So. The surprise news of the day took the interwebs by storm. Disney, everyone's favorite massive media conglomerate, is buying Marvel for 4 billion dollars (plus stock).
Naturally, the internet was immediately filled with panic/FUD/ZOMG THEY'RE GONNA KIDDIFY MARVEL.
But I have a few responses to refute these points:
1. Kiddify Marvel? Have you SEEN any of the promo stuff for the "Superhero Squad" cartoon?
2. DC is owned by Time Warner. I don't see Bugs Bunny running amok in Superman.
3. No mature stories? Again, look at DC - they still have their Vertigo imprint.
4. But Disney is kiddy! Yes, Disney the BRAND NAME is, but Disney the COMPANY is definitely not. Like any other entertainment company, their aim is to make money, and so they diversify. The reason the Disney brand is kiddy is because they WANT it to be seen as kiddy. Miramax? NOT kiddy. Touchstone? NOT kiddy. ABC? They air cartoons, but NOT kiddy. Pixar? Well, those carry the Disney brand, but people know them as PIXAR films, not DISNEY films.
My point is that odds are nothing will change at Marvel. If anything, this works out for the better for them. As they've made the decision to finance their films themselves, to retain creative control, now not ONLY do they have deep pockets behind them to finance, but when their current contracts run out they have someone who WILL DISTRIBUTE THEIR FILMS. Because Disney, as I said, cares about making money first and foremost. So you don't mess with something that makes money.
And that's all ignoring the fact that Marvel does VERY well from selling comics. I saw a statistic today that indicated that 40% of the revenues from comic books are pure profit - comics have the highest profit margins in the publishing business. (And these are printed on inferior card stock, not the awesome stuff that IDW Publishing uses!)
So yeah. It's all gonna work out fine.
I mean, we get Marvel characters at Disneyland (they're rolling them out ASAP). We get more Marvel cartoons with a ready-to-air-them network. We get more movies. And they get more money. It's win-win for everybody!
The ONLY concern I have is that in a few years, maybe Hasbro will lose the license for Marvel figures due to Disney using Mattel heavily. For what you're paying, their posability is second to none. And I'm spoiled by Hasbro-level posability.
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