That's right - for $4 billion dollars, Disney acquired Marvel Comics. Ate the entire Marvel World and is sitting pretty, just waiting for those movie bucks to start rolling in. The only real problem is that $4 billion capital outlay. Maybe Disney can get a bridge loan from Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne.
Some people have asked me what I thought of the deal, and I have to admit, I am somewhat indifferent. It's been a while since I have actively followed Marvel (or comics in general), so I don't have a real feel for this in the sense of the here and now.
Is it the worst thing that has happened to Marvel? Not likely. And I'll skip the silly, obvious jokes about Mickey Mouse teaming up with Wolverine. That's pretty sophomoric and trite, and, frankly, beneath me. Hahahahaha! Better to avoid it simply because that ground has already been covered. And besides, there's already been an Archie/Punisher comic book, so how bad could a Mickey/Logan team-up be?
Actually, this could be a good thing for Marvel. I think it's been a while since they were the company that was publishing the kind of comic books that got me interested and - more importantly kept me interested - in comic books in the first place. A lot of the characters that I grew up reading are so radically different now, it's like they are different characters.
The Hulk is red. Captain America is dead. Spider-Man is unmarried and single. Who are these guys???
For me, the trouble all started when Marvel forced Peter David off of the Hulk. It was a well-written, very enjoyable comic book - one of the few Marvel had at the time - and they forced Peter David off, to make room for a reimagining of the character by John Byrne. Which lasted all of 10 issues and had very little impact. The Paul Jenkins and Bruce Jones stuff that followed was moderately interesting. But then David was back for a few issues. What gives??? Forget that his run was long, never lacking for interesting ideas and never should have been halted...why did they feel it was the right thing to do to bring him back???
Then along came what I think was the the turning point for me and my love of comic books - Ultimate Spider-Man. At first, it seemed innocuous enough. It was a refreshed retelling of the Spider-Man legend with a new, contemporary take, complete with snappy dialogue and a revamped/bolder Peter Parker character. Kinda like what Man of Steel did except that it was written better.
So Brian Michael Bendis changed a few things, but essentially retooled a character's history that didn't need to be retooled. Among the changes was the removal of Gwen Stacy from the developmental years and the idea that Mary Jane Watson knew from an early point that Peter was Spider-Man.
The influence of the Ultimate series can be seen in the Spider-Man movies, as the canon created in Ultimate Spider-Man was the underlying schema used - as opposed to the original Stan Lee version which was the lifeblood of Marvel's flagship character for the 35-odd years prior to the movies coming out. Forget about all that crappy history - and the fact that Amazing Spider-Man was still ongoing and building on that history - we want the clearly superior (sarcasm heavily implied) Bendis version!
But I digress. I started out talking about Disney buying Marvel and have ended up covering old ground about some things I dislike about the current state of comics. Although perhaps this rant is somewhat pertinent here. I wonder if things would have been different if Disney had bought Marvel about 10 years ago instead?
Perhaps Disney would have recognized the value of that rich history that goes along with all of the great Marvel characters. They'd probably have steered away from such storylines as the Peter/Mary Jane marriage problems (which was painfully boring to have to read), which would have, in turn, steered us away from some of the half-baked plots that marked the post-renumbering Spider-Man issues.
Yeah, that's the ticket. At least, that's what I can tell myself. I can only hope that Disney's influence will help stabalize what was once a great world of characters. That the comics that will be produced now will maintain the connection to the past, rather than trampling on it and changing it at every turn. Perhaps this is closed-minded of me to prefer no changes, but I just want to enjoy - I mean really enjoy - reading comics again.
And it seems that the only way I'm going to be able to do this is to re-read older comic books.
And don't even get me started on my issues with DC Comics. That's fodder for another curmudgeonly post.
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To be quite honest, the whole sale of the so called "House of Ideas" left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was an avid and faithful collector of Marvel all the way up through college. (Mid 90's) The thing that started to stray me away from comics was just like you mentioned: I longed for the simpler days (late 70's/80's)of comics. I figured that that era was more impressionable on me because of my age and thats why the newer stuff was loosing it's luster. But after going back and re-reading that stuff (70's - 80's as well as some 60's stuff) I realized it was pretty good. Matter of fact some of it was great. It wasn't me that changed but Marvel.(The entire industry for that matter)The over producing, super cross over era of the 90's became clear to me that many of the comic companies; Marvel, DC and even alot of the idependents that broke off were really just about business; the Big Business of super conglomerates that let marketing schemes and external advice from fortune 500 CEO's direct the future of there stories and characters. Not to be naive, I know it's always been about money and making it, but there is still a piece of me that thinks that when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and skeleton crew, who cramped themselves into a tiny NY office, barely making a pay check and thinking that Timely/Marvel was on it's last legs; felt they were onto something special. Something nobody was doing. Not working a job and cranking some corporate wheel, but consumed in a labor of love. I think there was a special magic that was floating through the air there and they knew it was something great. It was a way for them as well as the fans to experience a new creativity. Art, not comics, but Art. (Writing/drawing) I'm sure in the 1930's -1950's there was that same feel in the Disney Studio, but by the time I was a kid Disney had already began to blossom as the mega corporation where the word "Disney" was not just associated to a cartoon but also amusement parks, toys, food, merchandizing etc...After I heard about the purchase of Marvel (which came out of no where?)I felt that I probably won't ever be able to ever recapture that magic i experienced that was flowing from Marvel for awhile there when I was younger; before the days of multi million dollar movie contracts and share holder concerns. I just can't see the Hanah Monata/Jonas Brothers creativity teams of Disney ever contributing anything more than there Walmart like ambitions for Marvel. I'm sure Marvel fans can't wait until Disney asks Marvel to come up with a script for a new X-Men movie that will apeal to 4-56 year olds;where they can write in roles for 2 Disney Channel brat actors, a chihuahuah, Tim Allen and Johnny Depp. What the hell happened.
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