Celebrity Watchdog George Anthony Watson traced me to my home. The phone call coming from official government lines. This was news. Big news. Disney bought Marvel to the tune of $4 billion and stocks.
Punisher vs. Donald Duck. Spider-Man teaming up with Mickey. Pluto and Lockjaw fight Magneto and that turncoat Pooh. Oh, the humanity.
What this means is that Disney will now be bringing all those wonderful Marvel characters you know and love like Squirrel Girl and Speedball to its theme parks, television networks and its new line of marital aids. What this means for the tone of Marvel's books is uncertain, but Marvel was never cutting edge like Vertigo or a host of other independent publishers anyway, so I doubt it will have much impact on storylines. It could mean more comic book exposure, or even the demise of a publishing empire -- with Disney instead focusing on established characters and licensing. (Seems doubtful, but you never know.)
Marvel has been an enigma to me for many years. I don't understand some of the moves it makes, and it often seemed very anti-retailer. There is huge potential there, however, for more stuff like the Iron Man movie. Disney, which has had the market on the young girl demographic almost completely now, saw its potential and has now put itself in position to grab the male audience before it turns to Maxim. Or so it thinks. Most Marvel readers, though, are men over the age of 20, so what good this will do Disney is yet unknown, but knowing the company it saw dollar signs and little else.
The coming months should prove to be interesting, though I don't know what this means for the comics world because any major blow to one of the big two could spell disaster for the entire art form.
It's amazing to me that Marvel sold for such a low price. I think one could easily make the case that the Spider-Man "product" alone is worth $4 billion. No?
ReplyDeleteWell, not when you think of the third film.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the price is too low or too high. All it takes is a few bad movies to destroy the public's confidence in superhero films, and the American public isn't too into comic books anyway, so I think Disney considered the risk factor in all this.
It seems that all Disney wants is the characters, which is something that disturbs me. It makes me wonder about the fate (if any) of the actual books these characters come from. Will it be a loss leader, fodder for the profit cutting mill, or will it be business as normal (shipping delays, substandard product, insane cross-over events)?
Time will tell.