I’ve been remiss about blogging about Disney’s recent buying of Marvel, mostly because, well, first, other business kind of got in the way, but then because I was waiting to see if the other coverage of the event would bring to light aspects I hadn’t thought of or considered. While there has been some excellent in-depth reporting on the deal, I still feel the same way I did when I first heard the news: a bit meh.
Other than kicking myself for not owning any Marvel stock, I don’t have too many emotions related to this…yet. Things can always change, but I doubt Disney is looking to reinvent the wheel at Marvel. The Mouse wanted, by most reports, to gain some properties geared toward boys, and they definitely got that in the thousands of Marvel characters they just bought (and they got a few for girls in the deal, too). But the idea of making Marvel characters more kid-friendly or tamed down? I’m not sure where that originated. Whose stories are more violent than Disney’s?
I mean, in most of the stories Disney tells, the principal characters’ parents are dead, or at least one of them is. Few things would be more traumatic to children, right? As for violence…when you’ve got an evil stepmother out to kill you, you’ve kind of raised the bar in that regard, haven’t you?
I suppose there’s always the family-friendly pressure that gets put on major companies like Disney, the kind that generates a lot of press and controversy any time they decide to announce a character is gay. But Disney’s been facing that pressure (and overcoming it) for years. I would hope that they would treat their comics division with the same respect that they give to, say, ABC or Hyperion Books.
Speaking of which, maybe the deal will make it easier for us to get some Marvel-related TV content on ABC. If the quality’s good, that’s a big plus to this deal, if you ask me.
But as for the rest of it…I think I’ll just wait and see and give Disney a chance.
