Robot 6
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
M-I-C-K-E-Y
Publishing | The week ends, of course, with more coverage of Disney’s announced $4-billion purchase of Marvel.
Columnist Colby Cash offers a broader overview of the deal, and an assessment of the state of Marvel and the comics market: “It’s ridiculous to think that Spider-Man alone — the brand, the heritage, the myth — isn’t worth $4-billion. Comics don’t make money anymore, but comic-book characters are a different story. [Marvel CEO Ike] Perlmutter didn’t do so explicitly, but he has effectively defined the place of the old-fashioned superhero comics periodical in the 21st century, and imposed that definition on the market. Comics are henceforth to be considered a break-even business that is essentially a research-and-development lab for storytelling.”
Ryan Nakashima, meanwhile, uses efforts by Disney to woo a young male audience with the rebranded Disney XD channel as the centerpiece of an article about the acquisition: ” While there’s no harm in attracting more girls to the channel, Disney also wants to draw more advertising for boy-focused products like video games and action figure toys. That might have taken years on its own. Now Marvel is expected to bring more superhero power to Disney XD, adding to the 20 hours per week that Marvel content already runs on the network.” [National Post, The Associated Press]
Publishing | With the dismantling of anime distributor and manga publisher A.D. Vision complete, a blogger checks on the status of bankrupt Central Park Media. [Nigorimasen! Blog, via Anime Vice]
From "Wednesday Comics"
Publishing | DC Comics Art Director Mark Chiarello talks briefly about Wednesday Comics. [4thletter!]
Retailing | Oliver Sava recommends Chicago-area comic stores to college students. [A.V. Chicago]
Creators | I like this profile of legendary cartoonist Sergio Aragonés: “Like pain, laughter is inside of a person. It’s as natural as hunger. … I’m thinking and laughing all day long. Every time I think of a joke, I’m also telling myself a new joke. It’s a great way to live.” [Ventura County Star]
Creators | PictureBox Publisher Dan Nadel provides a nice overview of the career of David Mazzucchelli. [Bookforum, via The ADD Blog]
Whiteout, Vol. 1
Creators | Greg Rucka discusses Whiteout in both comic-book and movie form: “Steve [Lieber] and I did a graphic novel, and the goal was to tell a really good story in that format. Somebody came along and said, ‘We will pay you to make this movie.’ We were like, ‘Thank you! Okay!’ [Laughs] I can’t really look at that and say anything after the fact. Even if I wasn’t happy with it, and I’m very happy, I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on because they had my blessing. You can’t turn around afterwards and say, ‘This isn’t my story…’ Well, duh!” [Artist Direct]
Creators | Linda Wertheimer interviews A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge creator Josh Neufeld and Leo McGovern, one of the subjects of the comic. [NPR]
Creators | J.H. Williams III chats briefly about his run on Detective Comics. [Gotham Knights Online]
- September 4, 2009 @ 07:08 AM by Kevin Melrose
11 Comments
Matthew Stockfarleysolomonburger
September 4, 2009 at 8:16 am
More Marvel programming on XD? They already ran the 90′s X-Men, Spiderman, Spiderman Unlimited, Avengers United They Stand, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Hulk, and Fantastic 4 shows all the way through. Plus Spidey and Amazing Friends and X-Men Evolution.
The only new show airing right now is Spectacular Spiderman but I think it only has one more season.
Nicktoons (owned by Viacom) has the rights to air the other new, current series for Wolverine & The X-Men plus Iron Man Armored Adventures, and FF:World’s Greatest Heroes this fall with new episodes and the eventual Avengers show set to debut in 2011. I’m sure syndication won’t start at least one or both series are done. Wolverine and X-Men could be concluded by late 2010 or early 2011. So it won’t be floating Disney XD so soon.
I’m not sure how that will affect the older shows from the 60s like the 60s Spiderman and the first 1967 FF series which recently aired on Boomerang (owned by Turner Networks of all people). It could also be interesting if they added the Spiderwoman series
cst
September 4, 2009 at 8:42 am
I think it’s pretty obvious that Disney’s first real move with Marvel will be creating some new cartoons- mostly as a way of staking out their claims on the characters.
Ian
September 4, 2009 at 9:26 am
Who knows what the terms are for the X-men or Ironman cartoons. We could start seeing those on XD next year.
I’m curious what remaining properties Marvel has that Disney would like to make cartoons out of. All sorts of potentially great things.
rasx
September 4, 2009 at 9:50 am
A Runaways TV series would be nice and what about the Black Panther does’nt BET have the rights on that?
Matt D
September 4, 2009 at 10:18 am
The most amusing thing about all of this of course is that we know nothing. There have been a bunch of articles all over the “online comic press” over the last week and yeah, no one knows a thing. So it’s all idle speculation.
If I had to guess, though, I would say that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 doing very well would be a very good thing for the idea of “Comics as R&D for other media” considering one of the main selling points of the game is that it’s the video game form of Civil War.
SageShini
September 4, 2009 at 11:49 am
Getting the rights from Viacom to air Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest should be child’s play. On the other hand, Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Wolverine and the X-Men are brand-new shows, and IIRC X-Men’s popular enough to get the full 65 episodes befitting a modern-day action cartoon, so its got at least another two years or so before Nick lets it go, I’m thinking.
Disney’s best bet would be to add the remaining older shows (Spider-Man ’67, Spider-Woman, Incredible Hulk 80′s), and then following up with properties based on the remaining superheroes without cartoons right now–Captain America and Thor. Also, I’d go for a Daredevil cartoon and a third Hulk series. Blade could work too.
Another good idea might be to get the rights to the four Marvel anime being released in Japan over the next year or so–Wolverine, Iron Man, Blade, and X-Men. Great variety.
Peter
September 4, 2009 at 2:44 pm
“Comics are henceforth to be considered a break-even business that is essentially a research-and-development lab for storytelling.”
I think he misses the point. There are so many great comics that could not possibly be replicated as movies, tv shows, etc. Comics may be more or less break-even, but their worth is certainly endemic of themselves, not only dependent on other media (by “worth” I mean value, not price, for all you Wilde scholars out there).
Peter
September 4, 2009 at 2:44 pm
P.S. But I can see his point if he means that’s how Disney sees the comics.
Devyn Rodriguez
September 5, 2009 at 11:44 am
Also Peter, keep in mind Marvel has a very profitable comic business in the direct market. They have a large percent of the market share. They make money off of there comics.
Mike Wedmer
September 6, 2009 at 6:38 am
My thinking on this qhole Marvel/Disney thing could go both ways.
First I think that the Idea of Comics being a testbed for storytelling in other media is small thinking. Sure comics may be a “break even” business currently, but that is 100% the fault of the companies producing them.
Take for example all of the cartoons that are out now. now set those alongside the Action figures and the games.
The one thing that none of these have in common is cross promotion. None of the comic companies ever cross promote their product in order to increase sales.
If I was in charge, I would have commercials during the shows that would promote my games and action figures. I would also have the kids that appear in the sections between shows actually talk about comic books and how cool they are and how reading is a great way to experience these characters.
It seems like the suits cannot understand that all of these separate products are symbiotic and should be promoted in conjunction with each other.
Most kids today are exposed primarily to thee internet. They don’t go to specialty stores and buy comics. Most of them never get beyond the rack at 7-11
Now Disney on the other hand has always cross promoted their products in order to maximize brand exposure. This is the one area that Disney could find success beyond what Marvel is currently achieving.
If you think about it, Movies NEVER bring people into the comic shops. The reason is because the publishers and the studio’s are leaving the idea of this up to the consumer. The consumer will never consider doing that. Unless, you plant the seed in their mind at the start and then build the idea up on them by repeated exposure.
That is how they do it in Japan and that is how Cable News networks build thier repeated news blurbs into being seen as the facts instead of what it is, a news blurb.
Wake up Disney/Marvel. as scary as the idea of having Disney’s bony fingers clutching my beloved Superheros, this is a major opportunity to expand the reach of these great characters.
Atomic_Kommie_Comics
September 7, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Mike Wedmer said…
If I was in charge, I would have commercials during the shows that would promote my games and action figures.
Actually Mike, you can’t.
One of the rules the FCC established during the 70s-80s about kid’s programming was that you couldn’t run commercials about stuff based on the show DURING the show!
NO GI Joe toy commercials during GI Joe!
No X-Men toy commercials during X-Men, etc.
You could, however, run GI Joe toy commercials during X-Men and X-Men toy commercials during GI Joe!
It doesn’t apply to commercials about DVDs (which are not considered toys) but DOES apply to commercials about video games, so you can see a commercial for a Batman DVD during Batman, but not a commercial for a Batman video game during Batman.