Disney buys Marvel Comics

[Buster Cannon]

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8230504.stm

I'm not exactly sure what to think about this right now. I guess this could have it's good and bad points; this could lead to some interesting developments as far as movies go. Also, saw this on RPM and had to post it here.

[Qwertman]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
How could Stan Lee sell out to the evil that is Disney!?!?!?
I'm sorry if that was over the top. I find the Disney Channel's content to be manipulative and unethical, I dislike it and Marvel... Can't get enough of that! (I started reading the Infinity Gauntlet recently).

Well... They certainly had good incentive. $bn + shareholder deal = juicy.

[Tau]

It should be interesting to see what comes out of this. Disney vs. Capcom anyone? xD

[Qwertman]

This made marvel THE best stock of the day.
And it made the world cry a little bit.
Goodbye Spiderman. Goodbye Thanos. Goodbye Tony Stark. You will be missed (and MUCH MORE HIGHLY merchandised).

[Captain Amadeus (Legendary Em)]

Aug 31, 2009 21:42:57 GMT -5 Qwertman said:

I find the Disney Channel's content to be manipulative and unethical, I dislike it.

Wow, and here I thought I hated Disney Channel just because it was a huge pile of s***. Now I know it's subverting my nine year old sister too! Time to take the hatchet to the television set, ma!

I think you watch too much South Park, qwertman.

[Blues]

I think we're overreacting a bit here. Anyone remember Pixar? Their movies are as good as they ever were. Marvel'll be fine, don't worry.

[Dashe]

I don't know, Disney Feature's set for a bit of a rise now that Lasseter's got them back doing 2D musical fairytales (hopefully sans Phil Collins). We'll just see how this goes, because despite the animated feature department's predicted uprise, their live action stuff is pure rubbish.

Though I wouldn't exactly mind a nice chance to beat the tar out of Hannah Montana or Ashley Tisdale or those annoying Sprouse twins in a video game. Especially if it were violent and graphic, which I doubt it would be. XD

[Rockman Striker]

You posted this before me!!!!!!

I think it´s not as bad as it sounds, Disney buyed Marvel to get more adolescent man audience not? They don´t "erase" all the action of Marvel or the spended bucks were for nothing, right?

Maybe this will get some "interesting" games, maybe seeing Spiderman in Kingdom Hearts? Sora versus Onslaught? ;D

[Qwertman]

If only Pixar was the one to get this deal.
I think they're mainly going to use it for merchandising, not games.
Although even Pixar is beginning to lose its edge. In UP although the beginning montage was in itself a beautiful short film that no other childrens film would dare include due to its harsh realness, it faded into the bad guy good guy vanilla towards the end that has been the subject of many Disney features we hate.

In short I find it hard to be optimistic. Although I do envy those lucky enough to have bought Marvel stock beforehand. You fellas just got a SWEET reward for your investment.

[mirak]

That image with Cinderella and The Juggernaut was just priceless.

[MayImilae]

I think this could be a good thing. I know Marvel makes alot of money with it's movies, but they are comic books, and comic books aren't doing so hot. When was the last time ANY of us bought a comic book? Hmm? For me, the last one I bought I was around 7 years old. It was a spiderman lol. I read it, ok neat, and never bought another comic book again.

The reality is that comics books are a dieing breed. With all the flashy stuff we have today, most people won't stop to appreciate the pure awesome of a good story with beautiful art on a piece of paper. Back in the comic book hayday, there was little alternative to get good stories about superheroes, not to mention limits to the amount of media available overall. Now? Movies, TV, video games, the internet, on and on. Not to mention comic books themselves arguably fell into ruts, recycled their stories over and over or just did one big long neverending story.

There is just something about someone pouring their soul into a STILL image that I love. You can see so much about an artist when they do that. The same goes for 2D animation, after all it is just a collection of stills. But comic books are done primarily will just one artist, the other artists color and do things to add to the single artists designs. The ideals of that artist, what he loves, what he thinks, how his mind works, on and on, are all laid bare on that page. There is an incredible artistic value to this, that just about no one will recognize in modern times. So, I want them to stick around, to adapt to modern times but to never leave what they are behind.

My solution? Put them on the web, and advertise it with the movies, video games, etc so that people know it exists. Without distribution and store costs, the price could be considerably lowered, and people could see them more conveniently. In addition, alternate methods could be devised, like subscriptions. Imagine getting a subscription in iTunes and reading any marvel comic book that comes out for a year, all for a flat rate, in iTunes or your browser. Nice, eh? And I want the books to stay in stores as an option, but with modern technology one can have bits and pieces animated. Or have 3D effects. I don't want the core artistic value of stills on a paper to be lost, but having bits and pieces move can enhance things. And such advances aren't limited to just digital version, OLED technology could bring it to physical comic books as well.

Well, other then the fact that comic books aren't doing so hot, I think there is another reason for the sale. Stan lee and the others big marvel guys are getting older. It's a fact of life. Perhaps they sold it to disney cause it was a good deal for marvel, and they would know it would be run well? Who knows.


Anyway, that is my two cents.

[in·clover]

Well put.

I can't say I care for either of these companies, but speaking for comic books in general, if it ain't manga it probably doesn't sell. Comic books and graphic novels sell like hot cakes over in Japan and other countries though.

Why? Because they're for everyone. Nobody buys comics over here because they're either for the kiddies or for the obese. If you go over to Japan or Europe you'll see business men in their 40's reading comics that can be likened to our soap operas. You can see men in their mid to late 20's reading comics about sports. They have a much broader audience, and that's the key to their success.

I don't want to read SpiderMan or X-Men, and I'm willing to bet a lot of other Americans are the same way. The subject matter of our mainstream comics is so cliché it's no wonder no one reads them.

I think the last pop comic that sold tremendously well was Sin City, but like you said that may just be due to advertising and getting the word out. But I like to think it's also in part due to its subject matter and writing style.

I don't think Disney owning these brands is gonna make the comic market boom anymore than it is now, unless Disney expands on the medium and makes it worthwhile. I think Disney's just in it for the movie adaptations, anyway.

[Qwertman]

If anything I bet this will completely smolder the comic industry (marvel's part in it). Yeah, Marvel wasn't doing so hot but once they started making movies... well, look at their stock - it exceeded Disney's by quite a bit! Yeah comics aren't popular but Marvel would have been just fine on their own making billions off movies like they have been.

Disney wants them for their movie potential because they know that's the best way to keep doing what they do best- making kids into Disney merchandise buying zombies.