People Keep Asking My Opinion

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

As if I have some sort of special insight into the Disney/Marvel purchase. So I’ll say here what I’ve been saying elsewhere and let it be my “official” statement:

I honestly haven’t formed an opinion yet. I’ve seen guesses ranging from “Nothing’s going to change” to “Everything’s going to change.” I think, as with most things, the truth is going to fall somewhere in the middle, and I’m perfectly content to take a wait-and-see attitude.

PAD

72 comments on “People Keep Asking My Opinion”

  1. I’m scared, Peter. I guess when I see Syrin suddenly becoming a freaking “siren” and Monet sporting a brand new Pocahontas hairstyle ala Dani Moonstar I’ll know something went very wrong.

  2. Indeed. Who knows what kind of wheeling and dealing happened? Just sit back and go about your regularly scheduled program.

  3. I saw a suggestion for a Darkwing Duck/Spider-Ham crossover. That’d be cool.

    The main change that comes to mind is a possible merging of the two companies legal departments. Disney is known for having a very aggressive legal department, but my experience is that Marvel does too, so that might not actually change anything.

    I really don’t expect this to affect anything. Most people don’t even realize all the other companies that Disney owns, like the ABC Network and ESPN.

    1. I do wonder, though, what will happen to Joe Simon’s efforts to reclaim Captain America. Marvel lawyers plus Disney lawyers plus Disney money equals…?

    2. Jason makes a good point about the legal aspect. Boy, if people thought that Marvel was tough on internet posting of comics pages before, wait until they get a taste of Disney copyright protection. the scans daily folks had best lay low.

  4. Well, you have to admit that you are an expert on certain aspects of Marvel and of Disney.

    Which is to say, we want to know when you will be writing that Disney Princesses Meet X-Factor crossover.

  5. Well, no doubt they have their eye on the franchise possibilities for long term.

    BUT…they are also aware that the comics, even in a small way, feeds the needs and possibilities of the future franchises of characters walking around the theme parks and lunchboxes and T-shirts games and films etc etc…so my only short term hope is that now that Disney (who has much bigger pockets as well as the power of corporate perks such as tax breaks) is in charge, they will somehow be able to get the price of comics down a bit.

    One of the reasons I myself stopped getting comics is the cost of each individual comic book.

    They still need an audience of readers buying the comic books in order to keep the character recognition for multiple future endeavors going

    Or I may be completely off my rocker

    Hopefully it all turns out just as well (creatively) for fans as well as (financially) the corporate folks

    1. I’d like to see the prices lowered too, but I doubt it’ll happen. Once prices go up on a lot of products, it seems the best you can hope for is they won’t go up any more for a while (I’m still amazed gas isn’t $3 a gallon at minimum).

  6. OK, wait, wait, wait. You’re on the Internet. Something really surprising and potentially controversial happened, related to a field in which you have personal interest. And you’re saying you’re…withholding judgment…until you have more facts…because you don’t want to jump to an irrational conclusion…?

    No, no, sorry. No matter how many times I read that sentence, it just doesn’t fit in with everything I know about the Internet.

    🙂 🙂 🙂

  7. I thought if I sat back and waited long enough, you might post your opinion.

    Well, I hoped anyway.

    1. I think if more people were willing to admit that they didn’t have something of substance to say about a subject rather than just spout off…well, if nothing else, the Internet would have far fewer bandwith problems.
      .
      PAD

      1. Too true.

        Still, I do value your opinion very highly. You think it through before you post an opinion.

  8. I don’t think everything’s going to change right away, but in the long run (say 10 years) I think Marvel and the industry will be unrecognizable as they are today. That might be a good or bad thing.

    1. Yeah, but Matt, isn’t the comic industry typically “unrecognizable” from where it was a decade or so hence? Fifteen years ago prices were a lot less, Marvel was self-distributing, sales were through the roof, trade paperback collections came out every so often and didn’t collect anything recent, on-line comics weren’t particularly prevalent, and there were no comic book sections in bookstores except spinner racks with monthlies on them. None of that is true now.
      .
      PAD

      1. Mmm, yeah, things are lot different… but things are also a lot the same. Most of the people working in comics 10 years ago are still around (though perhaps in different positions), comics are still sold in comic shops, they still are by and large in a 22 page monthly format, they still cater to a mostly older audience, the same basic “Big Four” dynamic is in place, and Diamond is still the heavyweight in distribution. I think a lot, if not all of that, could be radically different 10 years hence. I think this 10 year period could see the most change for the comics industry since the emergence of the direct market (probably not as radical as changes during the ’50s, though).

  9. Hmmm…Disney must by just drooling over walking down the street to “that other park” that will now have to pay Disney lost of money to continue using Marvel characters to compete against Disney. What a coup for the Mouse! Plus, just about every other movie studio will be paying up to the mouse to continue their Marvel movies. This is one awesome deal for the House of Mouse. (The true full name for the House of M… corssover).

    1. I would think that the contracts that were signed were very, very long term.
      .
      Unfortunately, I’ll bet this decreases the chances of Fox letting go of the X-men and Fantastic 4 franchises. They know that Disney/marvel would do a better job on FF than they did–they could hardly do worse–and will be in no hurry to let a rival studio make money on “their” property.

      1. I would think that the contracts that were signed were very, very long term.
        .
        From what I’ve been able to gather, a lot of these agreements are ‘in perpetuity’. Like, Universal Studios Orland can keep their Marvel-themed rides as-is for the life of the ride.
        .
        Fox and Sony also keep the rights to characters as long as they keep making movies. Which is why Fox is talking about Daredevil and now Fantastic Four reboots.
        .
        Although, with the movie rights, I’m wondering what the span of time is without a film in production for the rights to revert back to Marvel.

  10. PAD, you shoulda just freaked out and been all caps lock, “HOLIE CRAP, GAME OVER, MAN! GAME OVER! ITS ALL COMMING DOWN!!” and then parlayed the media response into a promotional push for X-Factor.

  11. Peter, you forgot to tell us the most important thing. Does this mean you’ll get an employee discount at Disneyworld?

    1. I hope so. That would be sweet. I’ve actually asked about that and not gotten a response yet.
      .
      PAD

      2. As a former intern-slave of a certain theme park resort-hotel, I think if even I could be granted a few free park passes and x-mas discounts during my brief tenure, then one of my favorite writers should deserve no less. 🙂

        …Also, I suppose my distant hope of an X-Factor/Spongebob Squarepants crossover will never come to pass now. Aw. 🙁

  12. I tend to side with those who think the actual comics side of thing won’t change at all. If Disney were seriously interested in running a comics company, I doubt they’d have licensed off all their comics properties to BOOM! Studios. They want the characters and licensing, so the movies may we take a turn for the Disney, but even in that arena there’s plenty of cases where Disney has played hands-off creatively with their subsidiaries.

    Still, amusing in a schadenfreudey way to watch all the Nerd Rage over this. The only “sky is falling” arguments I give any weight to are the ones revolving around media monopolies in general rather than the specific case of Marvel. Concentrating IP in an ever-shrinking number of ConHugeCos is troubling for reasons that have nothing to do with whether Spider-Man will get to keep sleeping with his roommate.

  13. I seriously doubt much, if anything, would change with content that Marvel puts out. Disney (by way of Miramax) DID put on a movie called “Pulp Fiction” in 1994. And they released Clerks that year, too. So if Disney makes a Punisher movie, I’m pretty sure he’s going to kill people. Disney cares more about money and expanding their demographic base and therefore making more money than watering things down into something family friendly. The only thing I’m concerned about is the movie release slowing down to a trickle ala DC movies at Warner Brothers.

    1. I would think that this means no more Punisher movies. All of the things that are Disney are not evil and violent. Pulp Fiction and Clerks were put out by a separate company and they were not Disney properties. There would never be a Hannah Montana movie from Miramax. There will never be a Mickey Mouse movie from Miramax. Miramax COULD, however, have made a Punisher movie before this merger.

      1. I’m pretty sure if Disney saw a chance to make some money off a Punisher film, even after all of the cheques clear and all the ink has dried by the end of the 09, they’d make it. They certainly wouldn’t put it out under the Disney banner. I’m guessing everything else they’d put out would just be under the Marvel Studios banner. Pulp Fiction was put out by Miramax, but Miramax was owned by Disney so, in the end, it was all Disney’s money and released, essentially, by Disney. And that movie had a bit of sodomy in it. So, in the case of the hypothetical non-existent Punisher movie, if Disney didn’t want to sully their 4 billion dollar Marvel brand name, they’d slap either Miramax or Dimension Films on it. They know how to brand their product for respective audiences.

      2. Whoops, my bad, the Dimension Films label went out the door with the Winesteins when they left Miramax, but Disney still has the Miramax label. But, hëll, I’m pretty sure they’d put any and all Marvel movies, regardless of content, under the Marvel Studios banner anyway. Although, I consider the non-existent hypothetical Punisher movie a bit of a stretch anyway regardless of Disney buying Marvel because both kicks at the Punisher can haven’t exactly torn up the B.O. (Although I kinda like both of them in various ways). Anyway, with Blade and Punisher those are somewhat recognizable brand names that Disney now owns, and I can’t see them PG-ing either of those. If those characters eventually get back into the movie saddle, I’m pretty sure they’d stick to their R-rated roots and Disney would put it out under whatever banner they want. Well, maybe Blade might be PG-13’ed. Vampires are hot nowadays.

      3. Alan Coil: Pulp Fiction and Clerks were put out by a separate company and they were not Disney properties.
        Luigi Novi: Yes they were. Disney bought Miramax in 1993. Miramax put out Pulp Fiction in 1994.

      4. Luigi, that’s my point. They were not Disney properties. Yes, Disney owns the company that put them out, but it is a separate company. The Disney films are almost always squeaky clean.
        .
        There are claims that Marvel will be a separate company, but I don’t believe that. Disney WILL stick their fingers into that soup.

    2. Disney bought Miramax and they kept it separate. Why wouldn’t they do the same thing with Marvel?
      .
      Disney saying that Marvel has to be squeaky clean would be nothing but downside for everyone. Disney likes money, I don’t think they would have bought Marvel if they planned to start doing stuff that would restrict its appeal.

    3. Disney (by way of Miramax) DID put on a movie called “Pulp Fiction” in 1994.
      .
      I keep seeing this brought up, but right now everything is up in the air.
      .
      Obviously, Miramax retained a lot of creative freedom after being purchased by Disney. However, we just don’t know at this time whether Marvel & Marvel Studios (presuming Marvel Studios continues to exist) will also retain that kind of creative freedom.
      .
      If Marvel does not, then constantly bringing up Miramax will no longer be relevant. We have to wait and see.

  14. To say nothing of the fact that all those folks who are worried that Disney will consider gay characters or gay issues to be not family friendly enough should take a look at the programming on the Disney owned “ABC Family” in which gay characters or gay themes have been featured in a number of their programs.
    .
    PAD

    1. It’s more interesting to see the fallout around the perimeter like Fox announcing it wants to reboot the FF franchise suddenly. I imagine it allows them to hold onto the rights.

    2. Oh yeah, the TV show “Greek” has a main character who is gay. The TV show does a great job in portraying him, in fact, I feel that their depiction certainly fights most if not all the gay stereotypes. I think that Disney would leave comics to the people who know comics (as they have said in their press releasr). Then again it’s hard to tell, it’ll be interesting to see how this all works out.

  15. I’m just waiting for the next Amalgam X-over, adding the classic Disney characters into the mix. Who wouldn’t want to see Daffy in a berserker-rage starring in “Legends of the Duck-Claw”?

  16. I can’t wait for the next round of “Amalgam” titles. Who wouldn’t want to see Donald in a berserker rage starring in “Legends of the Duck-Claw”?

  17. I’ve had to repeat this I don’t know how many times, but:

    Are some people just not aware that Disney owns Miramax? Ya know, the people who do most of Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino’s stuff?

    Or that they gave Ellen Degeneres, a gay comedian, her own tv show?

    Or that Elton John scored the Lion King?

    1. Your point is valid, James, but to point out a minor error, they no longer do Smith and Tarantino’s stuff. When Harvey and Bob Weinstein left Miramax in 2005 and formed The Weinstein Company, Smith and Tarantino went with them. TWC, for example, produced Zack and Miri Make a Pørņø and Inglorious Bášŧërdš.

  18. At least I guess we should be expecting an X-Factor issue in which Madrox comes across a man covered from head to toe in robes at Disneyworld and says “nice disguise, Michael”.

  19. Didn’t Disney buy up the CrossGen properties when it went bankrupt? If so, anyone think there’s a chance that some of them may be revived? I was frustrated, because I was a fan of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and Abadazad, and wish they would be resolved.

  20. Just noticed on the comicmix site that after Disney bought pixar, Steve Jobs became the largest Disney shareholder – and now the largest Marvel shareholder. This weeks comics on i-tunes please.

  21. It’s hard for me to be objective about this as I despise Disney, if only for having twisted the government’s arm into extending the already generous copyright laws to ridiculous lengths so as to protect their stranglehold on the Mouse. Oh, I can see it from their point of view, but it’s a point of view which has practically done away with ‘public domain’ (and would if they could) and that can’t be a good thing.

  22. Last night, as I lay in bed thinking about this while falling asleep, it hit me what would be perfect as a Marvel property produced by Disney.

    Power Pack.

    Yeah, I know. Sky High and Zoom. (Though how many people saw the latter?) But I got the feeling those were done by people who really didn’t know comics or super-heroes all that well. I think a Disney Power Pack movie could be a lot of fun.

  23. Some thing still not brought up. How will the Disney ownership effect artist and writer contracts with Marvel. When it comes to Disney animators, any thing you create while working for Disney, regardless if you are on or off duty, is owned by Disney. When people leave the company, Disney legal teams have a history of suing their former employs on their first creator owned projects. Claiming that the concept or character was created while working for Disney, thus Disney owns it.

    Are the work for hire and Exclusive contracts at Marvel going to remain the same or will they have to adopt the Disney animators style of contract? Is Marvel still going to do creator owned books like Kick Úš, where the creators can shop and merchandise their property to any one they want?

    1. I will admit to being concerned about the Icon line, if only because I’m a huge fan of Kick Úš and I heard that Sleeper and Criminal were pretty good (but Kick Úš is great) and I’ve read a few issues of Powers and those were very good. So I have no idea how that would work. As for new characters you create for Marvel superhero work, it was always owned by Marvel anyway (unless is changed) so that doesn’t matter much in the long run, it’d just be the mouse. Icon imprint is a different story, and I’d hate to see it go because Millar and JRJR said they have at least two more Kick Úš stories in them which I would love to see.

      1. Yes. If you create a character and put it in a Spider-Man story, Marvel owns that character. If you make a character in your own free time and don’t use it in a Marvel book, you own it. If your an animator as Disney (at least as of 7 years ago when I was trying to get into animation industry) any thing you create at ANY TIME OR PLACE is owned by Disney. This isn’t one of those industry rumors. I ask a recruiter from Disney about this and they confirmed it (before he saw how bad my animation was). These stipulations were put into the contracts after Don Bluth left the company. Don’t remember all the details of brew-ha-ha.

    1. I was just thinking something along those lines. Peter, what Disney properties would you like to get a chance to write? “Pirates of the Caribbean?” “Hercules?” “101 Dalmatians?” (Knowing the last is getting the Broadway musical treatment and your fondness for musical theater, Peter, that could be interesting. Or maybe you can propose and then write the book for a future Disney musical!)

  25. We’ve been having some fun with it at the Jungle Cruise. Here are some of the things that have been announced over our PA over the past couple days (I may have had something to do with them, it all depends on if they could get me in trouble.):

    “Paging Mr. Wade Wilson: your ‘Golden Girls’ DVD collection has arrived safely at your new residence.”

    “Paging Dr. Donald Blake: We have found your missing hammer. Please come and collect it, I’m afraid none of us can lift it.”

    “Paging Mr. Wade Wilson: your ‘Golden Girls’ DVD collection has arrived safely at your new residence.”

    “Paging Captain Steve Rogers: We have found the package that fell out of the plane you arrived on. luckily, the red white and blue disc comtained inside appears undamaged”

    And my personal favorite, “Paging Jamie Madrox: Pleae see the nearest skipper, Jamie Madrox is looking for you.”

      1. Some new ones:
        “Today’s trivia contest winner is Layla Miller. congratulations, Layla. You really know your stuff.”
        “Just think of all the characters Disney is buying; Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, Doctor Pym, Wasp #2…”

    2. How about “Paging Mr. and Mrs. Peter and Mary Jane Parker. Disney reservations called; your hotel stay has been extended for One More Day.”
      .
      Or “Paging Wilson Fisk. Your lunch reservations today at Disney’s Magic Castle, Tony’s Italian Restaurant, and Mickey’s Buffet have all been confirmed.”
      .
      PAD

      1. LOL those are great.

        “Paging Dr. Bruce Banner: Your ripped shirt has been found. Please claim at your own convenience; we wouldn’t want to make you angry.”

        “Paging Scott Summers: Your sunglasses have been found; you can open your eyes now.”

  26. I actually think Alan Coil might be a bit right. Something I’ve noticed (a lot more than before) is a bunch of people lauding the Disney buyout and stating that they hope it is a turn away from the “dark” direction that comics have gone recently. On at least two comics sites, people (who had been extremely moderate in the past) have openly complained (post sale) about ideas like Marvel Zombies and the Darkest Night (or Marvel’s “oh it’s not a copy” version – Necrosha).

    Do I think comics will change? I have absolutely no idea if the sale will cause it to change. But speaking as a sociologist, I can say unequivically, YES, comics will change.

    You might see a return to the “real hero” stories akin to the 60’s and 70’s where there are happy endings every so often and no cliffhanger endings leading to another possible story arc 2 years down the road. You might see “Marvel meets Disney” limited series. You might see more Pet Avengers and Power Pack stories (PLEASE…NO).

    However, I think the relationship, at it’s core will be one of commensalism; Disney might prompt change in Marvel, but Marvel will prompt the same change in Disney.

    My greatest hope: the sale means PRICES GO DOWN. A four dollar comic book is bordering on ridiculous, and I am speaking as someone who almost never complains about money.

    1. “My greatest hope: the sale means PRICES GO DOWN. A four dollar comic book is bordering on ridiculous”

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      While I agree about $4.00 comics being ridiculously overpriced (I think the border has been crossed) and being directly responsible for my decreased purchases and increased borrowing of trade paperbacks from the library, I really don’t foresee a price decrease.

  27. Why the non-love for Power Pack? Or is it simply the recent, extra-bland “all-ages” PP that you’re knocking along with Pet Avengers *ugh*? Keep in mind that we’ve now got the Power Pack Classic trade paperback to hand out to kids and show them how a real Pack story is written.

  29. For the last several hours I’ve been thinking about the fact that Warner Brothers has owned DC for many years now, yet we haven’t seen Superman hanging out with Bugs Bunny. We haven’t seen Batman co-staring in a cartoon with Porky Pig. So it’s entirely possible for a megacorporation to buy a comic company without doing the kind of stuff that people are currently freaking out about.
    .
    Then I remembered that there was an episode of Duck Dodgers that had the entire Green Lantern Corp.
    .
    And it was awesome.
    .
    So I, for one, welcome our new Disney overlords.

    1. Have you forgotten the three-issue Justice League/Looney Tunes crossover that Mark Evanier did a few years ago? OR do only TV and movies count?

      1. I didn’t see that. Was it canon in any way? I feel a little ridiculous asking that, but stranger things have happened.

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