Of all the days to start vacation and not be able to get my work e-mail...

Couple of things. First, will the Negative Zone Portal be in EPCOT or Tomorrowland?

Second, Disney already has a publishing arm (Hyperion).  If I had to guess, Marvel will be absorved into the Hyperion branch and pretty much be run as a seperate entity where the comic books themselves are concerned.  The characters will become Disney property and be used/marketed by the Disney brand.

Mike Bunge wrote:  Matt Reed wrote: DC Comics, in the same boat as Marvel where declining sales and interest is concerned, functions as R&D for Warner Brothers. It really doesn't.  How many DC-related films has Warner produced lately?

It really does.  Just because the WB isn't theatrically releasing films based on their properties (with the exception of, you know, the second highest grossing film of all time in THE DARK KNIGHT) doesn't mean that they don't do anything with them.  They're heads and tails above Marvel where cartoons are concerned.  Including new characters in BRAVE AND THE BOLD, for instance, is R&D in and of itself to gage reaction by fans.  The WB is also releasing tons of direct-to-DVD movies starring their marque characters.  R&D doesn't only revolve around theatrically released films, Mike.

QUOTE: Outside of The New Frontier, I'm not sure ANY recent DC books or storylines have been adapted to other media.

R&D does not, in any world, mean directly adapting a comic book story to film.  R&D simply means starting characters in the comics, seeing if they have potential, and then launching them in other media often without a direct tie-in to stories in the comics in which they appeared.  R&D is never tied to any ongoing storyline in the comics nor does it mean that no R&D is happening at Warner Brothers simply because they aren't churning out a movie based on CRISIS or BLACKEST NIGHT.  R&D is only on the characters.  Do they succeed with current fans?  Is it enough to launch them to video games, cartoons, and movies?  That's what it's all about.

A quick rundown of the deal:

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/08/31/disney-buys-marvel-what -we-know-about-the-deal-so-far/

Thanks for the link, Bill.

From the newsarama article at the ink above:

"I do recall, back in the '80s, people at Marvel used to say they wanted to be Disney for older audiences. Well, I guess now they are," Busiek said. "What that means, though, remains to be seen."

"R&D does not, in any world, mean directly adapting a comic book story to film.  R&D simply means starting characters in the comics, seeing if they have potential, and then launching them in other media often without a direct tie-in to stories in the comics in which they appeared."

Uh, when's the last new character started by Marvel to branch out into other media?  Black Nick Fury from the Ultimates?  DC and Marvel's value isn't from generating new stuff, it's from the huge catalog of existing intellectual property they already have.

If Marvel publishing is as profitable as has been mentioned, and remains so, there's good reason to think Disney will keep it around.  They ain't gonna do it for  R&D purposes when they've already got thousands of characters and hundreds of stories to exploit commercially without having to pay an extra dime.

Mike

Mike Bunge wrote: when's the last new character started by Marvel to branch out into other media?

We were talking about Marvel in relation to Disney's acquisition and comparing it to Warner Brothers owning DC, Mike.  I wasn't aware that we were talking about R&D strictly with Marvel.  In any event, Warner Brothers including relatively new characters in BRAVE AND THE BOLD and TEEN TITANS is R&D.  Warner Brothers introducing relatively new characters from the comics in video games is R&D.  Of course both Warner Brothers and now Disney are going to milk their longstanding, highly popular characters.  That's not at issue nor is anyone saying that they don't.  What I am saying is that Warner Brothers does use it's comic book publishing arm as R&D for characters in other media.  They just do.  To say that they don't because you don't see a big budget live action movie starring the new Blue Beetle is absurd.

QUOTE: They ain't gonna do it for  R&D purposes when they've already got thousands of characters and hundreds of stories to exploit commercially without having to pay an extra dime.

How is including a new character in a comic book paying "an extra dime"?  What, comic book characters get royalties now?  If Warner Brothers doesn't use DC as R&D, then there's really no reason for them to continue publishing.  By your model, they should have shut down decades ago and just kept churning out reprint editions of the comic books they've already published.  Oh.  But wait.  They haven't.  They're not keeping DC around because it's a cash cow. 

We could see a comeback of the bad parts of the silver age...

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When was that?  Never?

How are you defining "relatively new", both chronologically and creatively?  The new Blue Beetle is a new version of an established property, but I hardly think his inclusion in BRAVE AND BOLD cartoons has jackall to do with his success as a comic book character.  That's because he's pretty much been a failure as a comic book character.

I'm not sure I believe that the Warner Brothers spend smillions of dollars on DC publishing just so they can have a bunch of guys over there coming up with brainstorms like "let's make Blue Beetle an Hispanic teenager!"

Mike

You're right, Mike.  Warner Brothers spent millions on creating the new Blue Beetle.  That's exactly what I'm saying...only I'm not. 

It doesn't cost millions of dollars to include a new character in a comic book to see what fan interest is.  It doesn't cost millions of dollars to then take that character and include him or her in a cartoon or direct-to-DVD movie.  You seem to think that R&D on the comic book end is either cost prohibitive or absolutely out of bounds for a company like Warner Brothers.  Doesn't make a lick of sense to me, but keep on keepin' on, brother. I'm sure WB continues trying new characters in comic books simply because they're interested in pleasing the ever smaller, dwindling fanbase and it has absolutely "jackall", to use your term, with exploring said character as a possible hit in comics and other media.  The WB is simply keeping DC alive because of a love of comic books.