past, think of Dimension Films and Miramax (before the Weinstein’s parted ways with Disney).
I firmly believe that they can continue to do this with MARVEL, although that might be wishful thinking on my part.
Disney doesn’t necessarily have to finance MARVEL movie ventures, this can be outsourced as per recent years to places like Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros/New Line Cinema and Lionsgate.
Unless they choose to take a holistic approach like Warner Brothers have done with their DC brand.
great article frat. how do you think it’ll pan out when the parents of the disney demographic decide to take issue with the semi-adult content that their children may be reading in a marvel comic book? i can totally see them standing behind their OG brainchild and fucking with the marvel formula so not to lose any of their greater fanbase.
http://rapidshare.com/files/274439540/Raekwon-Only_Built_4_Cuban_Linx_Pt_II-2009-FTD.rar
this deal will not affect anything marvel does. if anything, it will help marvel.
with marvel financing iron man 2, they were not sure if they would be able to fund thor,capt. america and the avengers on their own.
thus, bring out some of their disney cash to get the movies made.
and for anyone thinking that marvel will be watered down… please stop the overreacting.
touchstone,miramax, espn, abc, buena vista, hollywood pictures, dreamworks, a&e, soapnet, history channel, biography channel and military channel are all assets under the disney roof.
It’s also worth mentioning that Marvel routinely kills DC in sales every month and has pretty much the tightest trade paperback game, so if Disney is smart they’ll leave well enough alone and take their cut. Given the relative revenues of actual comic books and their film adaptations though, I can’t imagine this is about anything but that sweet box office revenue… and maybe throwing a monkey wrench in the works of rival theme park operators Universal.
Also, kids hardly ever read comic books anymore; I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen actual children in the local comic shop, but there’s always a few twentysomethings threre–that’s who buys comics 99% of the time. Any LCS owner worth his salt would direct kids towards the Marvel Adventures line instead of the 616 books, anyway. I suppose there might be kids picking up the more adult books at the bookstore, but that’s a parenting issue more than anything else.
Also, kids hardly ever read comic books anymore; I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen actual children in the local comic shop, but there’s always a few twentysomethings there–that’s who buys comics 99% of the time. Any LCS owner worth his salt would direct kids towards the Marvel Adventures line instead of the 616 books, anyway. I suppose there might be kids picking up the more adult books at the bookstore, but that’s a parenting issue more than anything else.
I wouldn’t worry too much about creative control. Disney will let Marvel breathe. They own mad production studios that put out violent content (Miramax, Touchstone) like someone already said so Marvel projects will have better (well more expensive at least) production values anyway.
I’m a geek but I never got into comic books. I read a couple back in the day but I wasn’t really interested in the stories. I’d just look at the pictures since I liked to draw.
I’m willing to give them another shot. Any suggestions?
http://rs659.rapidshare.com/files/274464565/ROB4CLII-by_killa_kid.rar
im just wondering if this would screw anything up @ islands of adventure now with marvel island and universal having it…
^ Haha … good point.
The media think Disney has more in mind than movies… They’re looking for more boys, and boys like their toys http://www.newsy.com/videos/spidey_meets_mickey
I hope Disney doesn’t mess around too much with Marvel, like in this funny parody of the situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAwJzda69I