What does the Disney/Marvel merger really mean? (Part 1 of 3)

Insert photo caption or credit here

 This is the first part of a three-part series. Check back here tomorrow for part 2, and Thursday for part 3.

I don’t know if you heard this or not, but something kind of major happened yesterday. One of the largest media companies in the world announced the acquisition of the largest comic book company in North America. Maybe you read about it.

Yesterday I posted a “Breaking the Internet in half” column discussing some of the knee-jerk comments that popped up after the announcement. I’m revisiting the issue because the comments haven’t gotten any better in the past 24 hours. Some folks have taken a step back to really start thinking about the long-term ramifications of the acquisition, but there are others that are like this, which I just read, and responded to, from Newsarama:

This is all just terrible. Disney is a souless company that eats up younger more vibrant creative companies… This merger is just terrible. It will come back to bite Marvel, and the industry, over the next few years.

This was a money decision. And a bad one. Probably the worst. Marvel has had the best few years of it's [sic] life.

Today and tomorrow, I’d like to examine in more detail both extremes of the comments, and inject a little common sense. On Thursday, I’m going to go into more detail into an aspect of the story that isn’t getting enough examination, and one that may end up being the most important.

First, like the quote above, there are the comments like the one above, that speculate that Disney’s purchase of Marvel spells the end of the super-hero comic because Disney management is going to micromanage Marvel and squeeze the creativity and drive away customers until Marvel crumbles under the weight of Disney’s oppression.

The people saying this are also saying Disney’s going to bastardize Marvel’s properties by forced cross-promotion. Like She-Hulk giving Hannah Montana make-up tips or having Super-Goof join the Avengers.

Those people are forgetting something very important: The Walt Disney Company is larger than just the Disney cartoons or the Disney Channel. They own several families of networks: ABC, ESPN, The Disney Channel, Lifetime and A&E, and all the secondary networks and channels that spun from those channels. There is very little crossover between those channels. And the crossover that is there, like branding sports on ABC with the ESPN brand, makes sense and isn’t insulting.

Even within a network there is content for a wide variety of audiences. ABC may have Dancing with the Stars, and America's Funniest Videos, but they also have shows like Grey’s Anatomy,  Lost and Ugly Betty. And I doubt that anyone would say any of those shows are designed for children.

There will undoubtedly be some referencing of Disney in Marvel comics. In fact, I guarantee you that there was at least one Marvel artist yesterday who heard the announcement and immediately started putting "hidden mickeys" in the very the next page he drew.

The Walt Disney Company may be more concerned with the bottom line today than they were in Uncle Walt's day, but they didn't get where they are now by squashing creativity or interfering too much with a creator's vision.

It's not all wine and roses, however. Check back tomorrow as we examine a couple of the misssteps Disney has made over the past 10 years.

Click here for another take on the Disney/Marvel acquisition.

Is Deadman coming to comics?

How is Identity Crisis the logical result of the success of The Watchmen?