Produced in association with the SomaCow Media Network (see 
Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com
PTG Episode 49 is brought to you by Marvel Entertainment, soon to be a part of the Walt Disney Company. By now I’m sure everyone has at least heard about the $4 billion dollar deal that adds “The House of Ideas” onto “The House that Walt Built”, kind of like a home improvement product, in order to increase Disney’s commercial and retail appeal amongst men and boys, a demographic they kinda lost by pouring so much money into marketing Lizzie McGuire, Hanna Montana, and the Jonas Brothers. Oh, and they want to make a few bucks from all those Marvel movies coming out of Marvel Studios over the next few years.
In this episode we start off with every intention of talking about Garth Ennis’ “The Boys” and its ongoing “side story”, “Herogasm” and we do get there eventually, but it takes a pretty big detour that involves an unplanned “Felix is Fuming” segment. I won’t say anymore about it except that, yes, this episode has more than a few F-bombs and yes, you listeners that are Wolverine fans, well, don’t take it personally. I’m just not the biggest fan of the little runt, and in this episode, it ALL comes out. That, plus top picks for Marvel from last week and a book review from EricathePimp focused on City of Bones
Back to the Disney-Marvel news, when the news broke Monday, it seemed like everybody had an opinion or a worry. Folks here in Orlando, in particular, worried about the fate of the Marvel Super Heroes Island at Universal Orlando Resort, home of “The Hulk” roller coaster, among other VERY fun rides. (Disney CEO Robert Iger has since made it clear that the attraction will not be affected at all–Disney will continue to honor any and all contracts Marvel currently has with Disney competitors) Others closer to the geek scene wondered about the fate of Marvel Studios, its ongoing film franchises, and the Marvel properties currently licensed out to other Hollywood film studios–Spider-Man to Sony, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to 20th Century Fox, and the Hulk (partially) to Universal. No word on these fronts, really, but seriously, Disney just wants a cut of the cash–does anyone REALLY expect them to meddle with the ongoing work on these franchises to the point of “Disney-fying” them? Same goes for the publishing end of things–there were folks out there who were wondering if Disney would set out to “soften” some of Marvel’s more violent comic lines or even discontinue imprints such as Marvel MAX–no evidence to indicate they’re thinking about this at all.
If anything, the most valid concern comic book readers and retailers had and should continue to monitor is how Disney’s considerable muscle when it comes to distribution comes into play, and if they should decide that they’re not happy with the net revenue generated by comic sales once the costs of distributing through Diamond Comics Distributors is taken into account. Do they set up their own distribution house for Marvel, the way that Marvel tried (and failed) to do more than a decade ago? Or do they pour more time and money into exploring methods of electronic distribution of comic books to mobile devices, iTunes, and hand-held game systems? Theoretically, they could change the entire paradigm for comic book consumption, something that Marvel was at the forefront of trying to do, anyway. On those questions and many others, time will tell. For my part, I’m very much in the “wait-and-see” mode with this, but I’m betting that in the near future, not much will change. We’ll still be getting our comic books primarily through comic specialty shops, we’ll still be getting Marvel movies up the ying-yang over the next four years, and we’ll still see Marvel leading the charge towards digital comics and digital distribution of comics. Seriously folks, nothing to really get excited for, unless you’re a Marvel shareholder, in which case you’re about to get PAID. Take a picture of the check you get from Disney and send it to us here at PTG, won’t you? That would be cool to see.
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