Questions Begat Questions

By Ace Masters

The sky has cracked. The earth has split in the fury of the gods. Hell has come to Earth.

Disney will soon own Marvel.

Good or bad, the world of comics as we know it may be over.

By now everyone should know the news that rocked the entertainment world last week: Disney is buying Marvel Entertainment, whether anyone likes it or not.

Put me in the column of NOT.

Whatever side one is on, this has quickly become a polarizing topic. Those who sees this as a "brilliant" move see nothing but positive. Those who are against it are mostly the readers of the actual comics, who are concerned that Disney will revamp and "kidify" the beloved comics and characters.

Make no mistake, Disney isn't buying Marvel because they care about the comics, or because of the characters; they are buying Marvel because of the $$$ Marvel and the character can generate. And those are not the dollars that comics sales make, they are the dollars made through animation, film, licensing and merchandizing.

If Iron Man hadn't been a world-wide hit, and the Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and the Avengers movies weren't eagerly anticipated, Disney wouldn't care. If Marvel wasn't the world's fourth largest licensor (Disney is number one), Disney wouldn't care.

A number of analysts have crunched the numbers and came up with the answer to the question: How will this affect Marvel and Disney? Almost all see this as a good thing.

In truth there is no way to tell, yet, if this is a good thing, for three reasons:

• It is far too early in the process to say – without any doubt – that this will be a positive move
• numbers can be said to say anything if someone is good enough
• some of the intangible statistics analyst have used are wrong

Two of the biggest statistics thrown around as reasons Disney is buying Marvel, and why it will succeed, are completely misleading.

The first is that the average reader of comics books (i.e. Marvel Comics), is 12 to 15 years old. Disney wants to expand into that market. The problem is that is NOT accurate. Teenagers are not the average readers of comics.

The other statistic that is wrong is that the young female demographic is fastest growing readership of comics. Take a good look at that "comics." Not Marvel Comics, but "comics." The young female demographic is not the fastest growing readership of Marvel Comics. Over eighty-percent of sales to female are of manga.

Last I looked, manga is not Marvel Comics.
The problem with many of the thought processes behind this move and analyses of it is that people are viewing Marvel Comics AS the industry, not as part of the industry. Marvel may be the largest direct market comic book publishers and the leader of the industry, but they are not the industry as a whole.

This whole situation doesn't gives us any answers, only questions. And each question only leads to more questions.

How does this effect Marvel Films and their distribution deal with Paramount?

One has to know that Paramount is not happy with this deal, as they were banking on making money with the upcoming films. Will the deal stay in place, or will Disney find a way out? Disney will surely want to distribute the films themselves.

What about properties (X-Men, Spider-Man) that other studios have the rights to? Will those deals stay in place, or will Disney try to get those rights back sooner?

The biggest question being asked is: How will this affect the comics themselves?

Many have voiced the concern that Disney will change Marvel Comics to suit the Disney mold; that is, making them more "kid friendly."

Will Disney make wholesale changes to the comics?

Who knows?

Will Disney makes any changes at all?

More than likely; to think they wouldn't make changes would be a mistake.

But that doesn't mean all the changes Disney could make are bad. If they make wholesale changes and start "dummying" down the books, they will lose sales. If they try to integrate Disney and Marvel into one universe – and we see the Jonas Brothers in Marvel titles – except a wicked backlash.

Disney may impose a tighter editorial control over Marvel, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Tighter editorial control could streamline the books, keep certain issues under control and make sure that many of the problems of late titles, etc., are things of the past.

If this happens, expect some of the steady but bottom selling titles to disappear.

Disney could also take the "Event Route." Since "event" stories like Civil War, World War Hulk and Dark Reign have made incredible dollars for Marvel, and since dollars is what this deal is all about, Disney may decided to step up and make every story line an "Event," this way milking as much money as they can.

Of course, Disney could make no changes, but that wouldn't be realistic.

At a minimum, expect to see a sub-imprint of Disney titles in the near future. Whether or not they will be successful is a different question. Disney titles historically haven't been a big seller in the direct market.

The question not being asked is how does this affect the comic book industry as a whole? Unfortunately, much of the mainstream coverage, as mentioned above, doesn't differentiate Marvel Comics from other publishers (such as Dark Horse, IDW, Boom! Studios, Image).

Boom! Studios publishes Disney/Pixar's Cars, Incredibles and Toy Story comics. What will happen with those licenses? Will Boom Studios keep them through the term of the deal made, or will Disney buy out the deal?

What about Disney properties licensed out to other publishers?

With their deep pockets and seemingly endless lines of money, Disney could do one thing to help Marvel and the comics industry as a whole: bring in new reader.

The comics industry and Marvel themselves are desperate for new readers. It wants to expanded, but doesn't seem to know how. Disney could change that, if they see fit. The question is this: Is Disney content with just making money off established characters, or are they willing to build up Marvel with innovation the "House of Ideas" use to be known for.

Many people have pointed to the fact that Disney has stated that "nothing will change" and "all deals will stay in place" as proof that there will be no changes. Though, that is the standard line that all companies say when they buy out another company.

Even if they make no changes, just Disney buying Marvel is causing change. The industry itself is bracing for whatever will happen. They are even a number of rumors that certain talents with Marvel do not want to stay with Disney involved.

Whatever happens, the full impact of this deal and any changes it may bring, will probably not be known for a couple of years.

Let me leave you with this: Do we really need another corporate giant in the comic book industry, especially one known for low balling talent and questionable business ethics as Disney?

BURNING QUESTION: Converting the converted. What good does it do to advertise and promote titles to the people already reading them?

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