Post by G on Sept 1, 2009 8:59:08 GMT -5
Now that news has broke that Disney will buy Marvel for $4 Billion in cash and stock, what will this bring to the company we've always referred to as Marvel?
From the outside, it appears Marvel gets all the financing it can handle from Disney and it would appear apparent that more comic movies, toys and products will be forthcoming as the years go by. But what of the comic's themselves?
I must say that as a former shareholder of Marvel, the comics were becoming an ever increasingly smaller piece of the pie. The true worth for Marvel was licensing of characters and making movies. In fact the comics were like chump change to Marvel. Marvel who was once filing for bankruptcy, clawed its way out by paying down debt, cutting fat, licensing characters for products such as toys and releasing hugely successful movies. They had made a complete turnaround in roughly a 10 year period. It wasn't as though Marvel needed to be bought out. They had cut off it's deal with Sony pictures to produce its own movies and they were raking in their own profits. In the last few years, they reached debt free status and had growing revenues.
Now with Disney coming in, Marvel as we know it basically hands over their rights to another party and now Disney will call the shots. As I said, from 1st glance, all appears well. Marvel will have even more backing for more movies and now the two companies will have such a library of characters that there is no end to the possibilities. Who knows, we may see Marvel characters in Pixar movies. We may see the Dazzler lighting up Snow White. It could be an interesting mix. Although the two universes really don't blend together, who knows what will be tried.
And that leaves us with comics. Whats to come of Marvel comics? Certainly Disney will go over things with Marvel and crunch the numbers and make decisions. Could this affect leadership? Could this affect titles in print? Could this affect how story lines are written and how comics are presented to the public? In short, are there real changes we will see between now and say 2 years to the comics side of things that will impact the face of Marvel or will we still be looking at the status quo and the comics themselves will hardly look affected in the face of this huge takeover?
One thing is for sure. Marvel with the aid of Disney seem to be reaching an Empire State which could tilt the balance slightly towards a Microsoft-like monopoly. There is literally nothing that can stand in the way of the wheels of Marvel and Disney and what it wants to do except if it finds turmoil in place of its perfect union and ultimately finds an end in failure. From the opening page it looks like a win-win situation, but in truth only time will tell.
From the outside, it appears Marvel gets all the financing it can handle from Disney and it would appear apparent that more comic movies, toys and products will be forthcoming as the years go by. But what of the comic's themselves?
I must say that as a former shareholder of Marvel, the comics were becoming an ever increasingly smaller piece of the pie. The true worth for Marvel was licensing of characters and making movies. In fact the comics were like chump change to Marvel. Marvel who was once filing for bankruptcy, clawed its way out by paying down debt, cutting fat, licensing characters for products such as toys and releasing hugely successful movies. They had made a complete turnaround in roughly a 10 year period. It wasn't as though Marvel needed to be bought out. They had cut off it's deal with Sony pictures to produce its own movies and they were raking in their own profits. In the last few years, they reached debt free status and had growing revenues.
Now with Disney coming in, Marvel as we know it basically hands over their rights to another party and now Disney will call the shots. As I said, from 1st glance, all appears well. Marvel will have even more backing for more movies and now the two companies will have such a library of characters that there is no end to the possibilities. Who knows, we may see Marvel characters in Pixar movies. We may see the Dazzler lighting up Snow White. It could be an interesting mix. Although the two universes really don't blend together, who knows what will be tried.
And that leaves us with comics. Whats to come of Marvel comics? Certainly Disney will go over things with Marvel and crunch the numbers and make decisions. Could this affect leadership? Could this affect titles in print? Could this affect how story lines are written and how comics are presented to the public? In short, are there real changes we will see between now and say 2 years to the comics side of things that will impact the face of Marvel or will we still be looking at the status quo and the comics themselves will hardly look affected in the face of this huge takeover?
One thing is for sure. Marvel with the aid of Disney seem to be reaching an Empire State which could tilt the balance slightly towards a Microsoft-like monopoly. There is literally nothing that can stand in the way of the wheels of Marvel and Disney and what it wants to do except if it finds turmoil in place of its perfect union and ultimately finds an end in failure. From the opening page it looks like a win-win situation, but in truth only time will tell.
