Yeah, I’m talkin’ about the Disney thing, too.
I’m guessing you’ve probably heard that Walt Disney is buying Marvel Comics for a cool four billion bucks. Not sure what the full impact of this will be yet, but 1) I’m pretty sure Disney’s not shutting down the publishing end of it, so relax, your comics are probably safe; and 2) if you thought toy aisles were overflowing with Spider-Man and X-Men shit now, hold on to your Mickey ears.
There were jokes a’plenty online about this acquisition, as you might imagine (I saw plenty of references to Howard the Duck and Donald Duck teaming up, for example), but I think my favorite take is from The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats‘s Adam Koford. Though M.O.D.U.C.K. is pretty awesome, too. We’ll see how prescient these drawings are once the actual Disney/Marvel mash-up merchandise hits the shelves. I’m fully predicting Spider-Mickey.
I am wondering if we’ll see a story on a slow news day about “Disney publishing porn comics!” when they discover the existence of the MAX imprint. Not that Disney hasn’t handled adult material before in some of their subsidiary studios, but c’mon, this is comics we’re talking about. Everyone knows comics are solely children’s entertainment, so it’s not hard to imagine somebody making a stink about Disney property The Punisher saying “fuck” in a funnybook sold to Little Billy.
Yeah, it probably won’t happen, but it could…and as I talked about yesterday, it doesn’t take much for people looking for things to complain about to start complaining. Not that Disney’s any stranger to people complaining about the company, I realize.
So anyway, let’s see what happens. It’d be nice if the actual comics industry would see any benefit from this, but I’m not holding my breath. But I’d give anything to see this on our comic shelves.
In other news:
- Another week, another brain-shattering installment of War Rocket Ajax, the podcast that puts the “kick” in “facekick.” Chris Sims and Eugene Last-Name-Unknown-at-This-Time have another great interview, featuring that apotheosis of annotation Jess Nevins. Go, download, listen…it’ll only take away an hour from what little time remains of your life, but let’s face it, you probably wouldn’t have been doing anything nearly as entertaining for that hour anyway.
- Speaking of interviews, comics internet stalwart Alan David Doane just released a PDF book of interviews he’s conducted with many, many comics creators over the years, including Kurt Busiek, Howard Chaykin, Colleen Coover, Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo, and oh, so many more. It’s a free download, and I know you people like the free stuff, so go check it out.
- Here, let me give you more stuff to read: the link to this PDF essay has been going around again over the last week or so, and given my particular love for the material discussed here, I feel I should present the link here as well. Ladies, gentlemen, others, I present to you – How to Read Nancy by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik.
- So last week was Jack Kirby’s 92nd birthday, and most of us posted a picture or two on our sites to commemorate the event. However, Bully the Little Stuffed Bull posted his little stuffed heart out on that day, presenting a Jack Kirby tribute post every hour. It’s an amazing feat, and well worth gazing upon in awe. Well done, my fuzzy friend.
- Who’s got the Previews for Gays? Pal Dorian’s got the Previews for Gays!
- Those of you who actually visit the site, versus reading me in a feed reader, may have noticed that I changed the Twitter thingie in the sidebar, there. This new widget is a little more interactive, and the links I post there are now clickable, so you don’t have to go to my actual Twitter page to click on them.
Sure, the new Twitter box is a bit larger and more obnoxious than the old one, but it has that improved functionality I mentioned, it’s a little more readable, plus you get to see that little icon pic of me from when I was 13 years old, so things are better all around!
